Why Reversibility?

I have always tried in my career to follow accepted museum practice for proper conservation of antique furniture and other wooden objects.  I have naturally had some independent conclusions which differ from certain methods I have seen used in museum labs, such as using modern upholstery methods and materials on antique furniture, and I have discussed that issue previously on this blog.

Also, I have resisted using modern, experimental chemicals, glues and finishes, which are commonly accepted in many conservation labs.  Part of that decision is driven by the experiences I had in European workshops and museums, where traditional methods and finishes are more standard.  Part of that decision goes to the basic reason I started this career in the first place.  I was involved in some of the most high tech projects in my field, high energy particle physics, and had my "mid life crisis" at the age of 25.  I walked away from my research lab and into the 18th century.

I believe, absolutely, that the highly trained craftsmen working in the pre industrial age knew exactly what they were doing.  They had excellent materials, basic hand tools, and the experience of their ancestors, passed down over the ages.  They also had the financial support of a very rich class of merchants and royal patrons, who recognized quality at a very high level.

In any rate, the reason I am posting today is that I have recently been asked again about the reversibility of animal protein glue.  A basic rule in all museum restoration is that, whatever is done, it should be reversible.  The reason is that, in the case where future research indicates a better method is possible, the restoration could be removed and replaced with the better repair.

More importantly, it is essential in building furniture which is functional that repairs can be made when the object breaks.  Any furniture maker who thinks his creation is never going to be damaged or broken is not dealing with reality.  Objects which are designed to last centuries will be damaged.  That is a fact and that is why I never run out of work.  I can't count how many chairs I have repaired in 40+ years, and how many different types of damage they suffer.

Therefore, when a broken chair or other object arrives and there is nails, sheetrock screws, epoxy or, worse, "the strongest glue on planet Earth," I need to inform the owner that it will cost more and the repair will be less successful than if it had not been repaired or if it had just been glued with protein glue.

Fish glue, bone glue and hide glues are all reversible.  You need to understand what that means to effectively work with these glues.  They are all water soluble.  They need water combined with heat to change from solid to gel to liquid and back again.  Each has specific working characteristics, but they all have the same thing in common:  Adding heat and moisture reverses them.

Fish glue is somewhat different, as it is liquid normally at room temperature.  It cleans up easily with water.  Adding heat liquifies it easily.  It is designed to be used for holding materials together which expand and contract differently with environmental changes, like gluing metals to wood, or horn, ivory, bone and shell to wood.  It "relaxes" somewhat during heat/moisture cycles, and then sets again when stable, holding tight.

Bone and hide glues are normally dry and need cold water to be hydrated, then heated to be used.  Thus, they set initially by losing heat and then by losing moisture.  Each gel strength has a different rate of set and gel point, which is why I like to  use 192 gram strength.  It works well for all applications.

When I decided to modify my 192 glue with urea, my goal was to simply lower the gel point slightly, so that it could be used from a bottle.  The result is Old Brown Glue, which is currently carried by Rockler, Lee Valley, Tools for Working Wood, and several Woodcraft locations.

Fine Woodworking Magazine did an independent testing of OBG as well as other glues in their issue #192 (August 2007).  According to their tests, OBG was stronger in all tests than the "strongest glue on planet Earth."  I guess that makes it the "strongest glue in the universe?"  I should point out that, since it is non toxic and reversible, if you get it on your hands, just wash it off.  On the other hand, if you get polyurethane glue on your hands, you need to wait for several months while the skin falls off and you grow new skin.

That fact alone makes reversible glue attractive.

Here is the link for the pdf of the Fine Woodworking Test:

"How Strong Is Your Glue?"

If you are in Pasadena this weekend, stop by our booth at the Convention Center.  We are participating in the Woodworking in America show, and you can pick up some of our glue and see a French chevalet in action.

Revolution

First of all, I want to note that it has been 5 months since I sat down to post a blog.  I have no excuse.  "I've been busy" is not really an excuse.  As it has been pointed out many times to me by close friends, it is just a matter of priorities.

That is not to say that I don't think posting my thoughts is not a priority.  I sincerely believe that old "masters" need to pass on their experience for the benefit of the next wrecking crew.  In fact, I am encouraged by the many emails and messages which ask about my absence and reinforce my hope that what I post has value to them.

The past 5 months has been eventful and I promise to start posting about events with a renewed energy.  We completed an interesting project for the Art Institute of Chicago, which opens a new show at the end of this month.  I was able to spend some quiet time in the mountains of Montana, which was covered in smoke from the fires and dry from lack of water.  I have been working on several projects that I can report on, and other activities have kept me away from the computer.

Recently, I have been watching a new series on NBC, called "Revolution" which is an American version of a French science fiction book, by Rene Barjavel, "Ravage," published in 1943.  I love science fiction, and grew up reading amazing books from the 1950's.  There is nothing more stimulating than science fiction which seems to accurately predict a future that may, in fact, happen.

In this TV series, there is the usual stress and tension of fighting and egos, which is typical American script writing.  However, under the predictable and required amount of action is a basic plot premise, derived from that earlier French novel.  That is, what would happen if all the electricity in the world suddenly stopped working?  How would that change civilization?  Would be become savages?  Hence the killing...

I would like to point out that civilization survived for thousands of years before we plugged in.  I know it's hard to imagine, but I would guess that the percentage of time humans have lived with electricity compared to the total time we have lived on earth is rather small.  Very tiny.  Almost zero.

In fact, if all the power went out in my shop,  I could easily continue to function normally.  I would miss the radio and I suppose I would have to use a wood stove to make coffee and glue.  I couldn't work much after dark, so my wife would see me more at home, over candle light.  That might not be so bad!

I am thinking mostly of cutting on the chevalet, quietly making marquetry art.  Only the sound of the blade as it cuts through packets of ebony, and other exotic materials.   If you have read anything on this blog, you already know I have a certain affection for the chevalet.

That is why I made an effort to introduce this tool to North America some 15 years ago by creating the American School of French Marquetry and selling kits.  Now that I have sold some 50 kits, which are all over North America, people are starting to understand what it is all about.

In most cases, the student or marquetry artist builds his own chevalet.  However, it requires some amount of timber framing and woodworking skill to build, and marquetry art is essentially working with tiny pieces of wood; quite the opposite skill.  That is why I expected, at some point, to find those workers who would specialize in making the tool itself, to sell or give to others, as a supplier.

This is, for me, the true revolution.  The time when American woodworkers would produce pre industrial wood tools for consumption.  Full circle.  Post Industrial Revolution.  Return to real hand workmanship (a term which has been "slightly overused" in recent times.).

One of my students, Paul Miller, lives on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and has a lot of experience in boat building and other diverse woodworking skills.  He recently made several videos, and has produced several chevalets.  He is well known on the Lumberjocks site.

Here is his independent review of his experience in our school (sent to a prospective student):

First to answer your specific questions.

Lodging:

Not too bad. I took the course in Feb (they are also offered in Sept and June) which is more off-season than the others and I shared accommodation with another Lumberjock, Mat Nedeljko. We got a suite at the Sommerset Inn and split the cost. It would be a long walk but doable. There are accommodations in North Park nearer by but it didn't matter to me as I had a car. I spend winters in Az so I drove over. Patrick's literature will suggest several options and there's always the internet. I think Mat got picked up at the airport by the hotel limo. The school doesn't do that. they only have a max of six students at a time. When we went it was four.

Hours of work:

You are in Patrick's shop. He arrives around 7:30 and classes start at 8:00 as I remember. There's an hour off for lunch. (You don't have to go) Shutting down time varies but we stayed late a few days (an hour or so) Anyway you get all you can absorb. and it will be more than the advertised 40 hours.

Cameras are fine / encouraged. He's not jealous of his techniques at all.

Tarsia geometrica is parquetry. Boulle is a form of packet cut marquetry.

Experience:

No experience is required. Both Mat and I had built and used our own chevalets, in my case for almost a year, but this was the first time Patrick had taught a class where people already owned chevalets. The course work is exactly the same experience or no and even though I was going over a lot that I already knew or thought I did, I still got full value from learning the little nuances that make everything work better. Look at my LJ projects before and after last Feb and you will see a jump in quality and complexity.

Curriculum:

There are some lecture periods but mostly you are working on three increasingly difficult Boulle pieces. You will complete all three but as I said you will learn many little tricks and nuances along the way that really make it worth while. You will also get a demo on hammer veneering, a lecture on hide glue and a French polishing demo. (Be prepared to chuck the tightbond when you get home)

Chevalet advantages:

In a word, control. You are in a comfortable position looking straight ahead, not stooped and looking down. You have complete control over the blade in your right hand and the packet in your left. Hard to explain but you can just do things that you can't on a scroll saw. IMHO.

It's not cheap if you have to travel and stay in a hotel but you have to decide how that works with what you hope to do with the knowledge. For me, driving from Green Valley Az and staying in a hotel, shared, it cost just under $2000. My latest piece, that I could never have done without the course, is worth that a few times over (maybe). I will be biting the bullet and going back this winter and will be happy if I only refine my cutting, sand shading and french polishing techniques.

I guess that if I had to make one point about the value I'd say this. Someone like me could teach you most of what you will learn there but the difference is that this a unique experience to learn from two real masters who, for some reason are willing to take time from their busy lives to teach hobbyists and inexperienced wanna be's like us. You get more by osmosis around that shop than the price of admission.

I'm not in Patrick's employ, but I am an admirer of the man and the artist. He's a very cool guy.

He also has made some videos about his work on chevalets, including a valuable video which demonstrates how you adjust the tool for accuracy.  This involves cutting a keyhole shape from thick material.  If the keyhole piece passes out of the packet in both directions, then the blade is perpendicular to the packet.  If not, then you either adjust the vertical or horizontal or both until it works.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZG1aUE08plA

Here are other videos by Paul:
http://lumberjocks.com/shipwright/blog/31246

Here is a video by one of our students, Mat Nedeljko, working in class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvL4G4BSDD4&feature=related

I am encouraged to make some videos of my own and will keep you posted.  Thanks for sticking with me during this "pause" in my posting.

More Vector Clamping

I make a lot of my income from repairs. They are often quick and the simple methods I use guarantee results. I have always told customers that, if I fix it and it breaks where I fixed it, then I will repair it free. I can't recall a time in the past 43 years when I have had to fix something for free due to that guarantee.

 The reason I want to have the customer return it to me, if it breaks, is so I can learn from the failure and not repeat it in the future. Also, in the rare instance that I could not repair it properly, I don't want my work to end up in some other workshop. I value my reputation; it is all I have and it is good.

 Take chairs, for example. Nothing else comes close to making me money as broken chairs. There is no way I can even think of how many chairs I have fixed. Usually they come to me after other people have tried and failed. Therefore, I have also learned from other's mistakes. I have seen iron braces, iron rods, bolts, screws, epoxy, wire, staples, string, tape, "the strongest glue on planet Earth", and auto body filler, just to mention a few tricks, and all of them failed. At some point, the owner finds out about me and they end up on my bench. Always a challenge to undo the damage of previous repairs, which usually are worse than the original problem.

 Chairs take a beating. They are designed to be attractive, stylish and comfortable. They are not designed to support modern American bodies which are heavy and tend to force the structure in ways that it was not designed support. Add to that problem the fact that a majority of old chairs have suffered at least one repair in their life and you understand why I have so much work.

 Last week I was searching on the internet for Ming dynasty chairs, and I found a story about a visitor to a museum in China who felt tired and decided to sit down in a Ming chair which was on a pedestal behind a barrier rope. He broke the chair in three places, fortunately all places where there had been previous breaks. Like I said, antique chairs were not designed for the modern man. I think Frank Lloyd Wright had a point when he designed chairs so uncomfortable that no one wanted to sit in them.

 In any event, I repair chairs practically every day I work. Here are a few simple rules which I follow that make it pleasant. First of all, try to remove all other repairs. This means that, in the case where you have severely fractured wood, and lots of small fragments, you must do the repair over several days. Each day you glue two or three fragments together to form a larger piece. The next day this piece is glued to another, and so on, until you have a two large elements to assemble properly. Most workers try to put all the little pieces together at one time and it makes a mess, as they move around under clamping and the glue gets into the voids.

 Another rule is that it is always necessary to remove all traces of dirt and glue from the wood surface. Usually, with synthetic glues, this requires scraping and using a chisel to carefully remove the glue from the wood, without removing any wood. I prefer to use a toothing plane iron to scrape away, with the grain, the glue and dirt. You can use a small section of a hack saw blade (with larger teeth) to do the same thing, if you cannot find a toothing plane iron. Remember, you cannot glue dirt and expect it to work. Always consider the surface area of the wood in the repair to calculate the potential success of the job.

 End grain surfaces don't count. Long grain surfaces are the only areas where glue holds, and experience will tell you if there is sufficient surface area inside the joint to hold the stress. If not, you may need to add wood to the repair to make it work, either with an internal tenon or external "blister patch". Always use the most conservative repair that you can to protect the value of the object.

 I do not need to stress that the only glue to use is animal protein glue. Any reader of this blog knows where I stand on this question. As I've said for years, "I will use a synthetic glue only if it can be shown that my preferred animal glue won't work and the synthetic glue is better." Never gonna happen.

 The final advice is to understand vector forces when you apply your clamps. Most people do not have enough clamps or the proper variety of clamps to do the job professionally. I have many hundreds of clamps, of every imaginable type. I also have a large box of wood scraps to fit most common furniture shapes. You cannot clamp on curves or complex surfaces without adding wood blocks to provide a purchase for the clamps. The essential rule of vector clamping is that the primary clamp, which actually pulls the joint together, provides its force directly perpendicular to the center of the joint. With curves that means the clamp needs to be out in space, somewhere away from the actual furniture. Therefore, you need to provide a piece of wood shaped to fit the furniture, with a spot on that scrap of wood to hold the primary clamp in its proper position.

 I use a soft wood, like pine or tulip, so as to not damage the antique surface. I cut it to fit the shape of the curve. I provide enough surface area for the scrap to not slip and clamp it firmly to the chair part, before I use any glue. I use scraps of cork under the clamp blocks to protect the surface. I make a dry run after all the scraps are attached to see that it works properly. Then and only then do I reach for the glue.

 Old Brown Glue gives me the additional working time I need to assemble complicated repairs, and has amazing holding power. I apply the glue and then the primary clamp. If I have done my job properly, then I am rewarded with a nice bead of glue evenly squeezing out under pressure as I tighten the primary clamp. No slipping, no change in alignment, no panic. Just success.


 I am rewarded with a happy customer who can use his antique chair, and a quick paycheck. When i make $100 for a 15 minute repair, I am reminded that the 15 minutes took 43 years to learn.

The Phoenix Table

Last September I posted an entry here about an elderly lady who lives in a historic Craftsman house just a few blocks from the shop. I mentioned that her entire house went up in flames (actually it exploded) when some very stupid refinishers tried to strip all the woodwork with the windows and doors closed and the water heater turned on. She was lucky to get out alive.

At that time she had a very large pine table which had been made in New York some 50 years ago. It wasn't an antique, and it wasn't particularly well made, but I had been hired by her previously to refinish it with a more "authentic" finish than the yellow lacquer.

She had a particular attachment to that table, since it had been made for one of her dear friends who had a large family, and it brought back good memories of her past. Although it was very large, it was one of the few items in the house that the brave fire fighters actually moved outside while fighting the fire.

When I saw the smoke from the fire, while standing in the front door of my workshop, I rushed over to see which house was burning. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to see that table sitting on the lawn, smoldering. Naturally it was beyond saving.

Fortunately, this lady had good insurance, and the strong determination to not only rebuild, but to restore the home exactly as it was built in 1926. She found some experienced contractors and supervised every step of the job, fighting the city code during the entire process. She moves in to the "new" historic house next month.

Since all of her antique furnishings were lost, she has been collecting replacements. That is why she came back to me to rebuild the pine dining table. I don't usually work in pine, but it is a change of pace to just do "timber framing" and "rough" hand planing. Where the original table was held together with dowels and bolts, this version is strictly traditional: wedges, pins and mortise and tenon construction.

The top is the same size as the first table, 4 feet by 8 feet. It fits well on the top of my bench. Tomorrow I start the process of finishing it and by next week she should have the table sitting on her new hardwood floor in the dining room.

I don't think she will have the woodwork in the house stripped again.

ASFM Student Humor

I have a lot of fun in my business. I enjoy working with fine furniture and solving challenging problems. I take pride in the results, so there is a serious side to the job. However, when I teach students in the American School of French Marquetry, I try to bring humor into the discussion, and find it extremely interesting how the different personalities respond to my approach. Sometimes it works and sometimes it dies a slow death.

Over the years, I have resorted to a few "pat" jokes (pun intended) to spice up the lecture. I admit that these are not really the kind of jokes that will earn me a television series, but, in the context of the class, they provide a kind of break in the day.

The first "joke" usually comes at the lunch break on Monday. Since the historic business community, North Park, where my business is located, has become a major attraction for excellent and upscale places to eat, I always draw a map on the chalk board and discuss the options. The closest place to eat is directly across the street from the shop, KFC. It was also one of the first places to open some 30 years ago. I should point out that the KFC is West of me and we usually have a mild ocean breeze blowing from the West. After some 30 years of the "aroma" of KFC filling the shop, I have developed an aversion to their food. So, I start out with a variation of the joke as follows: "You can eat at KFC, but don't come back to school." Then I point out all the other great places nearby.

OK, not much of a joke. I warned you.

So, since all the class I students are required to make a Boulle picture of their face, I received a portrait of the Colonel executed by a student which I now use to illustrate the bad joke. The marquetry is better than the joke.

Another "joke" is used to generalize the typical motifs found in American marquetry. Perhaps I will be accused of being an elitist, but I am not trying to be mean. I just want American artisans to expand their horizons. Think outside the box. Explore your creativity.

What I mean is that, in looking at many, many examples of marquetry, I began to realize that a majority of them had 4 essential elements: Boat, lake, tree and mountain. Patrice and I became obsessed with looking at marquetry online, watching "how to do it" videos, and looking at marquetry newsletters, to find examples. We would score them, from 1 to 4, depending on how many elements of the "required" motifs were used. For example, we would say: "It has a nice tree, big mountain and a lake, but where's the boat? I give it a 3."

Not very nice, but it makes a "joke" that I use to illustrate to my students how they can use the French methods to add more sophisticated elements to their design.

So I just received a nice card from a recent student, who enclosed his project: "Marquetry in America, a study of the relationship between the lake, the mountain, the boat and the tree." He included a note that included this disclaimer: "Not submitted for adjudication. Just for fun."

Is it me or does the boat remind you of an Italian cruise ship? Anyway, we gave it a 4.

Take life seriously, but be sure to have fun while you're living it.

Old Brown Glue at Rockler

Two weeks ago we received another order from Lee Valley in Canada for a shipment of Old Brown Glue. At the same time, we received confirmation that Rockler, in America, will proceed with distribution of our product. This is great news for us. We were involved in discussions with Rockler for several weeks, processing papers and going through the requirements for insurance, shipping, billing, MSDS data sheets, and all the other details that were required.

However, when they approved their first order the same week as the new order from Lee Valley came in, I had to go into overtime cooking. I bought another 150 lbs of protein glue, more urea and some new double boilers and went to work.

Mixing, cooking, bottling, labeling, packing, shipping, and all the little details which are required to complete such a large order took me several days. But by the end of the week, there were two shipments, neatly boxed and secured to pallets, properly labeled and ready for the pick up. What a nice feeling of satisfaction.

I am pleased that such a large segment of woodworkers have tried protein glue and take a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that my formulation of traditional hide glue is a part of so many important projects. If you haven't tried it yet, what are you waiting for?

Get it here.

Treasure Box Déjà Vu (Again?)

Patrice has been sick for a few days. Sinus headache. Not a pleasant situation, so he stayed in bed. Today he showed up, but is still not running on all cylinders. While he was home, he had a chance to read my recent posts about the box photos.

Since we worked very closely together to make the box, he was anxious to fix the problem with the photos. So, this morning he crawled into the shop and sat down at his computer and, within 10 minutes, seemed to fix the problem.

Here are his versions of the photos. This is the closest to the real thing so far. I probably have spent way too much time on this digital photography thing, but I have discovered that a lot of woodworkers who read this blog are, in fact, very talented professional photographers. I have learned a lot from their emails and comments. Thank you all.