Instead of Chestnuts and Open Fire

This is the time of the year for seasonal activities. Of course, the holidays bring with them absolute deadlines, which must be met, if the elves are to deliver to Santa their special work product. We all know that elves work day and night; there is no "overtime" in elf land.

It is also the time of the year in San Diego when we can actually wear unusual clothing, like long sleeves, flannel shirts and even sweaters. There is always a hint of "rain" in the air, and a "chill" which natives complain about and others, who migrated here from distant parts of the world, seem to actually enjoy.

Currently, Patrice and I are building a series of late 17th century letter boxes, inspired by an original which recently sold in Europe. The exterior is covered in marquetry, with Gaboon ebony background and 22 different exotic hardwood species comprising the design inlay. All this work is done using the rich inventory of sawn veneer material I purchased from George, in Paris, some 20 years ago.

These "Painting in Wood" boxes will have interiors that use olive wood, kingwood, boxwood and tulip, to contrast with the exterior. I am currently working out the details of the release for the secret panel which hides the secret compartments that these boxes usually have. I love designing secret escapements. I think about them all the time. First you imagine complicated mechanisms, with sliding arms, levers, springs, gears, string, wire, magnets, etc. Then you throw all those ideas away and reduce it to the most simple function you can think of. Then you simplify it again, and it might work.

The design of a secret release system needs to be durable, to work for centuries. It needs to also be repairable, in case it fails. It needs to be hidden, but accessible. It must be simple to use, and not difficult to reset. A good design is always a challenge.

While I was building the case for the box, using beech wood and full blind dovetails, Patrice has been busy with the marquetry for the exterior. He started out designing the overall pattern, for the top and sides, while I assembled the veneer into packets. He then went to work on the chevalet, cutting all the elements in 4 copies at the same time. We decided to use the Classic Method, since we want to make a series of 4 boxes with the same marquetry.

As he completed trays of parts, I then put them all into the proper area for inventory control. This means we have several trays with stacks of 4 identical pieces for each element of the design. Trays for the top half of the top design, bottom half of the top design, front and back panels and side panels. Each tray is carefully handled, and covered at night, so Gigi (the shop cat) will not mess them up.

There are something like 1500 elements in the marquetry for one box. With 4 boxes to build, that means 6000 tiny pieces of wood. Each element of the design needs to be placed in hot sand long enough to create a shadow by slightly burning the wood. I guarantee you that this is the most essential and most boring stage of marquetry work.

That is why I am pleased that it is winter! It is "cold" here and working over the hot sand is rather pleasant, especially with a nice cup of coffee near by.

Patrice spent the entire day yesterday (12 hours) listening to French books on audio, drinking coffee and carefully placing marquetry pieces in the sand. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds, sometimes longer, but each species of wood reacts differently to the heat. It takes all your concentration not to loose a piece in the sand, or let it combust, and the work means you are constantly moving pieces, with tweezers, from the tray to the sand and back again.

What you see in the photo is the tray with the top half of the top design. Today Patrice will start the tray with the bottom half of the top design, and "so it goes." The first box in this series was purchased the day we started, and is supposed to be under the tree soon.

How soon is Christmas again?

Shop Tour: Cave a placage

It is not too far from the truth to say that I spend all my time at the shop. Since I am fortunate to live only 6 blocks away, it is easy to walk or bike home for lunch, and I enjoy the short walk to work each day as my primary physical activity. I go home to shower, eat and sleep, but the rest of the time is spent inside this large building I constructed over the years for my "sport".

It started out as a run down 1926 Craftsman home, located in a commercial district in historic North Park. Across the street is Jefferson Elementary school, where the happy sounds of children playing have provided the background music at work forever. In the years just after the second War, the previous owners added a 500 square foot stucco showroom to the front of the house for their business: repairing tube type televisions. When tubes went out of style, they closed up the shop, and I got it. I am the second owner, and I began to remove interior walls to make room for my business.

Now, over 40 years later, the building is completely converted to my use and includes a large 2 story addition where the back yard used to be, bringing the total size to about 5,000 square feet. It is what you might call a big playground for woodworking. I have everything I need to exist: tools, materials, hardware, veneer, wood, projects, food, kitchen, showroom, school, etc.

Frequently, people visit for a tour. We have found visitors from all over the globe knocking on our front door, asking politely to see what is inside. We enjoy these visits, and have a standard 5 minute tour which usually takes longer, depending on the various topics of interest.

One of the neat things about my workshop is that I have the luxury of space and the shop is set up with a variety of designated work areas as well as specific storage areas. Looking at it from the visitor's perspective, I can see that it would be informative to showcase some of these areas on the blog. Others, who wish to set up a business, or are just curious as to how I work, might enjoy this series.

To start, I chose the room I built for my veneer storage: the cave a placage. In many ways, it is my veneer vault, since most of my profit over the years sits on these shelves, waiting for a project. Many woodworkers who have veneer store them improperly. I have seen lots of shops where the veneer is placed high up on a shelf where it gets heat and dries out. It also gets dusty and dirty. It is difficult to sort through and gets broken.

When I designed my addition, I added a room just for veneer. It has 10 foot ceilings and is about 150 square feet, with welded steel shelving on all walls. It has 8" thick walls and is completely insulated on all sides, as well as being air tight. Therefore, it remains extremely stable in both temperature and humidity. Note the monitor on the shelf. Usually the reading is about 65 degrees and 65% humidity.

Veneer storage is exactly like cigars, wine, cheese and mushrooms. Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too dry, and no light. This room provides that perfectly. I have seen the humidity drop overnight here in San Diego, when the Santa Ana winds blow in from the desert. It can go from 70% to 10% in under 24 hours, and unprotected wood goes into shock from the sudden loss of moisture. Inside the veneer cave, it remains stable, as long as the door is closed.

When I started buying veneer in the 60's and 70's, I could order from Constantine, in New York, and spectacular veneer would arrive in the post. I could get sawn Brazilian rosewood for 28 cents a square foot. I could spend $50 and get the "marquetry pack" which contained a gold mine of shorts, more than I could ever use. All these veneers were 1/28" (0.9mm) or thicker.

During the 80's and early 90's the quality and availability of veneers declined dramatically. I realized that I should buy as much as I could afford, since I could see that the "end was near." In 1995, in Paris, I witnessed the demise of the largest veneer processing plant in France. All the machinery was sold for scrap and the business changed forever. The only place left for me to purchase good material was Patrick George, who was a 4th generation French veneer dealer. He operated a veneer saw, the "scie a bois montant" which I have discussed in an earlier post. Be sure to check out his video.

His sawn veneers are the best in the world, and the price reflects that quality. They are all between 1.5 and 2.0 mm in thickness and sold by the weight. They average between 100 and 350 euros per Kilo. For many years, when I returned to Paris, I would drop about $10,000 on his veneers, stocking up my vault with the most wonderful woods, ranging in color from Gaboon ebony to English holly. I have a treasure trove of materials to select from, including bone, ivory, horn, shell, and brass and copper.

Now I don't have the extra money to spend, and much of the material available is not up to my standards. I realize I need to be very responsible and conserve what I have for the next 40 years. It took me 40 years to stock my cave and it will take me 40 years to consume it.

I am a very fortunate woodworker.

The Final Reward

I often think that I could have gone into the medical field. I might have been a plastic surgeon or a "bone doctor" for example. As a plastic surgeon, my job would have been to repair cosmetic damage in such a way that it was not obvious anything was done. As a bone doctor, my job would have been to repair complicated broken bones so that the person was made whole again. Either way, I would have had a lot more stress, and more money by this time.

By my estimate, I have restored over 10,000 objects in my career. I think that may be conservative, but I only really count the larger projects. Like the baby doctor who has delivered hundreds of babies into the world, it is hard to remember all of them. Each one is special and unique at the time of delivery, but the next day there is another job to do, "and so it goes."

Here are two photos of jobs we just completed this week. The first is the chair, which I did for my own pleasure (ie: I was the client) (in other words: no money). The second is the mirror which Patrice did as his first gold leaf project.

The chair project was very rewarding. I was able to completely conserve all the original materials which were in the upholstery, and I had a piece of fabric and some trim which was perfect for the job. You will note the work I did on this chair in earlier posts. The fact that this chair was found in the trash and on its way to the dump in a pickup truck when I got it is even more satisfying. One of the most important reasons I am in this profession is to save (recycle) important cultural artifacts from the past which would otherwise be lost forever. This chair is now ready for the next century of use, and I trust that, when it is dirty, broken and torn, a person who appreciates it will take the time to put it back together.

The mirror is also very exciting. Patrice worked very hard on it, and it was a difficult first project due to its Rococo carving and condition. He added gold leaf to the entire frame (again I refer to earlier posts) and created a patina which the client desired. We both spent some time discussing whether the patina was enough or too much or not enough. The client was very pleased at the result and Patrice should be complimented for his effort. I told him that, without him, I would never tackle such a job.

All I did for this project was clean the mirror.

Old and New Protein Glue

I have had the cast iron glue pot cooking near my bench for over40 years. Every day I turn it on first thing when I open up the shop and every day I turn it off when I turn off the lights. There has been a note inside the front door which asks: "Glue Pot Off?" for as long as I remember. More than once in my career I have woken up at 2am and returned to the shop to see if I forgot to turn it off. About 30% of the time it was on; the rest of the time I just mumbled something and returned to bed.

For the past two decades I have also been developing and using a liquid form of this glue, Old Brown Glue. The demand for this glue has grown tremendously through word of mouth and the fact that it simply works great. It has a long open time, bonds well, penetrates better than hot glue and is much easier to clean up.

Currently I am repairing a nice set of English Regency mahogany chairs. Doing the gluing on a large set of chairs at one time requires that I use a glue with a fairly long open time, so I use the OBG. In some cases there are small fragments of wood which are broken away from the joint. For that I use the hot glue pot, since the bond is almost immediate.

So the glue pot sits next to the OBG system in the center of the shop, just a few feet from my bench and the wall of clamps. For the OBG I use a simple tub of hot tap water, which I change from time to time as it cools. The bottle is kept in the water so it is liquid. On top of the water I float a small plastic cup which holds the brush and glue, ready to use. I can take that small cup to the bench, make my repair and quickly return it to the water so it stays ready. In addition to keeping the glue liquid, I can use the tub of water to wash my hands or wet a paper towel to clean up the joint. Very practical and easy.

And I do not have to wake up at 2am and worry.

This project also serves to demonstrate more vector clamping methods. As the regency chair form is fairly common, I always have blocks ready for clamping in place. First I just tape the block where I want it, so I do not have to have three hands. Then I put the glue on the joint and apply the clamp. Normally, if the blocks are made correctly, only one clamp is needed to close the joint. The second clamp serves to hold the block in position.

Looking closely at the photos, I need to make two comments: First, the wine bottles are full of water based stains, not what you think. Second, there is a belt sander on the floor...one of the few nasty tools I have used and not something I am proud of. However, have you ever tried to hand sand sharkskin? It has the density of teeth!

All That Glitters

I have a very small company. My wife, Kristen, sits in the office all day and works the phone and paperwork so I can be at the bench. Without her doing that part of the business, I would not be half as productive, and have a lot more gray hair.

She also teaches the design and art part of the class when we have students in the American School of French Marquetry. She was a high school art teacher for many years and understands "negative space" which is why she can live with me.

I also have a business partner and friendly agitator, Patrice Lejeune, who shares the work. He graduated from ecole Boulle and worked in Paris restoring and creating furniture for several years before he contacted me and we successfully brought him here on a visa. His wife, Agnes Penot-Lejeune, is finishing her PhD thesis at the Sorbonne on the 19th century art market, and is working on that project on the web here in the shop.

Patrice has his own style, and has developed a type of marquetry which is unique. You can see his work by checking his link on this blog page (top right side). He also is able to do all the diverse projects which I refuse to do, since I am too old to learn anything new. For example, he does the parchment and sharkskin projects which have recently become part of the business as well as constantly experimenting with formulas for stains and finishes. I find bottles of stuff all over the shop, and always have to ask him "What is this?" before I either throw them out or put them away. (A small complaint: he refuses to label them all the time.)

Earlier this year, we sent Patrice to Oregon to study gold leafing with Nancy Thorn at Gold Leaf Design (see link). Naturally, I thought, since the price of gold is about 5 times more expensive then it should be, why not start a new business working with gold? Seems logical...

Anyway, Patrice is not one to start out small. After doing a dozen or so samples to work out the process, he started regilding an Italian Rococo mirror for one of our favorite clients. This mirror had fallen on hard times and there was a lot of gold overpaint, as well as missing gesso and broken elements.

As you can see in the photos, with the help of the shop cat, Gigi, Patrice is making great progress and the future is bright (with gold!).

7 Billion People and 2 New Toothing Planes

The birth of the unknown child yesterday which pushed the world's population above 7 billion made all the news. When I was born there were 6 billion. Hard to imagine...

I would like to announce another birth. The birth of two lovely toothing planes. I received the notice from Jack Ervin by email, along with two photos. They are charming and perfect, as all newborns are supposed to be. I wish them a long and productive life.

Congratulations Jack! You should be proud.

Patrick, I am attaching photos my first attempt of toothing planes. I was first inspired by your video on Woodtreks about your workbench and the maintenance of the top. What you said about flattening made more sense to me than what others said regarding the subject. When I discovered your blog and read what you had to say in general about toothing planes got me to researching how to procure one. The old tool route was there but distances away. Then I hit on the idea of using a new iron and make my own. Here is the results. The bodies are 6-1/8" and the irons (Lie-Nielsen 212 18 & 25 TPI) are bedded at 80 degrees. I laid out what seemed to be right for the mouth location and used a large draftsman french curve for the side profile. I have used them for flattening extra figured cherry glue-up panels and will use them to maintain flatness on my bench top. Thanks for the inspiration from the videos on Woodtreks and your blog. I visit your blog regularly and need to reply more to keep you encouraged.Your site is making a difference in a positive way at least to me. Jack Ervin

Conservation and Restoration

How do we treat cultural objects which have survived generations of changing taste? Are we simply custodians, and, if so, what is our role in their survival for future generations to appreciate and enjoy?

As a "furniture conservator in private practice," I am in many ways free to establish my own work ethic in my business. I could, for example, use epoxy and foam or add a zebra skin to a Chippendale chair, as the market demands. On the other hand, I could refuse (as I did) to cut out the back panels of a Baroque marquetry armoire, dated 1698, to fit the gigantic television of a rich client. (She was very upset that I refused her request, and I lost a lot of work with that decision.)

Conservators are like doctors in that they are supposed to "do no harm." Unlike doctors, we are also obliged to not remove original material. Conservation means conserving. That said, sometimes it is necessary to make difficult decisions to do invasive work for the survival of the object. In that case, the conservator becomes a restorer. Restoration is necessary when a part of the object has become damaged beyond repair, by bugs, rot or accident. Restoration must be as authentic as possible, but not with any suspicion of "faking." It is a challenging job.

Consider, as a typical example, the question of "original finish" which I have discussed here before. I usually tell my clients that there are two questions to consider when they ask me about refinishing. (1): "Is the finish protecting the wood?" and (2): "Is the appearance of the finish beautiful?"

In the first case, if the finish is damaged beyond repair and no longer protecting the wood, I recommend replacing it with an identical finish. In general, the paste wax protects the polish which protects the wood which protects the protein glues from humidity and mold. If the finish fails, the object will quickly deteriorate. In addition, with many homeowners using oil polishes and sprays, a finish which is missing in areas will allow the uneven penetration of these materials which will damage the wood.

In the second case, if the client appreciates the dark, dirty and opaque look of the finish, fine. Many collectors pay a premium for that look. On the other hand, even the most famous furniture dealers on Antiques Roadshow, who complain about the loss of value when a piece has been refinished, have highly skilled refinishers working in their businesses who do exactly that. Their advice would be more instructive if they explained why using synthetic finishes damages the value but restoring correctly the original finish increases value.

I have seen respected museums make terrible decisions about conservation. When I was studying at Winterthur, in the summer of 1978, I fell in love with the Boston lacquer high chest made by John Pimm, spending hours closely examining the decorative surface. It was one of the signature pieces in their collection, and worth a great deal of money, simply because of the condition of the finish. Soon after that, on another visit, I was horrified to discover that they had coated the surface with a new product, which gave it a shiny, plastic glow. When I asked the conservator about it, he indicated that this new product had a special solvent, and in the future (should it be necessary!) this solvent would dissolve the finish without harming the original finish underneath. Why experiment on this particular piece?

At another time, I believe it was in the Met in New York, I came upon a conservator who was injecting gallons of epoxy into cracks in an ancient carved stone statue. That was about 30 years ago, and I wonder what is the condition of that statue today?

In my mind, there are two obvious reasons to keep things original. The first is to protect the original character of the piece, exactly as it was made, and the second is to provide a learning tool for us to understand exactly how and why it was made that way in a historical and cultural context.

This brings me to the prejudice against upholstery as represented by the acceptance of "non intervention" upholstery methods pervasive today in many American museums. While I was at a conference in Williamsburg, the speaker (a conservator) asked the audience at the end of his talk if there were any questions. I was sitting in the front row, directly in front of the podium and I raised my hand.

"Sir, I note that you have objects on display which include many historic layers of finish, and the purpose of that display is to show the changing taste of fashion and style over time. At the same display, you have removed all evidence of upholstery and replaced it with foam and velcro upholstery. Why not treat the upholstery evidence in a similar way as the finish?"

His response was quick and shocking: "I am a conservator. My job is not to conserve things."

This is why I am in private practice. My job is to conserve things.