This winter will be the one during which I begin to address the door issue in the barn.
For the past 13 years the entrance into my studio space has been delineated by a pair of doors comprised of nice wooden frames with double plastic sheets, shower curtains actually, that have performed surprisingly well. But, the time has come to install proper insulated doors. Given the odd size of the doorways, determined by unalterable features of the original post-and-beam structure, the two doors into my studio space will need to be custom made.
The standard entry door to the first floor/basement was framed in about two hours if I recall correctly, needing to fit a compression fit jamb using only the things I had on hand one Sunday afternoon before heading back to Mordor. What I had on hand was some scrap white pine joist stock and a tube of construction adhesive, along with a salvaged insulated door. Years later this haphazard installation has become decrepit to the point where a good blast of wind or even a curious bear could take it down.
The garage-door opening of the first floor/basement was filled with a pair of four-foot-wide doors I made from 2x, plywood and with insulated glass inserts. Within a year of their installation (the photo was taken at the completion of the original installation) a howling windstorm caused irreparable damage to them (we get serious hurricane-strength (!) windstorms every year or so out in the holler) and ever since they have just been screwed shut with plastic sheeting covering the entire section from the inside. One thing has been made clear as a result, namely that I simply did not need a garage door-style access to the inside space as a matter of regular activity. I’m thinking of building a pair of panels, one screwed in place as an insulated wall and the other openable as a door to allow me to wheel my smelting furnace cart in and out as my foundry work progresses.
My ongoing project to complete “The Ultimate Portable Workbench” takes a back seat to my revisiting a existing workstation in the shop this week.
A recent learning experience led me to re-think my salvaged Sjoberg bench that serves as my “fine work” station for almost everything un-woodworking-ish, like engraving, checkering, fine metalwork, etc. During Thanksgiving week my son-in-law and I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on reloading ammunition, which involves a lot of press work. The Sjoberg was simply inadequate for those particular tasks even though I do a lot of other gun work there. But, could it be modified to work for reloading?
I am happy to report that the answer was, “Yes.”
At issue was the shallowness of the workbench top and the difficulty, read: impossibility, of attaching some presses to the edge of said top as required by the processes involved. A simple add-on solved both problems in one swell foop.
I had a scrap of butcher block benchtop material that fit the cutaway configuration of the bench top almost perfectly. All I needed was to create a way to affix it solidly to the existing bench yet make it removable for more routine work.
I accomplished this through the addition of a couple simple elements to the underside of the slab so that one end could be captured by the face vise and the other end by the end vise.
Putting the new appendage in place and tightening the vise screws and viola’, the new feature is darned near perfect for the tasks. It suits me so well I may wind up leaving it in place most of the time.
Installing it and de-installing takes upwards of seven seconds per operation.
As I approach the nine-year (!) anniversary of my “retirement” (three weeks from today) and subsequent escape from Mordor, I recall the friends and contemporaries who have also retired and reflect on how well we have done with our new life patterns. Those who were ready to retire but were not ready to be retired have struggled to find their footing in this new terrain, while those who were ready to be retired with a full slate of activities ready-to-go have fared pretty well.
Since my official date of retirement came in between Christmas and New Year’s my retirement party was scheduled for nearly a month after the fact. Much to my delight was the character of the event; the celebration was understated (I forbade there to be any remarks from my “superiors”), plus there was a huge carrot cake, my favorite from our local bakery Gerard’s in Oxon Hill MD, Mrs. Barn and both Barndottirs were in attendance as was a huge contingent of friends and colleagues past and present.
One of them asked me, “So Don, how long did it take you to get used to being retired?”
I replied, “I was used to it by the time I walked out the front door on the last day.” This truth reflected the fact that I “retired” with a huge menu of productive things to do and the time/energy/means to get them done.
That has never changed, well, in truth the energy level has backed off a bit. But still I have a huge agenda of things to get done, and so for the next couple of months I will blog frequently about projects on my list for the coming winter and probably several winters (and summers) yet to come. Some of the projects are evergreen.
One thing has not diminished in the least, my desire to learn new things and adopt new skills and refine old ones.
Just in case you were worried that I had nothing to do but loaf around.
Stay tuned.
A few weeks ago we were visiting our daughter in Maryland and she and I spent some time trimming back a crepe myrtle tree that had grown to the point that it was banging against the side of the house near her second floor bedroom.
The episode caused me to reflect on planting the tree sapling as part of composing a Japanese garden 25(?) years ago. Though that particular gardening bug did not really take hold of me in practice I maintain a continued fascination with Japanese gardens and visit them whenever I can, but all the stuff I planted and installed way back then is still there. Even the bamboo, alas.
When felling the sections of the now-giant crepe myrtle — I have never really figured out if it is a shrubbish tree or a tree-ish shrub, I guess it depends on the growing conditions and those at this location must be superb as the two crepe myrtles there have grown to be taller than a two-story house– I noted that some of the branches were the size of my thigh, certainly large enough to harvest for lumber, most particularly for carved spoons and such. I have never used crepe myrtle wood for anything except brush fires in the burn barrel, but perhaps now is the time to experiment. My only hesitancy is that I have noticed a contact dermatitis inflammation almost every time I trim the trees which makes me wonder if its sap is an allergen or toxin especially given my reaction to urushiol, the allergen in poison ivy/oak/sumac and the basis for oriental lacquerwork.
Gotta check that issue out. I’ll let you know what I find out.
For the home stretch of the jam-packed three-day workshop the final set of exercises involved the giant panel. It had already served its first purpose, getting the students comfortable with laying down an exquisite brushed shellac surface over a large area. Since the panels were roughly half the size of a dining table, I’m thinking any hurdles of intimidation have been overcome.
At this point the panel was subdivided into four quadrants, each of them to be treated in a unique manner. The first quarter was easy — just leave it alone as an example of laying down an excellent base of three-inning shellac.
A second quarter was spirit varnish pad polished to a high sheen, demonstrating the option of creating a not-grain-filled padded surface.
The third quarter was hand polished with abrasive powders, first 4F pumice then rottenstone in mineral oil, using a polishing pad identical to the spirit varnishing pad. This was followed by a light application of paste wax and buffed when the wax was firm.
The final quarter was burnished with Liberon 0000 steel wool saturated with paste wax, and as with the rottenstone polishing, rubbed until you just get tired. When the paste wax was firm ex poste it was buffed with flannel to a brilliant glow.
As always there is at least one somebody who gets seduced by my library.
When we wrapped up the event it was clear that they had all mastered the techniques wonderfully, and departed with confidence and a set of sample boards to guide and inspire them for decades to come.
If scheduling a workshop identical to the one these fellows completed, drop me a note. I will no longer “schedule” any workshops but only host them on request.
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In the finishing trade we often quip that our job is to make wood, “Brown and shiney.” Historically one of the main methods employed for the “brown” part was asphaltum, or tar. I knew of using tar as a toning glaze in gilding, where the tar would be diluted with white spirits and used to accentuate the gilded surfaces. I had not used it for wood until about fifteen years ago, responding to the evangelism of Alan Noel, a/k/a “The Czar of Tar,” and famed Atlanta based finisher and restorer and long time friend
For the workshop I’d asked Knoxville Dave to provide instruction on both pad polishing and asphaltum glazing, since he does so much more of that than I do. Yes indeed, that is a can of fiberless parging asphalt that he is mixing and diluting to glaze consistency.
We both using glazing as our “go to” technique for coloring, since it is so much more controllable than any penetrating colorant, and can be controlled to perfection. Sometimes staining works perfectly, but is is “just off a little bit” enough to take that technique off the table for me.
The exercise that really showcases the asphalt glazing technique was toning the turnings. They were first shellacked then burnished, leaving a magnificent foundation on to which you lay the color. The dilute asphalt was spread on the surface, then manipulated with cloth pads and fine bristle brushes to provided subtle shading to the presentation surface.
One of the beauties of asphaltum is that it performs almost like a dye, yet can be manipulated to provide both understated and exuberant change.
Dave also demonstrated using the glaze on a flat panel to great effect, mimicking the “ammonia fuming” so prized in Craftsman furniture finishes.
With that, the students were turned loose on the workpieces.
One of the fellows did some asphalt glazing to his new carved Bible box to great effect.
After the asphalt dried the surfaces were sealed with another coat of the shellac varnish.
The only thing left for the workshop was final detailing for the mega panel. Stay tuned.
Gluing the internal ribs was no big deal; first I dry-fit all the ribs then marked their locations, so that I would know where to put the bead of glue. I used PVA mostly because I have a lot of it left over from another project and just wanted to use it up.
Once the glue lines were down and the grid re-placed on top of them I simply “clamped” them in place with a couple hundred pounds of bricks. Everything stayed put over night and in the morning all was well.
I moved on to the backing blocks needed for the threaded screw holes and a couple of other features. For the threaded vise holes I just held them in place with spring clamps.
For the backing blocks on the top and bottom faces I uses more of the same ‘brick as clamps” strategy.
One area of great frustration, fear and failure for many woodworkers is the challenge of applying a hand-finish to voluptuous surfaces, including carved and turned objects. While I could not provide a syllabus with examples of every possible option in this exercise I was able to introduce the principles, practices and tools requisite for the task. The key to success in varnishing the curvey parts is to use the correct tool, in this case an oval wash or Filbert Mop brush for watercolor paintings.
There are many excellent brands of watercolor brushes for artists that work brilliantly for wood finishing, but I have sorta settled on Simmons brushes in part because they were widely available at Michael’s. Even their cheapest brush, the “Simply Simmons” line, can provide an exquisite brushed surface. I have a few of the middle-quality brushes, the Simmons Sienna line, and they are even better. Of the premier line, the Simmons Sapphire, I have about a half dozen, and they are sublime, a blend of nylon fibers and sable bristles.
Regardless of which one you choose, and the price range is around $10-15 for the Simply Simmons to $75-100 for the Sapphire, you will have excellent results on undulating surfaces because the Oval Wash/Filbert Mop configuration does not have the square corner typical for most brushes. Those corners are the source of nothing but headaches on the carved or turned surface as it is the corners that “squeegee” off excess varnish, leading to the runs, drips, and errors that are the curse from finishing with the wrong tool.
In this workshop I had a pile of turned spindles and frame-and-panel cabinet doors to provide the battleground for the exercises. As almost always the starting point is to burnish the entire surface with a polissoir, and I have designed a “Carver’s Model” polissoir with 3/4″ bristles for just this instance.
One of the real delights for the workshop was that one of the students had just made a carved Bible box the week before, and brought it along for the class.
The transformation of the raw carved surface by the application of a few minutes’ worth of burnishing was truly astounding.
Then it was time to get to brushing the shellac varnish, and the draping character of the oval brushes – almost literally clinging to the irregular surface – was life-changing to the students as they were able to lay down multiple flawless applications of varnish.
Suddenly, what had been an aspect of wood finishing imparting fear and loathing became something to anticipate with celebration.
… or more precisely, glass paper.
Though certainly not used to the degree of our current time, when it is ubiquitous in every shop I have ever visited, sandpaper was in the furniture maker’s and finisher’s tool kits in days past. There are many probable reasons for it being much scarcer in the 18th century, not the least being the cost of all paper-based products. We know only the time when paper and all its descendants are cheap and plentiful to the point where it is simply mindlessly disposable. 250 years ago, not only was the paper essentially hand made (yes, I know the process was being industrialized even then) but so too was the associated product of “glass paper.” Abrasive paper sheets were undoubtedly also industrialized to a great degree, but thus far I have never read an authoritative period account of glass-paper making. If you know of one please let me know.
One of the delightful rabbit trails I’ve been incorporating into historic finishing workshops in recent years has been to include making a sheet of glass paper by each student. As in olden days the abrasive itself was ground glass, known as frit, and the adhesive gluing the abrasive to the paper was hot hide glue. Using 135 gws glue to saturate 100% rag paper, then sheet was sprinkled with the fine frit (approximately equivalent to 100-grit sandpaper). Not to self — when photographing this exercise for the book, DO NOT use white frit over white paper.
Set aside to dry for a day, the result was a usable sheet of abrasive paper. Were I to incorporate this product into my normal shop activities I would take the additional step of “hardening” the glue with a chemical crosslinker applied to the back side of the paper. Historically the chemical would have been formaldehyde, but nowadays I would use Heico NH5 photo gelatin solution.
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