Veneering & Inlay

This past Sunday, I took a class taught by Jonathan Benson on Veneering & Inlay. Jon is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with pieces exhibited in over 40 galleries nationwide, has taught college level woodworking for over ten years, has written for publications such as Woodshop News and Woodwork Magazine and has recently written a book entitled Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay.

Jon explained the different ways that veneer is cut from a log, depending on how it will be used, and the benefits to using veneer over solid wood. One reason in particular is sustainability. Wood cut into veneer can cover a whole lot more surface area than its solid wood equivalent. He explained bookmatching, 4-way (and more) matching, arranging pie shapes, cutting diamond shapes, and applying veneer to curved surfaces.

Veneering began in ancient Egypt, 5,500 years ago, where thin pieces were cut from a tree with an adze and made smooth with stones. Even though the veneer was 1/4" thick, it made the best use of the wood that was scarce and precious to the Egyptians.

Jon demystified veneering and inlay for me and demonstrated just how easy it is. I made my first inlay, using bookmatched walnut and a piece of birdseye maple, and although I haven't glued it to a substrate yet, it came together with little effort.

In his book, Jon explains exactly how to work with veneer; its history; how it is produced from a log; how to repair it; how to arrange it for spectacular geometric patterns; how to make a jig which utilizes a mirror to determine the best cut; how to make a jig that secures the veneer while you square the edge; how to create inlay, parquetry, and marquetry; how to work with curved projects; how to make your own veneer; and how to build a curved mirror frame, along with step-by-step instructions.

Working with veneer not only opens up a whole new aspect to woodworking, it enables you to work with wood which in its solid form might be cost prohibitive, and allows you to feel good about helping to sustain our forests.

Lamb's Tongue

A lamb's tongue is a decorative profile carved into a workpiece which eases the transition between a chamfer and a square corner. The original sawbuck table does not use a lamb's tongue, but a simple curve, on the stretcher that links the two leg assemblies.
One of the things that attracted me to this project was all of the details—ones that I have never tried before—that were applied to what at first glance appears to be a very simple table: eased chamfers, tusk tenons, sawbuck legs, and an angled drawer.

First, I made a jig so the corner I was working on would face up and so I didn't have to use clamps to secure the stretcher to the workbench. It is entirely possible to make this design element with just a straight chisel. Maybe that's why we see this feature in so many antiques—it's a subtle, yet distinctive, and easily created element. To use a chisel, carve the convex portion with the chisel bevel up. Use it bevel down, and lever the chisel in a scooping motion for the concave portion, working from both sides of this section to avoid tearout. Scoop down into the "valley" and feather the area where two sides of the valley come together. I had an easier time accomplishing this with a gouge.

Now...onto the tusk tenons!

Woodworking Around the World

Some online statistic services let bloggers know how readers found them—through searches or referrals from other sites—and where in the world readers reside. Below is a list of the places where woodworkers who read this blog live. In total: 59 countries/regions/territories. Wow. Woodworking is truly a universal language.

I am very curious about woodworking in other parts of the world, including other states within the U.S., particularly regarding the types of wood that are readily available and the styles of furniture that originated there.

Cherry and walnut are plentiful where I live and they are my favorite woods to work with, followed by pine. I have only cursory knowledge of the furniture styles that originated in PA, so am not able to write about them with any depth, but my favorite is Pennsylvania German furniture for its folksy, earthy, and practical qualities.

At right are photos of a trunk that my great-grandfather built in Boxholm, Östergötland, Sweden before he came to the U.S. I have never seen the trunk in person, just photos, so I'll guess that the wood is pine. The hardware is not original and there had been a sliding tray inside which has since gone a-missing. Sturdy and functional, but with what may have been a purely decorative element on top of the lid—the raised portion.

The wooden plate was painted by my grandma and reads, in Swedish, "Welcome to our home." She used a technique called rosemaling, or rose painting, which originated in Norway in the 1700s. "C" and "S" strokes, and stylized flowers are indicative of this style of painting. Although she was not a woodworker, grandma may have influenced my love of folk art and handmade creations.

I would love to hear from woodworkers across the globe & U.S. about the wood & tools they use and the furniture designs & decorative elements that are representative of their country or state. Feel free to leave a comment here or email me directly: goodwoodworkshop@comcast.net. Photos are appreciated!

Desert Island Tools

"Desert Island" is a figure of speech that refers to your favorite of something (I didn't make that very clear when I first posted this, my apologies). With "Desert Island Tools", I'm asking which tools can’t you do without? You know, the ones that get a workout every time you’re in the shop. Let’s say you can choose 5 items from your shop. My list includes:

1) 18” Jet Bandsaw—used to resaw lumber, rip rough-cut boards, cut small pieces, make angled and scroll cuts, cut tenons, and shape plane blanks.

2) Lee Valley Veritas Low Angle Block Plane—for chamfering edges, trimming dovetail and finger joints, planing small boards on edges and face, and making dowels.

3) Krenov-Style Jack Plane—of all the planes I’ve made, this one, my first one (beginner’s luck), still works best, even on end grain. It cuts a very fine shaving, so I use it for final finishing and jointing.

4) 5/8” Japanese Chisel—a good size for most projects and keeps a sharp edge for a long time.

5) Shop Apron, including contents (Yeah, it’s cheating. But it’s my blog.)
a. Bridge City Toolworks 4” Square—accurate and pretty and the only item from this company that I can afford.
b. 1.5” Engineer’s Square—just the right size for small pieces and for transferring layout lines to edges. Great for dovetails.
c. 6” Ruler with 1/64” increments—I have two because I’m terrified of losing it.
d. 6" Combination Square—for marking a parallel line along the length of a board, checking depths of mortises and dadoes, finding the center of a board’s edge, and more...
e. Tape Measure—for measuring long boards. I absolutely cannot get used to a folding rule.

So...what’s on your "island"?

Mortise & Tenon

There are two beefy mortise and tenon joints (read: lots of room for error, if you're like me) that support the stretcher on the sawbuck table. The mortises are 1.5" (w) x 2" (h) x 1.375" (deep) and the tenons are almost 5" long. I laid out the mortises using a cardboard template to ensure that both would align correctly, then removed the bulk of the wood with a forstner bit chucked into my drill press.

A mortising chisel removes chunks of wood in short order and a paring chisel cleans up the sides of the mortise. I worked from both sides of the leg assembly and checked for square along the way. If you pare from both sides, often a crown is created in the middle of the joint, which is revealed by a square.

To layout the tenon, I used a slicing gauge to incise lines on the end and on all four sides and defined the shoulder with a chisel before roughing out the shape on the band saw.


Then, for two reasons, I used a #50 rasp to work the tenon down to the layout lines:

1) The rasp quickly removes band saw marks and 2) I have never been able to make my Stanley shoulder plane work properly. It's demon-possessed. No, really. That's the only possible explanation.

Shaker Oval Boxes

At the [boys] woodworking club meeting last night, the topic was "How to make Shaker Oval Boxes", a presentation given by fellow club member and President of Volunteers of America, Alan Garner.

The Shakers used oval boxes to hold everything from nails to thread to dried food to paint pigment. According to Alan, Shaker oval boxes were the original tupperware. Typically the boxes were made with pine tops & bottoms and maple sides. Originally they were painted bright colors, but when natural wood became the fashion in the mid-late 19th c., the Shakers switched to clear finishes.

Using a belt sander, Alan feathers the squared-end of the wood strip that will lie beneath the fingers of the box, creating a smooth overlay.

The fingers are already cut to shape when he soaks the wood strips (that will become the walls of the box and lid band) in a water-filled metal box which sits atop and is heated by an electric hot plate. Once the wood is wet, he uses a utility knife to cut a 10º bevel on the fingers. Then he reheats the wood strip.

Working very quickly, he bends the heated wood around an oval form and marks the point of overlay with a pencil. He removes the wood from the form, re-bends it and aligns the pencil marks.

Using a 12" long, 2" thick pipe as an anvil, he fastens the box together with copper tacks, which are hammered through pre-drilled holes. Copper tacks will not stain wood as steel tacks will. By tapping the tacks into the wood while it's resting on the pipe, a hook is created on the point of the tack and it bends itself back into the wood.

Two shapers are inserted into the top and bottom openings of the box to help maintain the shape as it dries. The heated lid band is bent around the box to determine the circumference, marked with a pencil, and tacked together in the same manner as before. The box is allowed to dry for 24 hours.

Alan uses either quartersawn wood or plywood for the lid and bottom of the box and marks the shape by tracing inside the box and lid band. He then roughs out the shape on a bandsaw and uses a disk sander to create a 2º bevel along the edge.

To fasten the plywood inside the lid band and bottom of the box, Alan uses a jig to drill holes for square-sided, wooden toothpicks that act as dowels to pin the pieces together. In the second to last photo you can see 2 toothpicks along the bottom edge of the box. The jig secures his drill, and a wood rest, placed in front of the drill bit, positions the box at the right height for drilling.

For a finish, Alan uses General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Oil & Urethane Stain followed by 2 coats of paste wax. And the result, along with Alan's fine craftsmanship, is gorgeous.

Everything you need to start making these boxes, including detailed instructions, can be found at www.shakerovalbox.com.

Harrisburg Artsfest

The Harrisburg Artsfest is a 3 day-long juried craftshow during Memorial Day weekend and along the Susquehanna Riverfront. The artwork includes pottery, painting, photography, metalwork, jewelry, fabric arts, leather, stonework, knives, brooms, and of course, woodworking.

I spoke with 3 of the woodworkers who were, as I have found most woodworkers to be, friendly people who generously share their knowledge with you.

June Burns, along with her husband, Tony, own Peachie Originals. They collect and use antique scroll saws to create puzzles for children. They also have written 3 books showcasing some of their original designs and how to make them. June was demonstrating with an 1860s treadle scroll saw which is powered by one foot that pumps a pedal. She switched feet while we were talking, because her one foot had run out of gas. During the show, June cut out little shapes to give away and in 3 seconds, she had scrolled a shamrock for me.

Steve Strouse makes Shaker oval boxes in various hardwoods including cherry, walnut, maple, elm, and lacewood, among others. He uses only locally-salvaged wood that comes from storm damaged trees, tree care services, and logs that would otherwise end up in a landfill, including one 143 year old Sugar Maple that had been removed from the county courthouse. On his website, Steve provides photos of his work, lumber preparation, workshop, and young daughter who helps him sand the inside of his oval boxes.

Maker of treenware, Bob DeWitt, of DeWitt's Spoons & Bowls, showed me how he uses a jig clamped in a vise to secure rough-shaped spoons while he uses a drawknife for final shaping. A board with a carved, shallow recess hangs on his chest and effectively wedges the spoon between the jig and himself. Bob uses gouges, a bent knife, and drawknives to shape his bowls and spoons, and upon completion, soaks the projects in water for days in order to raise the grain, sands them with 600 grit sandpaper, and applies mineral oil and beeswax. Finishing his pieces this way creates a burnished-type surface on which water pools rather than soaks into the wood.

Every year, the Artsfest is an impressive gathering of talented people whose attention to detail and love of their craft is evident in their work.














So, what did I buy at the show?
Hey, what's a woodworker without a little bling?






Peachie Originals: (716) 679-4766

Strouse Woodworking: (814) 353-1901

DeWitt's Spoons & Bowls: (814) 842-6042

Sticky Shim

Thanks to a comment by Gary Roberts, there is a blog post today. Gary asked in my last post why I hadn't, instead of removing the bulk of the waste from the lap joint with a chisel, used a rabbet (rebate) plane instead.

According to Gary, "skewed rabbet planes were used for hogging cross grain material, particularly the wider width planes. The large mouth, curved escapement served to allow the coarse cross grain material to be ejected without clogging the plane. The outline of the lap was sawn to the line, the waste was hogged with the rabbet plane and finished up with a chisel or if narrow, with a router."

Suggesting that I use a handplane for a particular joint is like setting a plate of doughnuts in front of Homer Simpson—way too tempting. I love using handplanes.

Since I don't have a skewed rabbet plane, I dusted off my #78 and took a few passes within the layout lines of an untouched lap joint. Handplaning is a mesmerizing experience for me and sometimes I shave more than I should. In my state of handplaning delirium, I completely forgot about leaving a section in the middle of the waste area to support the router plane in final clean up. By the time I realized what I had done, the center section was 1/32" lower than the surface of the workpiece, which would result in sloppy joint with a scalloped bed.

Nothing that a little tape can't solve. 4 layers of masking tape, burnished flat, equals 1/32". It supported my router very well but did get a little chewed up toward the final passes.

Still, a sticky shim saved me from a sticky wicket.