David Conley
Well-known member
Society of American Period Furniture Makers
Ohio River Valley Chapter
2007 Fall Meeting
Ohio River Valley Chapter
2007 Fall Meeting
I am proud to say that we had another wonderful chapter meeting in Columbus, OH. Everyone enjoyed the presentations, camaraderie, and dinner. We had approximately 25 people attend from IN, MI, VA, KY and OH.
A very special thanks to Ron Damon and WoodWerks for being such a wonderful host and opening up his store to us, again!! Also a special thanks to Charles Murray for taking care of all the logistics including lunches, dinner and the hotel.
As always, I would like to thank each presenter for stepping up and doing a great job!! And to the attendees for the lively discussions during the presentations.
The sharpening demonstrations started out with Ron Damon discussing the different types of lathe chisels, their uses and how to sharpen them. Ron talked about metallurgy used in the chisels and which one was the best (powered metal HSS). He demonstrated how he sharpens his lathe chisels, including the jigs that he uses. Ron talked about the best type of grinding wheels and sandpaper to use for various operations. He also talked a little about his store, and some power tools, including a customized Powermatic 2066 (in your favorite team colors. Go Buckeyes!, Wolverines, UK, IU or whoever your favorite team is) .
The second sharpening demonstration was by Charles Murray using a Veritas Mk II system. This was a powered system that put an edge on a blade very quickly and with little fuss. The system consisted of a motorize platen with interchangeable lap wheels. Each lap wheel uses a different grit sand paper. A secondary bevel is achieved by stitching to the final lap wheel which is thinner then the coarser one and thereby changing the grind angle. Charles uses 100, 40, and 9 micro PSA sandpaper. A cheap source for sandpaper for this unit is from “SuperGrit” which is about $2 a disk verse $6 a disk from Veritas. Finally, Charles put his own homemade jig on the unit and showed us how he sharpens his scraper blades.
The third demonstration was by George Walker on Period Furniture Moldings. George has been educating us on the ancient orders of architecture and their use in fine woodworking and how we and nature are wired to these simple ratios. The Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders were used on the finer interior architecture in the grand Greek and Roman temples. These same orders were also used for cabinetry work. As George explained, the original temples were made from wood and not stone or concrete in the ones that we see today. So, many of the architecture shapes and features were developed for both aesthetics and for function. For example, the large over hang at the top of a column was needed to hide a rain gutter and/or the joinery behind it. When dealing with moldings and dividers, George has found out that most of the molding use ratios of either 1:5, 1:6 or 1:7. Examples, bracket feet are 1/5 the height of the bottom section, or the bonnets are 1/6 the height of the top section. It is amazing how close the finer furniture follows these classical ratios.
A Jim Crammond presentation was on sharpening auger bits. Jim started off his demonstration with an explanation of the different types of bits, and lead screws. He then showed us how to sharpen these auger bits with files and how to restore the lead screws. This sharpening method can also be used for similar types of bits, like Forstner bits.
I did the final sharpening demonstration with Japanese waterstones. If a tool is in really bad shape (a nick in the cutting edge), I use a motorized grinding wheel to reshape a damaged tool. I bought and tried to use a 250 grit Japanese stone. But, it was too coarse to hold moisture and because of that, it blinds off very quickly and doesn’t sharpen very quickly. It also wears extremely quickly. Therefore, I continue to use a grinding wheel for shaping The first Japanese stones I use are the coarse 800-1200 grit stones. These stones cut and wear very quickly. For gouges, this is not a problem, but for a bench chisel or a plane blade that needs a flat stone, it requires the user to be constantly flatting their stones. In fact, I now have two sets of stones. One set is for gouges that I flatten every once and a while and another set that I keep dead flat for my bench chisels and plane irons. Next, I use a 3000 grit stone for the intermediate sharpening. For wide cutting edges, I will proceed to a 6000 grit stone before going to an 8000 grit stone for the final polish. For the narrow blades, I will skip the 6000 grit stone. Also, I use a soapy solution on the 6000 and 8000 grit stones. This soap acts likes a lubricant to help reduce the “stick’sion” (blade being sucked to the stone). Finally, I like using the new Veritas Mk II jig when I am sharpening my bench chisels and plane irons.
The final demonstration was Marquetry using the boule method and given by Dick Kammerer. Using 1/28 inch veneers, Dick showed us show to build a boule packet (photo copy of pattern, gray cardboard, veneers, and gray cardboard). Dick then stapled the package together using veneering pins and regular staples where he could. Once the package was put together, he drilled one hole in it, and started the scroll cuts. After he had cut out a couple of pieces, he allowed the audience to come up and try their hand at cutting out the rest of the pattern. After all of the pieces were cut out, dick then assembled all of the parts and pieced it together with veneer tape.
As with all of the Chapter meetings, I am continually impressed with the accumulated knowledge and talent we have in our group. The quality and educational value of these demonstrations are on par with the best conferences out there. Our size allows us to get up close and personal with the presenters. It was truly another wonderful experience sharing knowledge and fellowship.