The Light and Wood exhibit at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society (130 Waltham St., Lexington) is from April 16- May 1. It is a cooperative exhibit of works by the Photographer's Guild and the Woodworker's Guild. I will be showing my latest work, the skeptical chair, table, and lamp. It's a subtle but pretty piece of work, if I do say so.
advertising my work
I don't! It is all by word of mouth (so to speak). These days, that means a slightly different thing than it did a few years ago, so tell all your friends to look at my work on my website. Who knows, maybe someone needs a rocking chair?
O & G
I've decided that I'm officially old and grumpy as of today. 68! Piss Off!
a shout out to my Mentors
I was in the construction trade, carpentry, for 40 years, before I “retired” and started building furniture full time. While in the trades, I worked for almost 60 different companies (some of them many different times) in over 200 locations. Most of the time, I would be on the job for the “finish” work, installing millwork or doors and hardware. Every company has slightly different tools in the gang box, a slightly different method of working, and vastly different expectations of what the work should look like when you leave. The quality of work and the quantity of work were the 2 contradictory things that constantly were a sticking point.
In your life, there are people who stand out, people who made a difference in how you saw things. These are 4 people who stand out in my working life, people who helped me immensely with that aforementioned contradictory sticking point. By the way, these are all wonderful people and I know that, typically, these guys all think that this is no big thing! I’m saying that, in my life, it was a very big deal.
Gary Guilmette: The little Vermont Frenchman who, with humor and example, taught me to care ONLY about the integrity of the work!
Charlie Duffer: The outside foreman for National Door who brought me inside based on my work ethic. A believer of the integrity of the work, Charlie taught me how to install doors and hardware on a fast production basis. Please, work smarter not harder!
Norman Godfrey: This guy hired me based on our work together and on his jobs (the Henri Bendel store in Chestnut Hill in particular), quality of work was primary. He pushed me to new heights. pickled oak panels for 3 floors while carrying a 1/8” reveal cut through the whole job.
Bob Drover: This man is the best mechanic I have ever known. He taught me how to make a living installing millwork to 1/64” while keeping production in line with what any other carpenter could do at a much lower level. I carry his techniques now in making furniture and am incredibly grateful that this man took me under his wing.
finishing a piece
I have recently started using shellac (made from female lac bug secretion) in the first step of my finish. It's an ancient finish that was used until the advent of cellulose lacquer in the 20th century. Basically, I use it as a thin wash that dries quickly (30min. - 1hr.) and seals the pores of the wood so that the first coat of oil that I use will dry more quickly. I mix commercial (bullseye) 30 lb. cut shellac half and half with denatured alcohol and rub it with 0000 steel wool after it dries to remove all that hasn't gone into the wood pores. Then it's 3 coats of oil (1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 urethane) rubbed in and wiped off. After that I rub in 2 coats of beeswax, tung oil and linseed oil. It used to take a week to finish a piece, now it takes 5 days.