Woodworking-Blog

Course Dates

2010-03-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

Courses for 2010

Many people ask for dates of courses.

I do not publish dates! As I run my own furniture restoration business I have work every day of the week. As a regular teacher at West Dean College I became so familiar with the subjects that little preparation is needed. The workshop is almost always ready for you! If somebody wants a 3-day course I just fit in with their diary. So far this has worked well with no clashes or dissatisfied customers. Email and mobile phones allow us all to be more flexible and prospective students much prefer to be able to suggest their own timing.

So send me an email or telephone detailing what you are interested in and when you would prefer to come.

Course subject areas are detailed under each course heading on the web page.

Michael@huntleyconsultancy.com or 01373-859977

Alexandra Palace Woodworking Show

2010-03-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Alexandra Palace show was the busiest show I have been to for years. For cabinet-makers Rob Cosman (see pic) was the big attraction. Amongst other things, he said that technique was more important than practice. Now I always tell everybody that they must, like a musician, practice sawing straight and chiselling to a line. I think there is merit in both points of view, what is needed is good technique and fluency. Fluency comes with practice. So like a musician train the brain with exercises but also make sure that the technique is sound as well.
I was demonstrating on the Classic Hand Tools stand and had an electric bench to work on. You may wonder what an electric bench is? Well, it has a motor inside which operates motor-cycle chains to raise and lower the top at the touch of a button see www.boosterbench.co.uk. For someone like me with a bad back it was absolutely brilliant! It is the first two day show when I haven’t needed pain killers at the end of the day.
Talking of benches, it was very kind of so many people to come over and talk to me about the replica bench that I made whilst editor of F&C. Many of you said that you had made your own versions and I am glad the article inspired so many benches. Any chance of anyone sending any pictures in?
One final discovery was www.vallorbe.com. I have known the name as I have had a set of Vallorbe needle files for years but they also make rifflers and rasps. For chairmakers, restorers and sculptors these are great. They come in different degrees of coarseness that allow you to “work through the grits” to borrow a phrase from a different discipline, in order to get a smooth but flowing finished curve. Well worth a look if you like curved work.
There were of course many other things at the show, but these were just a couple that caught my eye. I had a word with an importer of Japanese tools and there will be some new tools appearing in my articles soon. I even had to sell the Japanese marking gauge that I was using as we had no more on the stand and the client wanted one that day! So watch these pages for new tool ideas.

Michael 16th March 2010

2010 Woodworking Courses

2010-03-11T00:12:00.000-08:00

After a bad back last year and the worst Winter in years I have started the Woodworking Courses again at the "Barn" in Derry Hill. Four of us met last Saturday and are working on the compound angle joinery mentioned in my Furniture & Cabinetmaking article in the January issue no 162.

Tomorrow I go up to Alexandra Palace to demonstrate Japanese Tools on the Classic Hand Tools Stand. This Season I have been loaned a full set of Japanese tools by CHT and will run several introductory courses for those wanting to learn how to use and maintain Japanese tools.

I have a bit of past experience in this area, my first job back in the sixties was in the Japanese Department at Sotheby's. I read some Japanese which helps with understanding the instructions on the box! I also have a contact in Japan who is assisting me with translations and Japanese text woodworking books, so I hope to build up quite a reference library of Japanese woodworking titles.

More after the show!

Regards,
Michael

The Inlay Experience

2009-07-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Making scratchstocks.

Several people had cut out their scratchstocks in advance. We then screwed them together taking acount of the screw locations in relation to the cutter. When they came to use them though, the cutter holding arm was far too long. The arms fouled the cramps used to hold the groundwork panel to the bench. That can be solved by using a low profile panel clamping system (MH still to write up), but there is a second problem in that the long arm can encourage movement away from 90 degrees to the line being cut. In other words the long leverage can introduce wiggle. So the overlong scratchstocks were cut down to 6inches.

The positioning of the screws is important. They need to be near the cutter but not right on top of the cutter. Mine works well with just two screws, one from the front and the other from the back. In each case they are sunk below the surface and the clearance hole is drilled full so that there really is clearance and the other side of the stock is pulled up tight. I used No12 screws two inches long and cut the ends off in order to get a decent thickness of thread to bite into the stock.

In use don’t have the cutter projecting too much. 2mm is probably deep enough for a first line.

Cross-grain grooving.

There was some difficulty forming the edges of the cross-grain lines. I think there could have been more use of specially sharpened cutting gauges and making the cutter of the scratch stock a more precise fit by each one being individually ground for each person's particular inlay width, but at this stage the day was just an introduction to the use of workshop made tools and cutters and the group had some way to go in terms of cutter tuning.

Filing the cutters to a V would also have helped as per Colin Eden-Eadon in F&C 136. Again this comes under cutter tuning which will have to be tackled on another day.

There is also the Steve Latta method and workshop made versions of his cutters will be made in the future.

For the time being the traditional method of using a knife and straight-edge to form the cross-grain line edges was used.

Line size and Cutting your own lines

I had cut some inlay lines on my small Record bandsaw and I then demonstrated how to use a stringline draw-plate to thickness the lines. At that point we had some discussion about the terms 'line' and 'square'. In a workshop the term stringline is used for both thin lines and thick lines. Thick lines are sometimes sold and indeed cut as square section inlay. Square section 'lines' are also used as arris inlays on edges. There is great potential for confusion, so the best thing is to check the cross-sectional measurements ie 1.5mm by 1.5mm or 1.5mm by 0.7mm; and that brings us to the subject of veneer thickness. In historic furniture, and that was how I was trained, veneer was between 1.2mm and 3mm thick, with lots of variations in-between. Nowadays shop-bought veneer is about 0.6mm thick. That means that most producers of 'lines' expect them to be laid into 0.6mm veneers. The result is that bought lines tend to be flat and very thin and difficult for beginners to use. This is why I prefer to buy square section or to cut my own. I'm sorry that wasn't clear in my preliminary notes.

M42 Blades from APT

I used a new M42 bandsaw blade from Axminster Power Tools to cut a 3mm strip from a board which had been planed all around so I knew that I would have two fair edges once I had made the second 3mm rip cut. If you use a zero clearance sub-table you reduce the risk of the line being unsupported and breaking as it is cut. You also reduce the risk of shards of hardwood going into the works, although they shouldn't cause any problem to the band-wheels or saw. The M42 blades are significantly more expensive than standard blades but I used one from Workshop Heaven for 5 months before I had to change it. Usually I have to change a blade every 3-4 weeks. M42 blades are really made for industrial use and have groups of alternate pitch teeth. They will cut through metal and therefore for restorers who use lots of reclaimed timber they are a godsend. But even if you are not a restorer they are worth trying for their accuracy and durability. One interesting fact is that for small thicknesses up to about 2" I have found that they rip and cross-cut with equal ease.

Pictures courtesy of Rob Stoakley

Inlay Course 18th July 2009

2009-07-14T01:17:00.000-07:00

STOP PRESS

There is still one place available for this Saturday's Inlay Course at the workshop in Derry Hill, Wiltshire. Cost is £36. Tools and basic materials are supplied. Bring interesting veneers and stringline if you have them. We will cover inlaying into veneered surfaces, solid surfaces, sizing stringline, cleaning up, laying fans and ovals and if we have time, dealing with curves.

Contact details are on the website at www.huntleyconsultancy.com or telephone 01373-859977

2009-07-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

This week has been taken up with finishing the first of my polishing articles for Furniture & Cabinetmaking and preparing the site for the timber framed workshop that my friend has asked me to build for him. Work starts in earnest on that next week, let's hope that the weather holds! The site is greensand on chalk and well drained so a sleeper wall is being built by his landscapers and I will rest 4 by 2 treated timber joists on that. Some have suggested that the 4 by 2s are over-specified but I do like to have a solid floor to build off. Pictures will follow next week.

The polishing article, which is an overview of the main processes and materials that I use needed some pictures. As this was the first of the articles it was really just an introduction not an in depth explanation, but it still needed some pictures to break up the text. So I made up a demonstration panel on a pre-veneered offcut board. It always pleases me how quickly a good surface can be achieved using just shellac and wax. This set me thinking, back in the 1970s when I trained, polishers used to have a "box" that they took out for site work. All it had in it were some bottles of shellac in various cuts, some brushes and rubbers, powder colours and waxes. They would also have some abrasive papers, steel wool, alcohol and white spirit. And that is about all you need for finishing. I may sound like an old codger but nowadays there does seem to be a confusing amount of finishes available when really someone starting off should stick to the simple tried and trusted recipes. All my students are impressed with shellac once I introduce it to them and they never have to learn any fancy spiriting off or other arcane arts unless they want to!

Last week I began a new warm up exercise for the Saturday class - 5 minute dovetails. It is an often made point, musicians and sportsmen do warm up exercises, why not woodworkers? You cannot expect to just start cutting accurately at the start of the day unless you are a pro. So cut a quick single dovetail off the saw to get you going. Set one tail out by eye, saw it and mark the pins from the tail, saw them, pare if necessary and assemble. Easy. Fear of dovetails gone.

2009-07-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

I have not quite got the hang of getting the correct sequence of loading pictures and text yet! Please bear with me.

A big step forward yesterday when I got the planer/thicknesser working. Although I cannot find anything due to the tidy up, there are now two benches that are clear and a p/t that can be used. So now I can get on with writing the next instalment of the F&C joint cutting article. These articles are running concurrently with some intensive joint cutting Saturday classes if anyone is interested.

I have also glued up the first of four modern chairs for a client. The absurd joint construction (see above) meant that there were no decent long-grain gluing surfaces so I had to break the rule of a lifetime and use epoxy resin. Basically it was epoxy or nothing. The tiny "fingers" on the rail were insufficient without some rock hard reinforcing matrix around them in the insufficiently deep mortice. Had there been sufficient money in the job to spend hours on it I would have made false tenons or used a Domino or Duo-Doweller, but having left F&C I no longer have access to those extremely useful tools.

2009-07-01T00:56:00.001-07:00

Well I had hoped to have the workshop tidy this week and be able to post pictures with clear surfaces. It is certainly better (see lower left) than it was when I started but there is still a long way to go before I have my workshop Open House in August! Clients want their work completed and I have just had a commission to build a timber framed workshop which is needed by the middle of July. This came as a result of a friend seeing me building my conservatory from reclaimed timbers earlier this year. For anyone of a horticultural frame of mind we now have hanging baskets in the conservatory producing a daily crop of strawberries. (upper left). This conservatory aka lean-to greenhouse cost only the labour thanks to my now well known habit of recycling anything made of timber.

Summer Programme 2009

2009-06-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Huntley, former editor of Furniture & Cabinetmaking Magazine, is pleased to announce the expansion of courses available at his Woodworking School.

The very popular "Saturday Classes" continue throughout the summer. These offer informal tuition and sociability. Numbers are limited to five people each of whom has a bench at which they can work on their own projects or at set exercises. These very loosely structured days offer taster sessions or a chance to chat to other woodworkers of varying abilities as well as offering the opportunity to ask advice from Michael. Beginners are always welcome. Please telephone or email to reserve a slot for a single visit or a regular space. Cost is £6 an hour.

Most courses take place in the converted stables to the rear of the 19th century stone-built Lansdowne Arms opposite Bowood House in the village of Derry Hill, (near Chippenham), Wiltshire.

For more information please see main website at www.huntleyconsultancy.com

Antique Restoration

Restoration work is continuous. Please telephone if you have items for restoration or if you would like to learn restoration.

Three Day Courses - £90 per day
These are intensive, structured sessions limited to three people. Course length can be extended or reduced by arrangement if desired. Other subjects can be offered, just contact us and ask.

June
22nd - 24th - Joint Cutting Basics
29th - 1st July - Polishing

July
6th - 8th - Tool Tuning
13th - 15th - Making and using Inlays
20th - 22nd - Joint Cutting Basics
27th - 29th - Country Furniture Making

August
10th - 12th - Tool Tuning
17th - 19th - Bench Building
24th - 26th - Dovetails

September
7th - 9th - Tool Tuning
14th - 16th - Cabriole Legs
21st - 23rd - Polishing Basics
28th - 30th - Polishing Advanced

October
5th - 7th - Tool Tuning
12th - 14th - Joint Cutting
19th - 21st - Introduction to Woodworking
26th - 28th - Country Woodwork

November
By arrangement

December
By arrangement

Contact Details
By Telephone 01373-859977 or 07801-545-344
By email michael@huntleyconsultancy.com
Workshop location - Derry Hill, near Chippenham just off the A4, Wiltshire.

Accommodation lists can be provided.

To Start With....

2009-06-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

It is the Summer Solstice which seems like an auspicious day to start a new venture. This is just a test to get the blog rolling as it were. Details of woodworking activities and courses will appear shortly or contact me at michael@huntleyconsultancy.com.

Thanks.