Popular Woodworking 2007-04 № 161, страница 5

Out on a Limb

Fix the Chairs, but Rip Up the Curtains

A few years ago we held a focus group of readers to pick their brains about changes we were considering to this magazine. One of our wild ideas was to add some home-improvement content to the magazine - stuff you could construct with your woodworking tools, such as built-in pantries, closet systems and fireplace mantles.

The dozen or so readers weren't impressed with the idea. OK, they hated it. One reader inparticular spoke up to tell us why it was such a bad thing, and I'll never forget what he said.

When it comes to building stuff, he said that home-improvement projects and furniture projects were different animals. The home improvement projects were like the oatmeal that his doctor told him to eat every morning to stay healthy. He'd eat the oatmeal (and fix the kitchen doors), but he wouldn't enjoy it.

However, building furniture was like eating a delicious oatmeal cookie - the ingredients were the same (mostly) but the result was a far more enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.

Now I like oatmeal cookies quite a bit. But I know that oatmeal can be really tasty, too. However, you have to buy the right brand (McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal) and prepare them correctly. With the right oats, you can have best of both worlds. And that's what we're trying to do in this issue.

Every family has a few wobbly chairs. And it falls to the woodworkers in the family tree to fix them. But what do we know about fixing old chairs ? Probably just enough to be dangerous to the chair, if my experience is typical.

So we enlisted Bob Flexner, our finishing columnist and a furniture restorer, to condense his decades of experience in fixing thousands of chairs into one guide for a woodworking

audience. His methods are time-tested, reliable and fast. The story, "Regluing Doweled Chairs," begins on page 64 of this issue.

No more will you have to fumble with your fixing and despair at your repair. You can get this chore done with confidence and speed

- and get back to building your own stuff.

Another giant bowl of undercooked porridge for many woodworkers is finishing. There are just too many choices of colors, techniques and topcoats. And so many woodworkers fall back on rubbed-on oil finishes.

You can do better. But the problem isn't entirely your fault. Many professional finishers are loathe to share their exact recipes. They'll say: It's a dye stain with a topcoat. But what brand and color? Is there a glaze in there, too?

What kind of topcoat? What brand? What sheen? And how - exactly how

- did you apply each of these products?

I've also been frustrated with this dark curtain across this important part of the craft. And that's why I've asked Senior Editor Glen D. Huey to help pull it down in this very issue. Glen eagerly agreed to share the recipes for his most beautiful finishes. Check out his story "Finishing Formulas" on page 70.

I know that many of you feel the same frustration as I do with this final "black art" of our craft. You've told us this every year during focus groups and in your letters. So here's a little evidence that we do listen - but we also try to slip in a little oatmeal among the cookies. PW

Christopher Schwarz Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

bob flexner

If you're a regular reader of Popular Woodworking, you know Bob as our finishing guru. What you might not know is that Bob sort of stumbled into his role as a finishing expert after not being able to find answers to hi s own finishing que s-tions. He spent more than two decades running a woodworking and restoration shop, where he was often frustrated by a lack of really good finishing information. So he decided to write down what he discovered, and years later, he's the go-to guy for all things finishing. But he also remains an expert in furniture restoration and repair. In this issue, Bob shares his skill and knowledge on regluing doweled chairs. His story starts on page 64.

don weber

Although born in New York and now living in Paint Lick, Ky., Don was raised in Wales, where he apprenticed as a joiner. We know him as "the bodger," a 19th-century term to describe a chairmaker - a traditional craft at which he excels.

But he's also a woodworking teacher of all things traditional, a blacksmith and an avid golfer. To help support his links habit, Don makes hickory-shaft clubs. But he also appreciates the solid thwack (and good looks) of a persimmon driver such as those made by Louisville Golf. He writes about it on page 96.

Don is also part of the Madera Verde Project in Honduras, where he trains artisans in toolmaking and woodworking.

Our Privacy Promise to You

We make portions of our customer list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services we believe you may enjoy. If you do not want to receive offers and/or information, please let us know by contacting us at:

List Manager, F+W Publications

4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236

10

Popular Woodworking April 2007