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Wood

Summer 1976, $2.50

Fine woodorking deserves

this fine wood finish.

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ARTS. CAS'

You've put in hours of hard work on your wood

working so give it the best finish you can

versatile Deft Clear Wood Finish. It both seals

and finishes. Dries in just 30 minutes to a crystal

clear semi-gloss* that won't yellow or darken

with age. It's ready to re-coat in two hours

three coats give an alcohol and water-resistant

finish. Nicks and scratches touch up easily,

and Deft won't "skin over" or dry in the can.

So finish your fine woodworking with this fine

finish-your work deserves Deft.

FREE CATALOG gives wood staining and

finishing tips. Send self-addressed 9" x 12"

envelope, stamped with 52: postage to Deft,

Inc. Dept. FW, 17451 Von Karman Avenue,

Irvine, CA 92714.

*Beautiful also when hand· rubbed or when used in French polishing.

There can only be one best ....

In woodworking benches it's LERVAD

Compare Lervad, feature for feature, with any other woodworking

bench and you will see what we mean.

Start with the 4-point hold system. It's exclusive with Lervad -

all other production benches have a 2-point hold. It incorporates

a double row of surface slots, each row fitted with spring

loaded steel dogs. These work against identical dogs in the

full-width tail vise. When the workpiece is positioned

between the surface dogs and the vise dogs tightening

the vise will lock the piece in almost any position.

You can approach the project from all sides and seldom

have to reposition the work.

And that tailvise; it's a smooth working engineering

triumph, made of solid Danish beech and fitted with high

grade tool steel rods and spindle. The shoulder vise is

also brilliantly engineered with jaws completely

unimpeded by rods or spindle.

The 3" thick solid Danish beech top is sanded to tolerances

of .008" and, like fine furniture, it is impregnated with raw

linseed oil and finished with two coats of clear lacquer to

preserve these amazing tolerances.

Lervad benches comes in four sizes in capacities up to 80".

There are two models with storage cabinets; another easy-folds

for quick storage. A 16-page manual "How To Use Your Lervad

Bench" is included with each bench.

Our ads usually carry a tear-off coupon to help you request our

literature. We know you don't want to deface this fine magazine so,

if you want more information about the world's finest woodworking

benches - and our other excellent quality, hard-to-find tools - just

send your name, address and zip to:

LEICHTUNG c

701 Beta Drive #17FW

Cleveland, Ohio 44143

or call us at (216) 461-4677

Fine

Wood( k-

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Summer 1976, Volume 1, Number 3

CONTENTS

Lettes

Books

Caftsman's Gallery by John Kelsey: Shop/gallery combination works in

Philadelphia

Authos

Wood by R. Bruce Hoadley: A look at this fu ndamental material

Mortise and Tenon by Tage Frid: Choosing and making this basic joint

The Christian Tadition by Francis J. Newton: Portland Museum mounts

exquisite show

Hand Shaping by Daniel Jackson: A simple approach to sculpturing

wood

Yankee Divesity by Jere Osgood: Boston show features interesting

designs

Plane Speaking by Robert Sutter: One man's guide to the more useful

ones

Desert Cabinetry by Thomas A .. Simons IV: Coping with six percent

mOIsture

Hidden Dawes by Alastair A. Stair: Some eighteenth-century examples

Green Bowls by Alan Stirt: Turn unseasoned wood, dry it, then turn

agam

Queen Anne by Franklin H. Gottshall: Styling elements used in table

designs

Gate-Leg Table by Paul Buckley: A contemporary version of a classic

design

Tuning Conference by John Kelsey: Notes and information on a recent

gathering

Stroke Sander by M.G. Rekof, Jr.: Building a machine to smooth flat

panels

Funiture Plans: A listing of what's available in book and sheet form

Editor and Publisher

Paul Roman

Contributing Editors

Tage Frid

R. Bruce Hoadley

Alastair A. Stair

Robert Sutter

Associate Editor

John Kelsey

Associate Publisher

Janice A. Roman

Editorial Assistant

Ruth Maidman

Subscription Service

Carole E. Ando

Advertising Consultant

Sources of Supply (continued)

I've Got a Secret : "Little Man" of walnut

Granville M. Fillmore

Covr: Scanning electron microscope photograph

shows structure of yellow birch. Large vertical cells

are vssels, the smallr ones mostly brs. The

laer-like structures in the large vessels are the

diagonal endwalls through which sap travels. Ra

dial ray cells and rays are clarly visible in all

sufaces. Centr of tree ould be toward lowr right.

Photo from the Center for U Itrastructures Studies,

SUNY, Colege of Environmental Science and

Forstry.

Fine Woodworking is published quarterly, March, June, September and December, by The

Taunton Press, Inc., Taunton Lake Road, Newtown, CT 06470, Telephone (203) 426-

8171. Second-class postage paid at Newtown, CT 06470 and additional mailing offices.

Taunton Press, Inc. Subscription rates: United States and possessions, S8.00 for one year,

S15.00 for two years; foreign rate, $9.00 for one year. Single copy $2.50. Postmaster: Send

notice of undelivered copies on form 3579 to: The Taunton Press, PO Box 355, Newtown,

CT 06470. Forwarding and return postage guaranteed. Please address all subscription,

editorial and advertising correspondence to The Taunton Press, PO Box 355, Newtown, CT

06470.

ETERS

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I do not denigrate the use of a ile; a ine flat ile has

helped to thin many a slightly recalcitrant tail or pin. After

all, it is known as the " cabinetmaker's friend." Fine dovetails

in thin wood can sometimes use a ine triangular ile.

....As Me. Mattia states, there are many ways to make

dovetails. Some of my peculiarities may be of some beneit to

some readers.

To begin with, most dovetail sawing is ripping; conven

tional dovetail saws are ground with cross-cutting teeth and

have a round .. pistol" grip. This makes for unnecessary strain

and wobble for those of us not hugely muscled nor intensely

dedicated. Great comfort, peace of mind, and accuracy can be

obtained by having two dove-tail saws, both with convention

al hand-saw handles, one ground for ripping, one for

cross-cutting, the latter of which I make noticeable by

chiseling an "X" on the handle. Any good professional saw

sharpener can convert cross-cut to .. raker teeth" for ripping.

Life has been simpler since I routinely dado'd all the sides

of a drawer before dove-tailing - the slot is a constant point

of reference for the inside of the board.

Paul W. Caney, DeKalb, III.

I am wrmng in regard to your Spring '76 issue of Fine

Woodworking. In the article "Textbook Mistakes," Tage Frid

talked about how it was better to glue boards with the end

grain in the same direction because it is easier to hold down

one big warp than smaller warps. It seems to me than if what

he says is true, it wouldn't make any diference whether you

use one wide board or many small ones because they will both

warp the same.

If one has a good number of dovetails to cut, e.g. 36 inches

of dovetails on each corner of assorted drawers for a chest, it

makes for considerable convenience to have a template of

brass or aluminum on hand. Time making accurate templates

will be repaid ten-fold in time saved. Scribing for pins theu

tails can be frustrating if the stock is thick, the pins narrow. Myself, being in the custom furniture and repair business, I

see that in antique furniture where larger pieces of wood are

used, there are obvious warps in those pieces. Whereas there

seems to be no warp when glued up in narrower widths, with

the end grain alternated. The method Tage Frid recommends

seems very risky, especially on table leaves without skirts.

The labor saved by using a jig saw or tight band saw to cut

tails to me is as reasonable as using a table saw to cut stock.

Sawing pins is simpler by hand.

If marks are scribed rather than penciled, it should not be

necessary to raise a light chip to preserve the mark so the

chisel is placed precisely. A sharp chisel of the correct width

can always find and hold a scribed line. I prefer to scribe

depth lines with the material used, because sides of drawers

are thinner than fronts or backs, etc.

I also question what he says about dowel joints as com

pared to mortise and tenon, especially if you want your

urniture to last longer than yourself. The mortise and tenon

joint is good, but people like driving nails through them to

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St.

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Lettes (continued)

hold them tight, which only leaves the furniture repair man

one choice of chiseling the wood away from the nail to pull it.

Then when the joint is apart, the glue must be scraped or

sanded off which in many cases leaves the joint sloppy and

requires wedges to make it tight again. As with dowels people

don't nail them nearly as often, and are easily replaced if

broken or sanded too small. The dowel may not be as good in

theory, but to me seems superior in repairing, and in giving

the original tightness that old loose chairs once had.

Jim Surgent, Misoula, Montana

cause a split. The sketch showing an alternate grain panel was

very much exaggerated and never happens to dry wood.

H. C. Conkling,Jr., South Dartmouth, Mas.

Tage Frid replies: "Responding to Mr. Van Sinderen, in the

type of furniture I do, I am usually gluing up planed boards

of the same or nearly the same thickness. I temporarily clamp

battens (such as 2 by 4' s) top and bottom across the boards to

align them. I remove the battens once the boards are

clamped. "

"Responding to Mr. Conkling, the drawing of the grain di

rections was exaggerated for clarity. Whenever I screw a top to

a base, I always provide for the top's movement. One method

....With respect to Tage Frid's article in the March issue.

I certainly agree, dowels are not necessary for strength, but

how do you keep all these boards lined up when joining an

eight-foot table rop? We all would love to work with perfect

lumber, but it is not often you come across an eight-foot

board of walnut that doesn't have a crook or two! By the time

you plane and joint this wood it's better, but when you go to

edge glue-let's say your boards are six inches wide-it would

be very difficult to clamp these boards accurately at the edges

without some type of guide.

Donald Van Sinderen, Pembroke, Maine

Iron Horse Antiques, Inc.

North America's largest dealer

in antique tools

for the collector and craftsman

now offers three catalogs

per year (March, June, October).

Send

....The article by Tage Frid was great, and I agree with

everything he said except one. I can't imagine anyone who

thinks so clearly would suggest gluing up table tops and not

alternating the grain. He was correct in what would happen if

you do not altetnate grain, but the hold down screw can also

$6.00 for an annual subscription to:

Iron Horse Antiques, Inc.

Dept. F

RO#2

Poultney, Vermont 05764

(Sample back issues are available al $1.50 each.)

Their Oak; $36. Our Oak; $25.

The only difeence is 11 bucks.

Our hardwoods are not cheap, just cheape.

J h

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And we ofer a wider selection of hardwoods.

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Veneers thru lumbe. We have the old family

arra

favorites like maple, cherry and mahogany plus

the exotics like bubinga, padouk and cocoabola.

WOD & SUPPLY Co.

Send for our free catalog. Illustrated with

39 West 19 Street, ew York, NY 1011

wood veneers, it lists all our hardwoods, all our

Please send me a free copy of your harJW(Xxl catalog.

pre�cut un er sizes and explains how we will

cut your lumber order to your specifications

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Mail the coupon, or come down and see us.

I A J7Jr <

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We can make a diference in how much you

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pay for hardwood.

Ciy Sr.ltt: ZIP

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