What‘s the first thing you do when you see a beautiful piece of furniture? If you’re touchy-feely like me, you slowly run your fingers across its surface. Woodworkers employ a number of tools to affect this tactile first impression, most notably handheld sanders.
I have to admit that I bugged out after first reading shellac's list of ingredients. You see, shellac isn’t your average furniture finish. It’s not made in a lab with a toxic concoction of unpronounceable chemicals and it's not harmful to inhale. Shellac is actually as natural as it gets — it’s made from the reproductive secretions of an Asian insect!
When furniture maker Austin Kane Matheson set up shop, he had to be near the sea. The former boat-builder and captain had always found his way in the waves — an early passion for West Indian furniture emerged during voyages to and from the Caribbean islands. Once on dry land, he settled in Rockland, Maine, and assembled a workshop in an old metalworking factory just steps from the harbor.
Never mind the pain — when it comes to woodworking, it’s no plane, no gain. Hand planes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, all designed to flatten wood surfaces. Their function makes them key to every craftsman’s kit and their beauty drives collectors wild.
With access to a vast and varied supply of domestic lumber, American woodworkers have it made. But despite our country’s arboreous assets, furniture makers and buyers alike remain drawn to exotic woods. Much of this foreign lumber hails from Africa, a continent home to stunning woods like wenge and bubinga.
With all that precise 90-degree joinery, furniture makers can be pretty square. But when life’s boring corners get us down, we make curves. Steam bending is a favored technique for such shaping, ideal in building everything from canoes to Windsor chairs.
Until recently, I had a rather elementary understanding of adhesives. (Elementary in the sense that, like a third grader, I was overly fond of peeling dried Elmer’s off my fingertips.) But woodworkers aren’t into children's school supplies, opting instead for serious-sounding, grown-up glues like aliphatic resin emulsion.
Written upon every piece of wood is the story of a tree. A board’s surface appearance, otherwise known as its figure, reveals a coming-of-age narrative — annual droughts, insect infestations and other hardships are all recorded in the grain. Luckily, trees have a hard time growing up, providing us wood-lovers with many forms of beautiful figuring.
Of all the branches of woodworking, woodturning is easily the most overlooked. We use hand-turned objects everyday — salad bowls, tool handles, pool cues — rarely pausing to contemplate the origins of their rounded form. But after seeing professional turners demonstrate their quiet craft, it’s hard not to shout their praises.
When I left my cozy marketing job in April to become a furniture maker, my friends and family were a wee bit baffled. And who could blame them? To me, a screwdriver was just a cheap cocktail and a joint — well, I won’t go there. But after a summer at Maine’s Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, I’m proud to share my first major piece, a mid-century style entry table.
Each species of wood exhibits a unique personality — some are easy going and fun to work with, others hardheaded and quick to snap. Woodworkers must psychoanalyze this manic material, turning character flaws into well-balanced furniture. To help you interpret wood’s many moods, I’ve compiled a little list of the most common species and their notable traits.
My name is Johnny and I’m a recovering solid-wood snob. I once considered veneered furniture to be innately inferior — lacking in density, durability and soul. But witnessing the fine craft of veneering firsthand has turned this snob into a true believer.
Finding furniture to fit your style and space is hard enough — you shouldn’t also have to worry that your new designer dresser might fall apart. Regrettably, the market is full of poorly constructed items screwed together with the precision of a blind monkey. Recognizing sound furniture joinery will help you dodge crude craftsmanship in favor of solid pieces that will stay in the family forever.
Picking wood for furniture construction is part practical, part personal. Experts advise choosing a board based solely on its condition and workability, but if you’re a brazen amateur like me, your gut reaction to its appearance will likely determine a purchase. Each species of wood exhibits distinct grain patterns, or “figure,” — learning to showcase these natural aesthetics in your furniture can be daunting. But once you understand the basic guidelines to selecting workable lumber, you’ll be free to figure out the figure.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
