Custom furniture design, repair, restoration, preservation and advice for woodworking beginners and enthusiasts
After the reductive work of the Rasp and File or machinery like the Planer, surface preparation for finishing begins with the Scraper, a relatively thin plate of tempered steel, very like that of a handsaw blade. Scrapers are made in varying thicknesses and a number of shapes. Scraping is followed by sanding starting with coarse and moving to finer grits.
Furniture restoration will compel you to find a varied selection of clamping devices, and call upon your ingenuity on-the-fly when manufactured solutions are not available.
A bench is a conveniently elevated and (hopefully) flat clamping jig. Large and heavy is best if you do not require mobility. I prefer to have attached vises rather than stops and hooks.
You may find this tool chest a very practical design for your needs. I made my tool chest of solid mahogany. Its a great design to experiment with, you can purchase a couple of nice clear pine 1 x 12's and make a test version to suit your particular measurements before you commit to that curly maple or quilted cherry.
You'll need a place to keep your tools in some kind of order,this type of chest has proven versatile for me over the years.
Adding sculptural elements to our woodworking projects may make them more interesting or help us reference a particular style. In Restoration, our choice is removed; when a piece comes into the shop missing parts, we need to recreate and finish them to match what's missing.
An unusual commission from a local institution: build a scale replica of a prominent campus architectural feature that acts as a signature "brand" indentity for the University.
In woodworking generally, but in restoration particularly you will be dealing with holes; making new ones, cleaning old ones and repairing them. These holes will come in an inconvenient array of diameters, so you will become familiar with drill bits, drills and driving.
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