Jim Altman (C) and Raul Ramirez (R)

Jim Altman and Raul Ramirez gave a most interesting presentation on furniture conservation at the March meeting (Wednesday, March 30 , 2011). The meeting was held at Raul’s workshop at his home in north central Phoenix, where he and Jim have several pieces currently undergoing restoration. Among them were a large, 19th century cylinder desk made of Cuban mahogany, a French 18th century carved and upholstered chair, and a 1988 bowl by Virginia Dotson, the internationally known Scottsdale turner and former Wood Splinter Group member.

19th century Cylinder Desk

Ramirez and Altman used the large desk to demonstrate the challenges that restorers typically face — figuring out how to dismantle the piece sufficiently to perform the necessary work, determining the construction methods and materials used in the original, and deciding what materials and methods to use in the restoration process. Other than judicious cleaning, care is taken in most cases to leave as much of the original finish untouched as possible.

cylinder desk

Restored areas then have to be blended back in to the surrounding original finish, using a variety of color and clear mediums and years of skill and experience. Jim Altman made the important point that, while a repair that literally cannot be discerned may be the restorer’s holy grail, most repairs are not completely invisible, and honest repairs skillfully done do not detract from a piece’s historical value.

18th century chair

The 18th century chair — a marvel of hand carving and sensuous line — retained neither its original finish or upholstery. The feet of the front legs were carved into simple cloven hooves, one of which had been damaged. Jim pointed out a couple of previous repairs that had been made to the chair by an unknown craftsman — proving his point that, when well done, such repairs enhance rather than detract. Graving in similar pieces of wood where necessary, restoring the shape of the repaired part and gently finishing the repair with the appropriate materials is honest craftsmanship that extends the life of these venerable old pieces.

Bowl by Virginia Dotson (1988)

We were surprised to find the bowl by Virginia Dotson among the pieces being repaired. Part of a large private collection of Virginia’s work, it was an early example of her signature form and style that later earned her international recognition as a turner and artist (she has work in the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, as well as many other museums, galleries and private collections around the world).

Bowl by Virginia Dotson (1988)

A chip was missing from the rim of the mahogany bowl, so the piece was undergoing essentially the same process as any other restoration: match the wood, grave in the “Dutchman”, restore the shape to original and finish the repaired area, blending it in to the original finish.

Raul Ramirez at work

Besides the restoration work at hand, we took the opportunity to have a close look at Raul’s collection of fine hand tools that he uses both in restoration work and in making new furniture. He has an impressive collection of Lie-Nielsen standard and specialty planes, along with an eclectic assortment of chisels and other tools, old and new, by various makers.

Many thanks to Raul and Jim for hosting the meeting and providing a most interesting presentation.

Yow — I have to catch up on my reporting!

Two WSG meetings have taken place since my last post. We met on December 8th at Cutting Edge Components, as the guests of Tom Cashman who owns the CNC shop. Tom and his crew showed us how his equipment works and gave us some idea of what’s involved in designing and producing work using large scale CNC machinery. Many thanks to Tom for hosting, for providing the eats, and for his presentation.

More recently, we gathered at Doug and Rhonda Forsha’s shop on January 27 for Doug’s presentation on in-shop photography. With about 20 folks, this was the best-attended WSG meeting we’ve had in a while. Doug, who proved my assertion that he is as good a photographer as he is a woodworker — which is saying a lot — showed us his in-shop lighting and backdrop setup for photographing furniture. With his camera linked to his computer (linked in turn to a projector so we could all see what was going on), he demonstrated various lighting techniques and camera settings to take images in RAW format. Then he showed us a little of what you can do with those images in Photoshop to get the most out of an image. Thanks to Doug and Rhonda for hosting and providing refreshments. We will try to gauge interest, and if possible set up a Saturday photography ‘workshop’ meeting in the near future, in which we can all have the chance to photograph a piece using Doug’s setup.