Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Summer Workshops for 2010
Then, on July 26-30, National Institute Of Wood Finishing instructor, Mitch Kohanek, will be teaching a 5-day course on Finishing New Wood. This comprehensive wood finishing class will educate you to know how and why you finish wood. Students will keep all of the panels they create. Sessions include: The proper preparation of wood, methods of using dyes, stain, glazes and toners to color wood. Understanding why and how to apply oils, shellac, lacquer, varnish, urethane and water base coatings using rags, brushes and spraying equipment. How to create the desired sheen and maintain that sheen will also be covered. Problem solving and repairing finishing defects such as blotching, orange peel and fish eye will be explained.
If you'd like more information on these workshops, please visit: http://www.woodfinishing.org/workshops.htm
Seats are still available for both courses.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Rights of Passage - Another year ended...
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wood 1021 Wood Refinishing: More Before & After Pictures
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wood 1021 Wood Refinishing: Before & After Pictures
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wood 1010 Wood and Finishing Technology: Larry Van Isagam from Van Technology visits NIWF
The students had some great questions regarding their experiences with the coatings, and Larry was very helpful in explaining how they work, and why we might choose to use a water based coating.
He also demonstrated a few of his products and allowed the students to use them and get some more 1st hand knowledge of the coating and see what they are all about.
A Big thanks to Larry, who has always been a friend to the program here at DCTC!
Friday, March 26, 2010
wood 1032 Furniture Conservation: Don Williams and The MN Woodworkers Guild meet at DCTC
Today was a more hands-on day. The Guild members joined the students to watch Don demonstrate several different methods of mold making and duplication for use in repairing wooden items such as picture frames and carvings that may be missing or damaged, and to learn about gold leafing or gilding.
Don demonstrated a number of materials that can be used to make and cast molds, and he demonstrated both water and oil gilding. In addition, there was some great back and forth about hide glue, shellac, Japanese Lacquer, and general conservation techniques Don uses in his day to day work as a Museum Conservator.
We always like to have Don in to work with the students, and we can't wait until his next visit this summer for his 3-day workshop on the restoration of veneers and their finishes. (July 20-22, visit http://www.woodfinishing.org/workshops.htm for more info on summer courses)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Students return to Fort Snelling for more conservation work
Today we looked at some solvent testing, went through all the steps we've learned in school and developed a cleaning and re-coating schedule, then followed through on it!
All the students felt confident taking on new challenges in a real-life setting.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wood 1010 Wood and Finishing Technology: Sample Boards
We spray and brush lacquer, spray, brush and pad shellac, we brush varnish, we shoot gloss & satin, we do open pored finished, and closed pore "piano" finishes. We color strike pores, we stain, dye, glaze, distress, tone and shade. and we dabble a bit with water base finishes as well.
This intensive 3 week section is full of learning, and getting to experience what tools we have as finishers and what their benefits and challenges are.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wood 1007 Methods of Fastening: Day One
We started the day with some conversation on why glue joints fail. There are many reasons that glue joints can fail and it only takes one misstep to make even the nicest looking joint come loose. However, we often find that there is at least one, if not many things wrong with some joints, and we need to learn how to respond to these situations. Our 1st step is learning about how our furniture is constructed.
The students brought in many of their own projects, but we also have some pieces that need attention here in our workshop. We need to know how furniture is put together in order to know how it is taken apart, so we need to look at each chair individually to check for nails, screws and other fasteners, we look at where the joints are and number them so we can put the chair back the way it was. Then we get down to the nitty gritty and actually begin dis-assembling the furniture, and clean the joints, make any necessary repairs in preparation to re-glue each chair.