Wood 1007 Methods of Fastening: Day One

Today we begin another new section; Methods of Fastening. In this section we look at and learn about the many ways that furniture is fastened, as well as how to repair the best, and the worst of joints. We will be re-gluing chairs and tables, and making any replacement parts we might need along the way using the skills we acquired in our woodworking section.


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.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: NIWF Does Conservation Work at Historic Fort Snelling Chapel

On our 1st of many field trips, the students got to roll up their sleeves and put to good use the knowledge they have already acquired. The Fort Snelling Veterans Memorial Chapel, built in 1927. Fort Snelling was deactivated as a military post in 1947, leaving the chapel sitting unused until it narrowly escaped a scheduled demolition for the highway system in the mid 60's. It is alive and well today serving many facets of the state's population through such programs as: weekend open houses for tourists to the historic Fort Snelling; rehearsals and weddings of all faith groups; funerals of all denominations; general community meetings; and weekly Sunday non-denominational services.



Our goals were to clean and conserve the pews, kneelers and surrounding wood. Each student dug in with a few pews each, using mild cleaning solution, replacing worn finish where needed, spot repair as needed, and finally padding shellac to give an authentic, original look, feel and lustre to that well worn interior.


We were guided by past NIWF grad, Travis Beard, who volunteers on the Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel Foundation, and has been working in the chapel for a while, cleaning and restoring the woodwork, carvings and wooden statues.

A Testimonial‏ From a Past Graduate

I’d like to write about my experience at NIWF. I graduated in 2000. This nine month course was demanding. Mitch (the instructor) set high standards and challenged us. The course is designed to enable you to succeed, not just get a job.
After graduation I worked for a refinishing shop that readily employed NIWF graduates because the owner knew the graduates were qualified, professional, and required little training. This employment was valuable in that it taught me the real world of furniture finishing as a business. That is, dealing with customers, how to make a profit, and what it takes to run a finishing business.

I moved to Virginia 4 years later and started my own business. Make no mistake; this was not easy. I now have the largest finishing shop in my town. I have 4 wonderful employees who love the work as I do. We are still struggling but business gets better each year.

Because of NIWF, I have the most rewarding career. I and my employees enjoy coming to work every day.

Dick Patch

Astonish Furniture Restoration
2000 Graduate
Roanoke VA

Wood 1026 Advanced Finishing: Don Williams in for summer seminar on Restoration, Chemistry and Technology of Transparent Furniture Coatings

Don Williams, Senior Museum Conservator , was in for a summer seminar on Restoration, Chemistry & technology of transparent furniture coatings. This intensive 5-day course introduced the history, technology, chemistry, properties, deterioration, and treatment of transparent coating materials and colorants, along with color theory, finishing techniques, and treatment and manipulation of existing coatings. The course was organized along three major themes.
*The History of Coatings - What Was It Originally?
*Technology of Materials and Processes - What Is It, and How Do we Know?
*What Will We do About It - Treatment Decisions and Processes

Some of the specifics that were covered were:

*Introduction to Coatings Chemistry and Technology: Formulation and Film Formation
*Historic and Contemporary Wood finishing Materials and Techniques
*Solvent Theory and Solubility Practice
*Evaluation of Appearance
*Characterization of Historic Coatings
*Survey of Coating Resins Used in Conservation
*Natural and Synthetic Dyes for Furniture Finishes
*Strategic Techniques for Coatings Restoration and Preservation

A subsequent coatings course (July 2010, proposed) will emphasize painted finishes, e.g. poly-chrome sculpture, decorated furniture finishes, and consolidating and inpainting painted surfaces. A third course in the series is tentatively scheduled for July 2011, and will emphasize advanced applications in the workshop setting.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Working field trip to St. Paul's Cathedral

Getting out into the real world and doing some service with our new found skills is a big part of the NIWF program. Today we took a trip to the Cathedral in St. Paul where the students had the chance to attend to some real wear and tear on actual furniture in a public place.


In the past we have done work at the Governors Mansion, the State Capitol, any number of different churches, The Glensheen Mansion and The Landmark Center to name a few places.

Wood 1032 Furniture Conservation: French Polishing

In furniture conservation, we teach the conservation techniques I learned at my internship at The Smithsonian Museum. With these techniques we can restore and preserve valuable wooden objects. Among such techniques is French Polishing.

In the Victorian era, French polishing was commonly used on mahogany and other expensive woods, and was considered to be the best possible finish for exclusive furniture. The process was very labor intensive, and many major manufacturers abandoned the technique around the 1920's & 1930's, instead preferring the cheaper and quicker techniques of spray finishing nitrocellulose lacquer and abrasive buffing. Sadly, today, French Polishing is somewhat of a lost art.

Wood 1032 Furniture Conservation: Cleaning & Conserving

Sometimes furniture comes in that doesn't need, or shouldn't be refinished, sometimes preserving the original finish is the way to go. In fact, there can be some wonderful surprises in store when preserving a finish. This chair came in and the goal was to clean the years of grime and build up that had accumulated.

After determining what the finish was, the right solvents and cleansers were chosen, and the chair was meticulously cleaned.

After a bit of careful, skilled work

we discovered beautiful, ornate painting that was previously covered with years of dirt and oil.
Learning to make these decisions of refinish vs. refurbish is something that sets NIWF grads well on their way to a successful career in wood finishing technology.

Wood 1007 Methods of Fastening: Re-Glueing a chair

Methods of Fastening covers the dismantling and rebuilding of furniture joints. In wood working (Wood 1004) we learned how to repair or replace furniture components, now we take those repaired or replaced components and rebuild our furniture. Here you can see some chairs being re-glued.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Leather Repair

Spot repair wouldn't be complete without a working knowledge or leather and vinyl repair, as well as an understanding of upholstery. In Spot Repair II (Wood 1019) we cover Vinyl & leather repair. You can see the students working hard to repair and hide the damage done to these leather chair pads.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Bondo fills on a chair

In Spot Repair II we are looking to do problem solving with our furniture. One option would be to replace the broken section or piece with a new piece of wood as we do in our "Wood 1004 Wood Working" class, but for Spot Repair, we are going to look to Bondo to fill and repair this chair. Bondo makes a durable repair, especially for larger repairs in high traffic areas or on edges where you need a strong repair.
Here you can see there was a pretty sizable chunk of the chair missing.











After mixing up some Bondo, we trowel it into the damaged area


Next we get a rough shape of the chair

Then we refine the shape, and prep the Bondo.

Next we paint in a background color and get ready to in-paint, where we mimic the appearance of wood.

The finished product should be unnoticeable to the untrained eye, with the look, feel and durability of the wood, as if the damage had never happened.

Wood 1032 Furniture Conservation: NIWF and the Minnesota Institute of Arts National Antique Show

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was conducting their 25th Annual National Antique Show October 23rd through October 26th. This show has some of the finest furniture, art work, jewelry, paintings and glassware that you can find.

The DCTC students have portered in these valuable artifacts for every one of those 25 shows. It has been very rewarding being a part of this show and the opportunity to handle millions of dollars worth of art. The dealers involved with this show have always been willing to share their knowledge with the students.

Andrew Wellesley (red shirt) from Lake Forrest Illinois always has some really wonderful furniture. Andrew is always willing to stop and answer questions about the history of the pieces he sells. The chest on chest has a date written inside the cabinet with the makers name and the date of 1795

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Leather and Vinyl Repair

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II would not be complete without having leather and vinyl repair. A Furniture Service Technician needs to be ready for damage that occurs to wood, coatings on wood, upholstery, leather and vinyl.

Studying leather samples is an important part of identifying various leathers. All leather is not repaired the same way.

NIWF Advisory board member Ken Norgaard is sharing his leather repair skills with the students. Ken is employed by Mohawk Finishing Products.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Graduates returning to teach the new students

Graduates continually return to DCTC to share their knowledge. Wilfried Hien and Josh Boyer are back sharing their new skills learned since leaving school. Both Wil and Josh are employed by HOM Furniture.

Hom Furniture has hired several graduates from the Wood Finishing Program. Here you see Rosendo Delgadillo, Delivery Prep Manager from HOM Furniture addressing the new students about employment possibilities.

And don't think it's just lecture and discussion, we get to see these pro's in action!

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Upholstery Repair

Along with repairing damaged wood, this class also involves minor upholstery repairs. The photo on the top photo shows Joe Renchin, a Wood Finishing Advisory Board Member, sharing his knowledge of 35 years of upholstery.

Wood 1019 Spot Repair II: Large Damage to Wood

Wood 1019 Spot Repair:

This class instucts students how to repair large damaged areas of wood. Polyester fills are one of many methods of returning the damaged areas to their original shape. They must then have a faux finish applied which color matching and inpainting.

Wood 1015 Spot Repair I: Nick, dent and scratch repair

The second class of the year is Wood 1015 Spot Repair I. The students are learning the art of scratch, nick and dent repair. Several different methods of achieving the repair of small damaged wood and coatings. Each student will purchase their own repair kit and repair several different species of wood. One method of repair is using the traditional "burn in". method. It involves a hot knife and melting a colored plastic stick into the scratch. Once the excess stick is removed, in-painting is needed. This involves painting in fine lines to recreate the grain pattern of the wood that is missing.

Welcome to the National Institute of Wood Finishing

Hello,

This is the first blog coming from the National Institution of Wood Finishing at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) in Rosemount Minnesota.

It is a nine month program that began in 1970 by the State of Minnesota. To my knowledge it is the only certified nine month post secondary Wood Finishing Technology program in the USA.

It is dedicated to preparing individuals for the wood finishing industry including: the finishing of new wood products, the conservation, restoration, refinishing of "old' wood, and the repairing of damaged wood and damaged coatings - old or new.

Stay tuned for more information about this program and the educational "hands on" wood finishing courses that I offer for the hobbyist, the professional and those who want to be a professional finisher.


Mitch Kohanek
http://www.woodfinishing.org/
http://www.dctc.edu/