There were four Porch regulars in attendance today (YT, Tom Dugan, Bill
Ghio, Ed Minch) at this SAPFM chapter meeting held in a wholesale lumber
yard near Baltimore. What a place. More hardwood lumber of the species
most of us want or need than I have ever seen, and remember - I used to
work at managing three lumber mills that once represented 2% of the US
dimension lumber capacity, including a small hardwood mill, in N.
Hahalifornia. This business imports from every continent that grows
trees as well as a bunch of islands, very carefully following
international species protection laws. It was very nicely explained how
this is a family business over 200 years old and continuously run by
family members. Don't see many businesses like that. Turns out this
company supplies much of what the two retail yards I've used for years
sell to the retail customer, and many, many other yards in this country.
Wholesale only. These folks have well over $10 million in hardwoods and
some specialty hardwood plywoods on that site alone, and they have three
other warehouses around the northeast and two other yards. Name a major
wood you want for furniture, and they've got it, and if you're talking
about an import, they also have one or a few other species that will
substitute for it. They were also talking about shipping a quarter
million board feet a month of ipe decking material. At least five, maybe
six different variations of mahogany were shown, and now I know I want
to be using Peruvian mahogany from now on as it has the color I like
most. Very thorough tour, and well appreciated by many. Since we were
shown nearly all the operations, it was particularly interesting for me.

The even better part of the meeting was the overall two and a half hour
presentation by Don Williams of the Smithsonian on the history of
furniture finishes. If you like shellac and you weren't there, you may
have missed something. Don is the same guy who is writing books with
Chris Schwarz these days. Don told us which true varnishes are still on
the market (only two, neither of which can be sold in California) and
much, much more on finish history than what I had read previously
anywhere. He then gave us 1-1/2 hours on the simplest, most historically
correct, fastest way to get to any degree of finished gloss you want,
particularly with shellac. I've been doing it differently for over
fifteen years, and in a way I now know is much harder in terms of the
time and effort involved. I've also never seriously tried french
polishing but have no hesitation about it now. Don demonstrated with a
bare 8/4 x 10 x 12 piece of mahogany and some mahogany plywood how to
get anything from a soft lustre wax finish --- typical of 1740 on up to
a high gloss french polish typical of very high end furniture in the 18th-
20th C, and get it done in just a few days, including between-step
drying time. Showed us what is the best brush to use and how to use it.
Demonstrated use of a veneering iron with beeswax to fill pores and a
corn straw burnishing brush to prepare the filled surface before you
ever get to laying down the shellac, saying this is what relative recent
studies of Roubo and other work have shown to be typical of what was
actually used in the 16th, 17th, 18th and part of the 19th century.
Those two approaches, particularly the burnisher, make a huge difference
in reduced work to get a glistening surface before applying the finish.
Trust me on that, as there were 40 other people there watching with rapt
attention. Stunning that we could all see the change he produced in just
minutes. Too bad the burnishing brushes cannot be purchased any more,
but he is trying to get a broom maker in this region to produce them.

Five and a half hours on site, and only a 45 minute drive for me each
way. Great meeting, and it even had a little silent auction for sale of
used tools. Got a decent deal on a carving gouge from that, almost a
gloat, plus two free saws and three free carpenters squares for the
asking. They just need a little care.

Good day, and very Galoot topic intensive.

Charlie Driggs

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