Personal Reflections On The New Jersey Woodworkers Show
On Friday Jan. 14, 2000, a few members of the LIWC attended the North
New Jersey Woodworking Show. I must have seen about 10 or 12 familiar
faces. My reasons for going were primarily to attend a seminar or two
and to spend some time with the exhibitors. Well, I didn't do a thorough
enough job of reading the information sent to me, and I failed to see
that some seminars started at 9a.m., and the show started at noon. Well,
I did make the 1:30 p.m. seminar, and that's what I wanted to write about.
I signed up for the seminar entitled "Furniture Frame Construction",
given by Mr. Kelly Mehler. Mehler is a recognized furniture maker, the
author of "The Table Saw Book", "Build a Shaker Table",
and "Mastering Your Table Saw". He has also written at least
six articles for Fine Woodworking and other publications.
His presentation was a little broad in scope and covered the two methods
of furniture construction, which are carcass and panel. He touched upon
the need to spend time appreciating grain matching prior to gluing. He
also made some remarks concerning glues and gluing such as his limited
use of Titebond glue, which as he indicates, is a carpenters' glue. When
he has need for a glue like Titebond, he prefers white glue. He wants
the additional assembly time it provides.
He said he never uses either of these glues in any mortise and tenon
joint. In this case he uses hide glue, first because of it's extended
assembly time, and secondly because a cured joint can be disassembled
using hot water. He also stressed the need for the mating surfaces of
the glue joint to be smooth.
In gluing his table tops, he rarely uses biscuits; although he may use
them occasionally for alignment purposes. He made suggestions for the
size of tenons, and he also said you make the mortise first. He makes
his mortises with a plunge router, utilizing a very simple technique,
and his tenon shoulders are cut on the table saw using a sled. The tenon
cheeks are cut on a router table. It was a breeze the way he did it.
The seminar cost me $55 for three hours, and I had to go to New Jersey
to getit. The information presented was OK, but I don't know if it was
worth $55. Maybe it's because I was spoiled because our club had Frank
Klaus, Ian Kirby and Sal Marino come to the Brush Barn, and for seven
hours they talked, demonstrated and answered questions; you got lunch,
and it only cost $35. You can't beat that no how.
-- Gabe Jaen
