This is the final wrap-up segment on my video series on “How To Hand Cut Dovetails” featuring master artisan Craig Vandall Stevens. There are many steps to getting optimum results cutting dovetails, so focusing on just 5 ideas is sure to leave some key point on the table. And that’s where you come in.

Watch the video, think about your own experience, and then share your ideas or questions with the rest of the WoodTreks family of viewers. It’s easy. Comment below. To stay current with the discussion, make sure you check off the option “Notify me of followup comments” located below the comment “submit” button.

So what are you waiting for? Watch the video and then give us your “2 Cents”. — Keith (5 Minute Woodworking Video)

Don’t miss my latest free woodworking videos. Subscribe to email or RSS feed updates right here √.

(9) Comments    Read More   

For centuries, decorative string and banded inlays have been highly valued embellishments that were applied to the finest furniture. Among the many techniques and styles of inlay, string inlay is perhaps the most common and useful method. Even today, some designers and craftspeople use simple string inlays to define, highlight, or bring focus to elements of an object — be it furniture or other decorative art.

In this comprehensive video tutorial Jeff Williams, inlay specialist for the Irion Company, demonstrates his period correct method of cutting the recessed groove, making traditional holly string, and applying this string into your workpiece. Mr. Williams is a master artisan and as an Irion Company employee, Jeff has crafted some of the finest antique reproductions of Federal Style furniture being built today. In filming Jeff, I had the opportunity to meet him and get to know him. His modest, easy-going nature makes him the perfect guide as he patiently shows us the ropes. Making and applying string inlay never seemed so accessible. You can do this too. — Keith (9 Minute Woodworking Video)

The Irion Company specializes in the restoration, conservation, and hand-made reproduction of American antique furniture from the 18th and 19th century. Jeff Williams specializes in period correct Federal style furniture with an emphasis on veneering, inlaying, and marquetry.

(22) Comments    Read More   

In a world of filled with commodity wood, there remains a special niche for those lumbermen who deal in the finest grades of timber. The rarities of the wood world (the burls, the figured, the exotic, the delicate grained, the carefully seasoned) are reserved for the most exclusive wood projects and the most discriminating artisans.

Fine-hardwood dealer Rick Hearne travels the world locating these gems of nature. Once found, he ships these logs to his Pennsylvania lumber yard to be flitch-cut on the yard’s massive custom-built sawmill. Whether these trees are recovered from tropical hurricanes in South America, or salvaged from diseased trees that were felled on British estates, Rick always relishes the magic moment when he cuts them open to discover the beauty hidden within. In this video, Rick discusses how he can “read” trees (in this case, the English Wych Elm) in order to anticipate the potential secrets inside each log he purchases. For me, Rick’s enthusiasm for special woods was downright contagious. In this video, you too can experience the thrill of slicing open these massive gems of the forest. (4.5 Minute Woodworking Video)

Rick Hearne is President of Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford, Pennsylvania

(12) Comments    Read More