Louis XV Commodes

It’s always a pleasure to restore fine pieces of quality antique furniture, so it was a special treat to receive two almost identical commodes attributed to Louis N Malle. Cabinet maker, or the correct French term, ébéniste to Louis XVth. Both commodes were in the classic bombé shape that you can see from the photos and each heavily decorated with gilt ormolu. Both featured panels of lighter rosewood against a darker surround. However, the timber species of surround veneer differed, Kingwood was used for the larger commode, while a species of Ebony, ébéne verte, was used on the smaller more delicate commode. Both commodes had marble tops, one of these was clearly the original, while the other, I suspect was a 19th century replacement. Moving these marble tops aside one could clearly see the maker’s stamp and seal, leaving no doubt to the provenance.

While the main structures were relatively sound, damage to the veneer from shrinkage of the supporting timber was pronounced as was substantial wear to the drawer runners and drawer bottoms. Apart from these two major items conservation consisted of careful cleaning and finish repair, the results I hope speak for themselves.

Limited Editions

Recently a very dear client friend asked if I might make one of my needle workers boxes in walnut. Well actually she asked me about a year ago and I just recently got around to doing something about it. This was eventuated by three different things, the simultaneous arrival of a trunk of walnut, nicely cut into planks and a sheath of walnut burr veneers. Then a book about the Victory Project; A scheme where items have been made from timber taken from HMS Victory during its various repairs and refits. As one of the makers involved there is a short piece about me and the limited edition boxes I made; a few are still available. This sparked an idea and I decided to not only make the one needle workers box, but a series of five, in a limited edition complete with a certificate of provenance; just like the Victory boxes. The Walnut needle workers boxes will feature Cherry swing handles and dividers to the inner tray and burr walnut lids and tray bottoms. As I write, three of these are sold; this is even before I have made the first one. Hence no picture. Little did I realise that they would prove so popular, that’s the reason I settled for such a small edition. Naturally it would be dishonest to make a repeat edition, however I may make another using Walnut and pear or maybe Birdseye Maple.

What tools do I need? (part 6 Sharpening)

While on a recent visit to a friend of mine, who lives a little further south of here in the Creuse, he took me to see an archaeological site he has discovered. It was here on an escarpment that we discovered this very early sharpening stone; probably used to sharpen all manner of tools and weapons. No doubt even battle weapons used against invading Romans; there are some traces of later Roman settlement. Interesting to see how little some things have changed, although now-days most of us would like our sharpening stones a little more portable.

Last time I promised to look at diamond and ceramic stones, these are in my opinion, by far the best choice. Both will do a similar job, but there are a few differences. Generally speaking diamond stones are a perforated metal plate covered with diamond particles of different grades. Course, medium, fine and extra fine, there is also an extra course though difficult to find. This plate is bonded to a support or base, generally plastic and colour coded to the grit size. Ceramic stones are made from high alumina ceramic (synthetic sapphires) and then bonded into a ceramic base, which is then fired at temperatures in the region of 3000 degrees.

Ceramic stones have a continuous surface, so are especially suited to fine narrow blades. Diamond stones not of the best quality, can be found reasonably inexpensively, where as ceramic stones are about the same price as the best diamond stones. You will never find a one stone fits all, like the old monster above. Therefore, as it is our intention to get woodworking quickly and inexpensively, I would recommend at the very least a cheapish diamond combination stone; coarse/fine and a medium fine ceramic stone. (Med fine ceramic stone is equal to an extra fine diamond stone)

Diamond and Ceramic Stones

What Tools Do I Need? part 5 Sharpening

The last Item on our list a sharpening system, should perhaps feature right at the top, as this is arguably the most important part of your tool kit. It ensures all your edge tools are in working condition, no matter what quality. Unfortunately most people setting out in the field of woodworking give it scant attention in their eagerness to get started. This is unfortunate, as it generally results in frustration. Throwing the tool down in disgust, they blame either the quality of the wood, the tool or their own lack of skill; in truth it is just a lack of understanding two things. Firstly the right understanding of sharpness and secondly how one may achieve it. A perfect cutting edge, is the meeting point of two converging angles prepared in such a way that all imperfections are removed; a mirror surface. This is achieved by grinding and honing with progressively finer sharpening stones.

Regrettably this rarely happens on the novice’s bench, many are content to use some old misshapen piece of rock from granddads shed or the ubiquitous oilstones of indeterminable grade; at best there may be fine or course marked on them. Stones that are deformed or even slightly hollowed are useless for our purposes and will quickly ruin any tool by rounding the back of it. For a chisel this is the part of the tool that bears on the timber as a guide, this helps control the cut, so needs to be perfectly flat; On a plane blade, this is the area that determines the angle of cut and very importantly mates with the chip-breaker. Even the slightest gap here will result in shavings being trapped; this will entirely choke the plane even after one or two passes. For these and a host of finer points blades need to be perfectly flat; flattening the blade of an edge tool is actually the first job you will need to do after you take it out of the box. Because even the best quality tools will need a little tuning before use, no matter what it says on the wrapper.

They may feel sharp and may even give you a nasty nick, but they will not be the surgical sharpness we are looking for; an edge that will leave the cut wood polished and ready to take a finish. If you were to place a new blade, or one that had been sharpened on a carborundum stone, under a magnifying glass, you would see thousands of small scratches. Then if you further magnified the edge you would then see that these scratches now looked like a ploughed field and created deep furrows at the tip of the blade. Try pushing a saw sideways over a piece of wood, not only does this require considerable effort, but the result is hideous. Now, this is exactly what happens, only in smaller scale, when using a badly sharpened blade.

I could list all the pro’s and con’s of the different stones available, but this is adequately done elsewhere and is here I believe redundant. Because you are only looking for information that applies to your situation and helps you get started quickly and easily; you do not need stones that constantly need flattening or dressing. Diamond or ceramic stones are without doubt the best choice and I shall be looking at different types in my next post.

What happened to August?

August is generally the quietest month in France, that is if you are doing anything else that is not to do with ‘’Les Grands Vacances’’ Its just impossible to buy materials or supplies, so we just hope we have thought of everything we will need. This seemed like a good time to update our old PC (9 years) for a new one. So it was extremely unfortunate that our long awaited broadband installation occurred in late July. I’m sure some of you are ahead of me here. Yes, you can imagine, data transfer from one PC to the other, new service provider, no engineers, one service account closed 5 days before the other activated, and 15 days before the new service was finally connected.

On the bright side we are now fully paid-up members of the 21st centaury, well it at least feels like it for us; after years of working at night when no one else was using the shared dial-up connection. One dear American client and friend, described our location, as out in “the boonies”, This is true and the way we like it. Now we have the best of both worlds. The only drawback is, that I now no longer have an excuse for not keeping-up to date on this blog.