What One Can and Cannot Do

You may read this as the forward to a book I have a mind to write.

When woodworking:

One can use kiln-dried timber for most purposes.
One can often employ machinery and power tools.
One can stick wood together with practically any glue or adhesive – brown or white.
One can easily lay any chosen type of laminate or veneer on a substrate.
One can colour almost any wood with ‘mahogany’ or ‘walnut’ etc. opaque stains.
One can achieve a glossy surface using water based varnishes and other low or VOC free finishes.

When creating virtually indiscernible period furniture copies:

One cannot ignore the importance of moisture in shaping solid and veneered work.
One cannot employ machinery or power tools within two processes of a finished surface.
One cannot make do without animal glue (the proper stuff, heated in a pot).
One cannot replicate the almost imperceptible fluctuations in the surfaces of two to three hundred-year-old veneered casework without the use of sawn veneer (think thin boards as opposed to ultra thin, machine-peeled sheets).
One cannot reproduce the subtle tints and shades of antique furniture without using translucent chemical, mineral and vegetable stains.
One cannot create convincing old patinated surfaces without spirit (alcohol) varnishes and mineral spirit/turpentine based oil varnishes and waxes.

… in my experience.

 

Jack Plane

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