Ken Seidman

The May meeting was held in Ken Seidman's shop in the Bay View District of San Francisco. Ken moved into this large space a year ago and is still in the process of setting it up. He rents space out to several other woodworkers who pay $400-500 per month for the space and use of the power tools. They must provide their own liability insurance.

Ken, himself does custom residential and commercial cabinetry. He is in the process of doing casework for optometry offices and likes that type of work because it has no standards and thus offers a great deal of variety. Another interesting comment Ken made was that he preferred working for designers as opposed to architects. Architects, he said, tend to use several cabinetmakers and have them bid against each other while designers will stick with you if they like you.

Reports

Neither Mark Rand nor Gene Wagg were at the meeting to report. Mark is in Russia.

Harold Patterson passed out new membership lists and reported on the toy workshop held at Peter Wronsky's shop to make small benches for the church preschool that gave us the "Holy Oak." Guess what material was used to make the benches? There will be another toy workshop at Per Madsen's shop on June 21st to make boxes for building blocks.

Harold also reported that he heard of a Stanley #1 plane had sold for $3321, incredible as the plane does not function well.

Tony Fanning and Bill Henzel reported that the Rebuilding Together project at Malcolm X Elementary had succeeded in constructing 6 cubbies, 52 shelves and 80 bookcases for 23 classrooms! 29 members participated. A handrail project at a handicapped center is scheduled for September. See Bill if you're interested.

Jay Perrine reviewed tentative programs for upcoming meetings to include: July at the Japan Woodworker for a demo of a router-table dovetail jig and a presentation by blade maker Ron Hock, August at Woodcraft with Ken Horner and his new book, September Kickoff Night, and November Jigs and Fixtures.

Stan Booker announced that the raffle for the night included some black walnut, veneers and hand clamps.

Announcements

Japan Woodworker is deducting 30% off wood bought on June 7th.

Stan reported that Gary Knox Bennett lost the top floor of his home to a fire and a number of his works went up in smoke.

Jamie Buxton announced that a publisher is soliciting photos for two books that are in the making, "500 Boxes" and "500 Bowls". For details see this month's This 'N That section.

Craig said that the membership surveys are almost ready for distribution.

Show and Tell

Paul brought in two objects: a cheese board made from scraps whose face grain was not appealing but when put on edge made for an attractive cheese board. He also showed a piece of Black Acacia hewn locally and milled to show a surprisingly nice figure and color.

Bruce Bell showed us a two piece chair he made from Meranti and Mahogany. One part slides into the other for transport.

Guests

Pete Marshall makes snake enclosures and works with Jay Perrine.

Jeff Dye heard of us from a woodworking class at Sequoia High School in Redwood City.

Ron Smith is a retired tool maker from Union City.

Greg Zall: Marquetry

Greg studied at the College of the Redwoods and now works out of his shop in Petaluma doing custom cabinetry and furniture (www.gregzall.com). He loves marquetry although it only makes up a small percentage of his work. Unlike Ken Seidman he prefers working for architects because they tend to be more into furniture and design. Greg has taught for 10 years at CCAC. He occasionally does spec pieces for galleries as a way to show his work but tends to do better with commission pieces.

Greg likes to work with subtle woods like Douglas Fir which have an Asian feel. He plays with placing adjacent pieces so the grain changes direction creating different shades of color, particularly as one walks around the piece. He recently made a mirror using this concept for the Sonoma Woodworkers Association contest and won Best of Show. All the pieces were of one species, Doug Fir.

For marquetry,Greg resaws his veneers to 1/16" thickness which lends itself well to his double-bevel technique. He cuts the pieces on a slight angle to achieve a tight fit, thus eliminating glue lines. He stacks the inlay piece on the background veneer, tapes them together, and cuts through both at once so the shapes are identical. For 1/16" veneer he sets his scroll saw for 7 degrees and uses a 00 jeweler's saw blade. He runs the saw slowly and always proceeds in a counterclockwise direction. He uses regular Titebond glue to join inlay pieces. For captured pieces he drills a 12 degree hole with a tiny bit which generally will disappear as the inlay is cut.

To glue the veneer to a substrate , Greg uses Unibond 800 putting it only on the substrate. It will not creep as it doesn't introduce moisture being a two part glue. He leaves it in a vacuum press for 1-2 hours. Ideally room temperature should be 80-90 degrees. Wax or wax paper between cauls and the work prevents sticking.

If Greg needs to transfer drawings he does so with old fashioned carbon paper or graphite paper.

Greg demonstrated a special technique whereby he gets gradual shading on wood. He calls it "toasting." He heats fine aquarium sand in a cast iron pot on a hot plate. He dips the inlay into the hot sand gradually and lets it get gradually more toasted as the heat travels up the piece of inlay. The shading looks like shadowing in the marquetry picture.

Greg uses an Excaliber scroll saw, but says that the DeWalt (at 40% of the price) is pretty good, too.

For further learning, Greg offers courses at the California College of Arts & Crafts (www.ccac-art.edu), and recommends a book "The Art of Marquetry" by Craig Vandall Stevens, from Shiffer Publishing (610.593.2002)