Williamsburg Conference
Jim Crammond in Monroe Michigan
>Fellow Handtoolers,
Jamey Amrine and I arrived back in the 21st Century late on Wednesday night and I wanted to post a short report of the Colonial Williamsburg Working Wood in the 18th Century Conference. I think this year's was the best one I've been to yet.
Because 2007 is the 400th anniversery of the founding of Jamestown, Va. (the first English settlement in North America), the subject of the conference was 17th Century furniture. It is a style that I am not too familiar with and I wasn't too sure that I even liked it. The presenters changed my mind and gave me a new apprecation of this style. Most of the furniture made during this period was made of rived oak that was worked while still wet. John Alexander, Peter Follansbee, and Ernie Conover were the "celebrity" presenters, Ted Boksana(sp?) and Garland Wood were the presenters from Colonial Williamsburg. The last two are carpenters at CW. All of the presenters were knowledgible and had a great sense of humor. Roy Underhill even made a cameo appearance.
This is a 3 and a half day conference that usually starts out with an overview of the furniture type or style by a conservator from Colonial Willimsburg. On the first woodworking day, John Alexander and Peter Follansbee talked about working with green oak and demonstrated making a four legged stool. The talked about the mortise and tenon joints and drawboring that was the basic type of joinery used during the period. In the afternoon, Garland and Ted started on a copy of a Harvard Court Cupboard (basically a china cabinet) by riving some stock from a log. They talked about the frame and panel construction that was prevalent during this period and milled stock to size. On Tuesday, Peter Follansbee domonstrated making a box with decorative carvings. His ability in this style of carving was amazing. He did in about 30 minutes what would take me a day. The carpenters finished up the assembly of the Court Cupboard in the afternoon. Ernie Conover spent Wednesday morning showing how to make the barley twist candlesticks that were in the latest issue of Fine Woodworking. After finishing those, he spent quite a bit of time talking about spindle turning.
The use of green oak for frame and panel construction was pretty interesting. Their method was to mill two good surfaces and not really worry at all about the other two. As long as the surface was not seen, the makers did not care if it was flat, smooth, or square. The only part of the tenon shoulder that contacted the mortise piece was the outer corner. The outside shoulder was undercut and the inside was left clear. The drawbore pulled the joint up tight. It doesn't seem like good construction practice by modern standards, but these pieces have laste 300 years, so I guess it is OK.
A real plus this year was the weather. It was in the 70's for much of the conference and didn't cause any problems in the drive.
Colonial Williamsburg does a terrific job putting these events on. I would highly recommend attending if you ever have the opportunity.