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Woodworking the Williamsburg way

Mark Schofield, managing editor

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Steve Latta demonstrated how to build this Federal-style dressing table.

Kaare Loftheim demonstrating how to carve a ball-and-claw foot.

Mack Headley comparing different designs for tall-post beds.

Steve Latta demonstrated how to build this Federal-style dressing table.

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I just returned from having a great time at the 11th annual Working Wood in the 18th Century conference presented by Colonial Williamsburg www.history.org and Fine Woodworking. This year the theme was bedroom furniture and attendees at the two back-to-back sessions saw regular Fine Woodworking author, Steve Latta, show how to make a Federal-style dressing table complete with stringing, banding (which he also showed how to make) and bellflowers. As usual, Steve made skilled and precision work seem like a piece of cake, but the knowledgeable audience appreciated his skill and was loud in their praise.

Members of the Colonial Williamsburg cabinetmaking shop also played an active role demonstrating their skills. Master cabinetmaker, Mack Headley, showed how to carve flutes on a high-post bed. He also demonstrated his carving and gilding skills on a reproduction of an incredibly ornate picture frame. Asked by a member of the audience when he expected it to finish, Headley replied, “Well, I retire in a few year’s time…..” Bottom line, this frame could make an annual appearance at many future conferences!

Kaare Loftheim, journeyman cabinetmaker at Williamsburg, demonstrated how to carve the ball-and-claw foot to a low-post bed in the Williamsburg collection. The original, which was on display, was entirely made from Cuban or island mahogany which had many in the audience salivating for this near extinct wood.

Learning from the masters was only part of the reason that woodworkers gather every year at these conferences. Working alone for most of the year, it is a chance to compare photographs of projects made over the last year with other lovers of period furniture. Many of the attendees are also members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM, www.sapfm.org ) who hold their annual dinner at the same time. Each year they elect a winner of their cartouche award for excellence in period furniture making. This year the award went to Dennis Bork of Delafield, Wisconsin who gave a slide tour of his house almost entirely furnished with his own pieces. SAPFM have regional chapters and also hold a summer teaching class which is at the Thaddeus Stevens College in Lancaster, Pa. Anyone interested in period furniture regardless of their experience actually building pieces should consider joining as I did.

Next year’s conference sessions will be January 13-16 and 17-20. To be included on the mailing list, contact Deb Chapman at dchapman@cwf.org.

Mark Schofield, managing editor, Fine Woodworking magazine.

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