Wamoo

I was blown away by the confernece and your sketches are a great addition. In fact, I was inspired that I have begun the arduous task of trying to build a set of Chippendale, balland claw footed dining room chairs. Just wondering if you or anyone else has a set of plans of ven a good description for the clamp that was used during the demo of carving the ball and claw foor. Noted that a version of that clamp was also being used for carving feet in the series of articles appearing in Popular Woodworking. Any help from anyone would be appreciated.

I have been using this type of finish (because it works and is"dope-slap" easy) for abput 10 years. I was introduced to the process by Peter Korn while attending a course at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. Peter's formula uses mineral spirits and I have nothing but success with it. After seeing the Garrett Hack article I tried switching to turpentine. I have seen no advantage to turpentine in either ease of use or quality of finish. In fact I see two downsides to turpentine. It does have a strong smell and it costs a heck of a lot more than mineral spirits. The one thing I do like about Hack's mixture is the accelerated drying when you add a wheaty flake of Japan dryer.