Phila Furniture Institue Veneering Course

[Dave Malen]

Hi,
This May 6th and 7th I spent two enjoyable days learning about veneering from a very personable instructor - Mario Rodriguez at the Phila Furniture Institute. The course covered hammer veneering, using yellow glue to iron the veneer to the substrate, as well as vacuum veneering. We also learned about sharpening all the tools involved. The school is fully equipped and has some great old iron. Each student had plenty of individual attention (Not that I needed any! ) Another part of the course was fixing your mistakes. I was impressed with how Mario made it look easy. The school is owned and operated by Alan Turner (remember his post of the kneehole desk <I hope that's the correct name>) who was a gracious host. I would definitely reccommend this school!

No - I don't work there,
Just a happy customer,
Dave Malen

[Doug Shepard]

Sounds like a good time. Mario's articles in FWW have always been favorites of mine. Don't know if it's just the things he chose to work on, the writing style, or just his approach to work, but they've always seemed a bit more interesting than a lot of their other articles.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Yep, I agree about Mario's contributions to FWW, and not just the veneering.

One of these days it would be great to make a visit back there. A class would be simply icing on the cake.

Thanks for the report, Dave.

Take care, Mike

[Jim Becker]

Yup...PFI is "the place" to go these days for fresh instruction in the woodworking arts! Alan (and Mario) have a wonderful school set up and operational. Highly recommended!

Now Dave...I can't wait to see what you do with this new-found skill since your work is already amazing!

[lou sansone]

hi dave
that's a course I would love to take. so.... what veneering project are you going to be undertaking ?

lou

[Dave Malen]

Lou,
Since I'm a beginner at veneering I'm going to start small as Mario reccommended. I might make a jewelry box with bird's eye maple and walnut for my wife's birthday. (that would be in two weeks) uh maybe for her brithday next year. I would also like to use veneer for drawer fronts.
But of course I'll have to buy a vacuum veneer press to do it right!

Dave

[Dave Malen]

Thanks for the compliment, What really is amazing is how long it takes to get my projects done. Good thing I don't do woodworking for a living!

Dave

[Jim Becker]

Dave, if you actually get to walk into your shop...you're ahead of me at this point...

[Alan Turner]

Dave,

Thanks so much for attending, and for posting, and for your kind comments. We may have a testimonial here.

The Philadelphia Furniture Workshop is up and running, but so far we have not been very good at getting the word out, so your public comments are especially appreciated.

We have many classes scheduled, and none are fully registered, so last minute inquires are certainly welcome. The Fall/Winter schedule is nearly ready to add to the web site.

I have been teaching woodworking for about 5 years now, but that experience pales in comparison to the experience of Mario. He is a true gentleman, and knowledgeable across the full spectrum of woodworking. When I called to place a small ad in FWW, the ad salesman was interested in the fact that Mario was on board and so we chatted a bit. They all seem to know him up there, and his nickname (and I am sure he will be embarrassed that I post this) is Super Mario, although I have never seen him playing antiquated Nintendo. It must come from his skills with our favorite material.

Dave, I think you should definitely get after that jewelery box right away, and we will be most interested to see the results. Any questions, please give us a shout.

Alan Turner
Philadelphia Furniture Workshop