Category Archives: Teaching

Summer 2016 Classes

June 5, 2016 @TheRainford Leave a comment

The weather is finally starting to warm up and it’s time from some summer workshops at The North Bennet Street School and Historic Eastfield Village.

As always you can find my teaching schedule on the ‘Instruction‘ page at the top of this blog.

First up is the ever popular ‘Drywall for Beginners‘ course at NBSS. There are a couple of seats left and registration closes soon, so if you are interested, please sign up ASAP. In past offerings of this course I posted about it here and here if you’d like to see what it looks like. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn how to hang drywall, tape, mud and texture it.

Drywall for Beginners @ North Bennet Street School

Saturday-Sunday, June 25-26 (2 Sessions)
8:30am-4:30pm
Instructor: Bill Rainford

Students learn how to hang drywall, tape seams, work with mud, sanding (wet and dry), and how to work with corners. Additional topics covered include light framing overview, repairing holes, working around outlet boxes and fixtures, repairing damage, finishing the surface, painting tips and, if time allows, the basics of texturing. Students assemble and work from full-size model wall sections which include an inside and outside corner and opportunity to work with stud bays. This class is intended for homeowners, DIY enthusiasts and carpenters/contractors. Basic carpentry or handy skills are a plus.

Students are responsible for supplying their own tools. A tool list will be sent at least 2 weeks prior to class start.

Please review our Registration Policies before registering.

Registration closes 7 days prior to workshop start.

Register

Next up is a new ‘Introduction to Sharpening‘ at NBSS. This workshop is a great opportunity for students to learn how to tune up their basic tools — bench planes, chisels, marking knives, cutting gauges, block planes and specialty planes. The genesis of this course was the realization that some students coming to weekend workshops at the school only had some, and possibly none of their tools properly sharpened and ready to go. (For other workshops I’d rather see students focused on the course at hand and not trying to hastily tune a chisel or iron rather than paying attention to a new course lessons) If you don’t have the time to commit two weeks to the Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking, or even if you completed that course and need more time and practice at sharpening, need access to a proper grinder or you have a new more complex iron or chisel that needs sharpening this is a great class to get your tool kit tuned up. The course is a mixture of demonstration and hands on time with with an instructor.

Introduction to Sharpening @ North Bennet Street School

Saturday-Sunday, July 23-24
8:30am-4:30pm
Instructor: Bill Rainford

Having sharp, well-tuned tools is perhaps the most important aspect of woodworking; they are requisite for good work. Learn the basics of sharpening a core set of tools used in many woodworking applications. We cover tuning up and sharpening a bench chisel, smoothing plane, and cutting gauge. Additional topics covered include hollow grinding, honing, making a stone holder and tuning up your stones. Additional tools covered as time allows.

Students are responsible for supplying their own tools. A tool list will be sent at least 2 weeks prior to class start.

Please review our Registration Policies before registering.

Registration closes 7 days prior to workshop start.

Register

And last, but certainly not least is an upcoming workshop at Eastfield Village as part of the Early American Industries Association (EAIA) Historic Trades Sampler. The course I will be teaching will be building a domed top box. This will give each students hands on exercises in working wood, assembling a small box, setting butt hinges and an optional lock, and working with cut nails. Once students complete their box we’ll work with Bill McMillen to do grain painting on the box as well. Details below including info on other courses being offered as part of this event:

Eastfield Historic Trades Sampler
Early American Industries Association

Join Us July 28-31,2016!

The Early American Industries Association Eastfield Historic Trades Sampler, will be held on Thursday, July 28th through Sunday, July 31st, 2016, at Historic Eastfield Village, East Nassau, New York. The program this year will include:

Domed wooden box making with Bill Rainford

Decorative painting with Bill McMillen

Fish decoy making with Joe Brien

Iron utensil making in the blacksmith shop with Olof Janssen

Tinsmithing with Master Tinsmith Bill McMillen

Flint knapping & atlatl making with George Lott

Black powder shooting with Bill McMillen

The name name Eastfield Historic Trades Sampler reflects what we actually offer-a sampler of various trades with an opportunity to learn about them while completing a small project related to the craft.

There are two different workshops each day from which to choose. The classes start at 9 a.m. and there is a lunch provided in Eastfield’s historic tavern from noon until 1 p.m., at which time the afternoon session of the workshops resume. The workshops end around 5 p.m.

Learn More Here.

Accommodations

Accommodations in Eastfield’s taverns are available free of charge for those wishing to stay as guests in early 19th century surroundings. The only requirements is that each person supply their own bedding, plus 10 ten inch white candles.

Students are encouraged to stay here during the Historic TradesSampler. Meals may be cooked or served in the late 18th century kitchens. Accommodations are rope beds with straw and feather ticks. Facilities are located in period out houses. There are evening gatherings in the Briggs Tavern and lively conversations and games of dominoes by candlelight. This immersive experience offers an unforgettable opportunity to be with others-students and teachers-of similar interests, to gain appreciation for the work and daily life of early 19th century America.

Registration

The cost of registration for the workshop is $485.00.

To register, you can contact John Verrill by phone at (703) 967-9399 or email EAIA1933@verizon.net or via mail:

Early American Industries Association PO Box 524
Hebron, MD 21830

If you have any questions about these upcoming workshops, please send me a comment below or contact me directly via the contact form here.

I hope to see you in a future class.

Take care,
-Bill

featured, Joinery, Teaching, Traditional Woodworking, Workshop

Making a Window Sash Part 1

February 21, 2016 @TheRainford 7 Comments

Building a window sash by hand can sound intimidating, but with some practice it can be an enjoyable experience. Early window sash were built by hand designed to be maintainable — if a component broke or rotted out it could be replaced — something that is not possible with most aluminum and vinyl windows you see on the market today.

A few weekends ago I taught a two day workshop I developed on building a window sash at the North Bennet Street School. This post and the next are a high level recap of the course with some photos from building the prototype in my workshop and what we did in the classroom

Stock selection is important. My wood of choice is Eastern White Pine, preferably quarter-sawn heart pine which is easy to work, weathers well and historically appropriate in my area — the greater Boston area.

Sticking Knife Profile in the Williams and Hussey

A profile can be run by hand using sash planes or using a router table. For larger runs a custom molding knife can make fast work of this often tedious task using a machine like the ‘Williams and Hussey’ molder. (Shown above and below)

We make a few passes to get near the finished size wanted and then a final cleanup pass at the end to leave the piece with a nice finish.

Rails, stiles and muntin stock are run using the same setup on the machine — this way all the profiles are consistent.

Next up is the use of a story stick — this traditional device is effectively a set of plans laid out on a piece of stock that matches the rest of your milled stock. Key locations like mortises are transferred to the work piece by using a marking knife and a combination square. The knife allows for accurate and consistent transfer of measurements to the work-piece.

Shown below are mortises cut either with a hollow chisel mortiser or by hand with a mortising chisel. Also note that the work pieces are deliberately left long. These ‘horns’ allow for more relish to support mortise walls from blowing out and also allow the sash to sit in the shop and not ding or damage the piece as it is worked on and eventually glazed.

Once the mortises are cleaned up its on to cutting the tenons. Once the piece is laid out I start by cross-cutting the shoulders. (See below). I then use a chisel to pop off the waste or for larger tenons will make a second saw cut (This time ripping down to the shoulder cut) and clean it up with a chisel.

With the shoulders in place I can dry fit them (using the square shoulders that are on the exterior side of the sash) to make sure I have a tight fit as seen below. Note that I am not fitting the tenon yet, just the shoulder to start.

Next up was the coping. I make use of a saddle block with a 45 degree ramp and some in-cannel chisels to cope the muntin stock as shown below. With the cope in place I can now test the fit of each of the tenons into its mortise.

Tenon complete and profile coped

This creates a nice tight joint that allows the pieces to mate together in a pleasing manner that allows to profile to make that 90 degree transition from the horizontal to the vertical.

I use a similar process for fitting the horizontal muntins — starting first with the center joint as this can be fussy at times. I want each horizontal muntin to meet cleanly in the center and have both tenons fill as much of the mortise as possible. I leave the stock long so if something goes wrong with the joint I can cut off that inch or so and try again without wasting a whole piece of stock. With the center joint in place I’ll cut the other shoulder and fit it as we did with the vertical muntin and then cope the joint and test those tenons.

With all the primary joinery completed its time to dry fit it all together and check for square. All the joints should fit together well and the shoulders and copes should be nice and tight.

If your joints close up with some mild pressure don’t worry too much as the draw bored pins will help pull the joints together and keep them closed. With each stage in this process the sash becomes more and more rigid.

In the next post we’ll talk about making pins, draw-boring, cutting glass and glazing.

Take care,
-Bill

featured, Teaching

Upcoming Classes

February 4, 2016 @TheRainford Leave a comment

Things have been busy at home and in the shop. I’m in the process of building a 24’x30′ timber framed garage/barn. Lots of good content coming from that build, and I promise a lot of it will *eventually* make it to the blog, but the pressure is on to get as much of it up and built before baby #2 arrives at the end of March and our lives change even more at home. We have a 17 month old son that keeps us very busy as it is. On my Facebook page I often post some more real time photos of what I’ve been up to.

Last weekend I taught a workshop at the North Bennet Street School on building a Window Sash that sold out and was a lot of fun. (Recap of that class to follow in the next post)

I believe there are still a couple of spots open in my up coming 1 day workshop on February 27th at the North Bennet Street School in Boston on making traditional molding by hand and making a picture frame from that molding. If you are interested, please make sure you sign up soon.

This course will be very similar to a course I taught out at Eastfield Village for the EAIA’s Historic Trades Sampler. You can see a recap of that course and some of the frames students built here.

For a full list of upcoming courses I am teaching, please check out the ‘Instruction’ page at the the menu bar for the blog or you can directly access it here.

Here is a quick recap of the next few workshops that are scheduled:

Molding to Picture Frame Workshop @ The North Bennet Street School

Saturday, February 27
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Instructor: Bill Rainford
$175 Register

This workshop will focus on creating moldings using traditional hand planes. Each student will have the opportunity to setup and use some hollows and rounds, beading planes, rabbet planes and molders on a sticking board to make a short run of molding that will be mitered to form a small picture frame. Cutting/fitting glass will also be covered.

Beginners are welcome.

If you’d like to learn more about this workshop from a prior running, please check out this post. If you’d like to learn a bit more about this sort of work please check out this earlier post as well as this one.

Please review our Registration Policies before registering.

Registration closes 7 days prior to class start.

Summer Courses (More Details to be published soon)

Drywall for Beginners @ North Bennet Street School
Saturday-Sunday, June 25-26
8:30am-4:30pm
Instructor Bill Rainford

Introduction to Sharpening @ North Bennet Street School
Saturday-Sunday, July 23-24
8:30am-4:30pm
Instructor: Bill Rainford

Eastfield Village + EAIA Historic Trades Sampler July 28-31, 2016

I hope see you in class.

Take care,
-Bill

EAIA, Eastfield Village, featured, Historic Places, Teaching, Traditional Woodworking, Woodworking Techniques, Workshop

From Molding To Picture Frame

August 7, 2015 @TheRainford 4 Comments

It’s always fun to travel back in time. This past weekend I traveled back to the 19th century as I participated in the Early American Industries Association Historic Trades Sampler Program at Eastfield Village.

On Saturday I taught a workshop on the use of traditional molding planes to make a picture frame. In this post I’ll cover some of the highlights of the course and share some details for folks who might want to give it a try at home.

Demonstrating the use of a molding plane on a sticking board. (Photo by Carol Coutinho)

One of the joys of an event at Eastfield Village is to work by natural light in a beautiful and immersive setting — in this case Don Carpentier’s village of carefully moved and restored historic buildings — taverns, trade shops, homes and outbuildings.

After an orientation to the tools and classroom setup I demonstrated how to evaluate a molding plane and how to tune up an iron. We also talked about the wide variety of profiles that can be created from even a very modest set of molding planes. The profiles below can be created using a beading plane, a pair of hollows and rounds (say #8) and a rabbet plane.

A sampling of how a few simple profiles can generate a large variety of frames.

And with hollows and rounds the profiles are only limited by your imagination.

Students tuned up their planes, squared up their stock, and tested their plane setup on some scrap and set about making the stepped rabbet needed to hold the glass in place and the plywood back. The plywood back is carefully screwed in place and helps created a very solid/rigid frame compared to the floating backs held in by stamped metal retainers we see on many modern store bought frames. The long piece of plywood with an MDF fence and screws at the end to secure the stock is called a ‘sticking board’ and can be as long or as short as your project stock requires.

Don making a profile on the edge of his frame stock.

Next up students started molding their chosen profile(s). We talked about how to work backwards withe the molding planes building on the work of an earlier swipe, how to adjust irons as needed and how to get a nice finish on the profile.

Making the miters with a miter box. (Photo by Carol Coutinho)

With a fully molded piece of stock now it was time to layout your cuts and cut the miters. In this case students left the line knowing that we could creep up on it by using my Lion Mitre-Master (large metal frame-makers guillotine) or a shooting board with 45 degree insert to clean up the corners and ensure we have a nice tight miter at each corner.

With the woodworking complete, next up was a test fit in the band clamps and then final gluing of the frame. While the frames baked in the clamps it was time to cut the glass to size and test fit it. We did this with a self-oiling glass cutter and a layout I made on the bench. Once the glass was fit it was time to layout and countersink the plywood back which was made if 1/4″ thick Baltic birch plywood and secured with #6 1/2″ waxed screws. We used bit braces and egg-beater drills to make quick work of this step.

Hanging hardware came in the form of a self leveling hanger (Think saw-tooth that hangs on single nail) which is affixed with two tiny brads. An appropriate finish would be stain and shellac or a nice bright milk-paint.

I’m happy to report that everyone in the class was able to complete their frame, and I had a great time working with Tom, Don, Carol and Brian. (Carol I’m sorry that I didn’t have any photos of you working to add to this post, but I did make use of some of those photos of me you share with me — thanks again) .

If you’d like to make a frame of your own the plans I put together for this workshop can be seen and downloaded from the link below. The seemingly odd size of this frame was dictated by two factors — the smallest size glass I can get at my local home center is 10×12″ so if you cut it in half you wind up with two 6×10″ pieces which allows each student to have a spare in case their glass cutting didn’t go well and they need a spare or they find time to make a second frame. The size is also dictated by the sticking board and stock. I wanted something that would fit on the 8′ sticking boards I had and allow some extra space in layout and for cutting and to have a bit for testing/trial. The plans below could be scaled up or down to fit whatever size frame you desire.

Click here to download PDF Version of the handouts I made for this class.

If you make a frame of your own and take some photos of it, please share it in the comments below. It’s a great project that can add some unique personality to your pictures and add valuable skills to your woodworking repertoire.

Take care,
-Bill

Eastfield Village, featured, Historic Places, Teaching, Workshop

Historic Trades Sampler 2015

July 8, 2015 @TheRainford 1 Comment

This summer I’ll be teaching a workshop as part of the Early American Industries Association (EAIA) ‘Historic Trades Sampler’ at Eastfield Village.

The events run from Thursday, July 30 through Sunday, August 2, 2015, at Historic Eastfield Village, East Nassau, New York. The program this year includes:

Hand planing picture molding with Bill Rainford:
Printing a broadside in the print shop with Toby Hall:
Knife making in the blacksmith shop with Olof Janssen:
Tinsmithing with master tinsmith Bill McMillen:
Floor cloth painting with John Verrill:
Flint knapping & arrow making with George Lott.
Black powder shooting with Bill McMillen

The name ‘Eastfield Historic Trades Sampler’ reflects what is being offered –a sampler of various trades- with an opportunity to learn about them while completing a small project related to the craft.

There are two different workshops each day from which to choose. The classes start at 9 a.m. and there is a lunch provided in Eastfield‘s historic tavern from noon until 1 p.m., at which time the afternoon session of the workshops resume. The workshops end around 5 p.m.

The official flyer can be found here.

Additional Detail of Bill’s Workshop:

I’ll be teaching a lesson on running traditional moldings using traditional hand planes. Each student will have the opportunity to setup and use some hollows and rounds, beading planes, rabbet planes and molders on a sticking board to make a short run of molding that will be mitered to form a small picture frame.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about this sort of work please check out this earlier post as well as this one.

About Eastfield Village:

Eastfield is a village of historic buildings that Don Carpentier brought to the east field of his farm in East Nassau, New York, over a period of forty years. The village is used as a hands on preservation lab and students can explore the village, handle period objects and learn a lot in a short period of time.

Students are welcome to stay in several of these buildings which have been restored to their 18th and 19th century appearance; however there are hotels and other accommodations nearby. Learn more about Eastfield Village here.

Accommodations at the Village:

Accommodations in Eastfield‘s taverns are available free of charge for those wishing to stay as guests in early 19th century accommodations. The only requirement is that each person supply their own bedding, plus 10 ten-inch white candles.

Students who take classes at the Village are encouraged to stay here during the Historic Trades Sampler. Meals may be cooked or served in the late 18th century kitchens. Accommodations are rope beds with straw and feather ticks. Facilities are located in period out houses (and there is a modern porta-john, and a running hose should you need those slightly more modern comforts ). There are evening gatherings in the Briggs Tavern and lively conversations and games of dominoes by candlelight. This immersive experience offers an unforgettable opportunity to be with others – students and teachers – of similar interests, to gain an appreciation for the work and daily life of early 19th century America.

Don’t forget to Register Today!

This is an great opportunity to learn and practice historics trade using traditional tools!

Dates: Thursday July 30-Sunday August 2, 2015
Location: Historic Eastfield Village, East Naussau, NY 12062 (Directions)
Cost: $485 for this 4 day event

I hope to see some of you at Eastfield this year. You can register for the event on the EAIA website here. If you have questions, feel free to ask me in the comments or via the contact page for my blog.

Take care,
-Bill

Teaching, Workshop

Teaching Schedule for Spring and Summer 2015

March 8, 2015 @TheRainford 2 Comments

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” — Albert Einstein

I love teaching as is allows me to share my passion for traditional woodworking. This spring and summer I will be teaching several workshops I developed for the North Bennet Street School. If you have previously been a student in one of my courses and can share the information below with others who may be interested, I would very much appreciate the referral.

Introduction to Shutters @ The North Bennet Street School

Saturday, May 30

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Register

Saturday & Sunday, May 30-31, 2015

Instructor: Bill Rainford $425 Learn about traditional wooden shutters in this two-day workshop. Using traditional joinery, students build a sample shutter and learn the skills to layout and build shutters for your house. Discussion includes interior and exterior uses, fielded panels and louvered styles Students should be able to plane and square up a board by hand and have some experience laying out and cutting traditional mortise and tenon joinery by hand. Some experience with tuned hand tools and power tools is required.

Group picture with some finished shutters

Bill Rainford is a graduate of the Preservation Carpentry program and many PC and CFM workshops. A long time woodworker, Bill currently works on commissioned pieces from his own workshop, site projects, and personalized instruction. More Shuttermaking Workshop Info From A Previous Running of the workshop can be found here.

Sawhorse Workshop @ The North Bennet Street School

Boston, Massachusetts

Saturday & Sunday, June 6 – 7, 2015

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Register

Instructor: Bill Rainford $400 Build a pair of heavy duty work-site saw horses and a pair of neatly joined nesting horses (or ‘Hurdles’) for using in the workshop. Learn various mortise-and-tenon joinery, trestle structures, hollow chisel and plunge router mortising, table saw tenoning, and laying out of splayed legs. If time allows, we also discuss additional fixtures/accessories. You’ll wonder how you ever worked without them.

Prerequisites: Either Fundamentals of fine woodworking or Fundamentals of machine woodworking or equivalent experience.

Window Sash Workshop @ The North Bennet Street School

Boston, Massachusetts

Saturday – Sunday, August 1-2,2015

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Register

Instructor: Bill Rainford $425

Using some scraps to make a framed mirror for my wife — Sample Window Sash

Learn the basics of building a traditional window sash. The sash you make can be used as a small window or a wall hanging. Skills learned include: milling muntin stock, layout from a story stick, mortise and tenon work, coping a profile, draw boring, making pins, cutting glass and the basics of glazing. If time allows, we discuss other styles and tips on fitting a sash to a frame. Prerequisites: Fundamentals of fine woodworking and Fundamentals of machine woodworking or equivalent experience.

Learn more about building a window sash here. As always my current teaching schedule can be found at the top of my blog on the page titled ‘Instruction‘. If there are other topics you want to see covered — either new workshops offered, or bring back a few I haven’t run in a while, please let me know. I look forward to seeing many of you in class. Take care,

-Bill

Popular Woodworking, Teaching

Learn The Visual Language of Drafting

September 6, 2014 @TheRainford 4 Comments

Learning to draw is akin to learning how to compose music. Everyone has to start somewhere and the rough earlier work will help you build up to more complex pieces. As a kid I loved to sketch — I would copy comic book images by hand. As I got older I wanted to flesh out designs in more detail which required the accuracy of technical drawing or drafting. In High School I first learned the basics of drafting. I took a quarter of mechanical drawing, a quarter of architectural drawing, and a quarter each of the AutoCAD version of each. The drafting skills I learned there have served me well ever since — both with pencil and paper and on a computer. Back then we had a machine that made actual ‘blue’ prints from our drawings and an old DOS version of AutoCAD that was even old by 1990s standards but the basics learned there served me well in later versions and even when using SketchUp today. I can still remember riding my bike 2 towns over with my best friend Jesse to pick up some drafting supplies including architectural templates so we could design houses in our free time. I still use those templates today.

I’m thankful that in the late 1990s the West Islip High School (NY) had a technology wing offering classes in drafting, electronics, woodshop, autoshop etc and that I had some great teachers — Mr. Gerard Weick and Mr. Edwin Ermanovics who taught Industrial Arts and fostered creativity. I loved taking those courses and I still have the ‘Industrial Technology’ award from graduation somewhere — likely at my mother’s house. 🙂

5 years later when I bought my first house I put the skills to use in designing a loft and a custom mantel. When it came time to pull a permit I had all my documentation ready to go. I had my plans reviewed the building inspector — he didn’t make a mark on them and said ‘Wow, I wish we had more people in town like you’ setting the stage for a great working relationship. Meanwhile at the table to my left I could see a professional contractor getting his rear handed to him by another inspector who apparently was not happy with that guys’ plans as it was covered in red ink and there was a lot of heated discussion going on. It goes to show that some careful planning and a clear drawing can go a long way to helping you efficiently go about the work you are interested in completing.

5 more years down the road when I entered the North Bennet Street School I was able to apply those lessons to my drafting exercises and much like riding a bike it comes back to you quite fast. While in the program we had to draft every major project we worked on by hand — that not only helped with speed and accuracy in drafting but it also created a body of work that is handy to refer back to when needed. I still have many plans and story sticks from my time at the school.

Today in my work I usually draft an project by hand on paper — I can get my ideas down faster that way. Most of the time the hand rendered drawing is sufficient. Occasionally I’ll take my drawing and enter it into SketchUp — either to poke around a bit more in 3D, but most often just for the 3D renderings to dress up a blog post or presentation.

The ability to capture you thoughts and designs in a visual representation is quite powerful. A well thought out design on paper can save you considerable time and expense out in the shop. It’s much cheaper to fix a problem on paper than it is in wood — both the cost of the material and the labor involved. A clear working drawing also allows you to communicate to someone else how to fabricate your design.

If you are looking to learn the basics of drafting by hand, I encourage you to check out the Webinar I am teaching on September 10, 2014 8:30pm for Popular Woodworking University here. During the live event participants will have the opportunity to ask me questions etc. If you cannot make the event live the folks at Popular Woodworking will also offer a downloadable recorded version of the Webinar.

The course will cover the basic toolkit for drafting by hand, talk about how to draw a line, line weights, sharpening your leads, cleaning up your mistakes, laying out a basic drawing, lettering, adding dimensions and basic skill building exercises that will get you on the path to generating your own plans. With this basic set of skills under your belt you’ll soon be on your way to composing a great set of plans that will serve you well and make you a better, more efficient woodworker.

If you’d like to learn more about this course, please check out the official description on ShopWoodworking.com here. [Editorial Note: Live event link removed since the course ran as a live event. The link now will take you to where you can purchase the recorded version of the webinar]

I look forward to seeing you there.

Take care,
-Bill

P.S. Mr. Weick and Mr. Ermanovics — Thanks again for all that you taught me — I hope that I am making you both proud as I look to share these skills with the next generation of woodworkers and craftsmen.

Teaching

House Detectives in Training

August 23, 2014 @TheRainford Leave a comment

Each summer I teach a semester long class in ‘Traditional Building’ at the Boston Architectural College in association with the North Bennet Street School as part of the BAC’s Historic Preservation Master’s Degree Program. It’s a low residency program wherein most of the semester is taught online via a series of video lectures and assignments through an online class portal called Moodle, but for an 8 day week the students all fly into Boston for a hands on Intensive session. I have the students from 8:30am-5pm, they get a break for dinner and they have another class in the evenings — it’s an incredibly busy week for all involved but a great way for working professionals to earn a solid degree. This year was no exception.

The Main Reading Room at the Boston Public Library

As part of a class in ‘Traditional Building’ I’m teaching these budding Historic Preservationists the basics of how to ‘read a house’. What does that really mean? It means they are getting an overview of the major building systems used in traditional buildings, how style elements evolved over time and how to look critically at these buildings and learn to read the tool marks and materials to help investigate and document the state of the structure. Effectively it is a crash course in becoming a ‘House Detective’. Certainly a semester is not enough to learn all the ins and outs of a traditional building, but the course helps students get a taste of this wide ranging field and exposes them to some of the tools, trades, experts and other resources that will help them in their careers.

Group Picture in front of the Gibson House Museum

We spent a day touring some major architectural landmarks in downtown Boston — from the Paul Revere House, to the Pierce Hichborn House, to the Otis House, to the Gibson House, to the Boston Public Library and to Trinity Church.

Trinity Church -- by H. H. Richardson — Trinity Church — by H. H. Richardson

We also spent a day in the classroom workshop learning the basics of traditional woodworking. From planing to squaring up a board to building a small tool tote the students got a taste of what traditional bench work is like.

Bill Rainford Teaching Traditional Woodworking

Many students had never used a hand plane or driven a cut nail before so it was a lot of fun showing them the ropes.

Traditional bench work -- squaring up a board etc. — Traditional bench work — squaring up a board etc. (Photo by Patti Vaughn 2014)

Another day during the week we spent with Sara Chase who is a well known Historic Paint Expert.

Sara Chase -- Historic Paint Expert — Sara Chase — Historic Paint Expert

Sara talked about the manufacture of early paints and led the class in mixing their own paints using mullers, oil and pigments.

Making traditional paints by hand with Sara Chase

Students then took some of the paint they made and applied it to the tool boxes they made the day before in the woodworking lessons.

Dierdre and Julie painting their tool totes

We took a field trip to the Fairbanks House in Dedham MA which is the oldest standing Timber Frame in North America.

The Fairbanks House -- The Oldest Standing Timber Frame in North America — The Fairbanks House — The Oldest Standing Timber Frame in North America

Erin Leatherbee is the curator at the Fairbanks House and also one of the first graduates of the BAC’s Historic Preservation MDS program.

Erin Leatherbee (Curator) and her intern Aubrey give us an overview and tour of the Fairbanks house

Erin and her intern Aubrey gave us an overview of the house and how it evolved over time and also gave us an in depth tour of the house itself.

While on site I had the class break out their notepads, tape measures and rulers for some field work.

Stephanie and Patti working on Window Condition Reports

Each student was assigned a window and wrote up a detailed window condition report.

Robert Adam talking about historic hardware and fasteners at the Saugus Ironworks

During the week we also took a trip to the Saugus Ironworks National Park to tour the facility. It was a very rainy day but with umbrellas in hand we toured the facility and museum, saw the Ironworks in action and participated in a hands on lecture by Robert Adam (founder of the NBSS Preservation Carpentry Program and nationally known preservationist) where he show the evolution of home hardware over time — from wrought and cut nails, suffolk and norfolk latches, patent hinges and all manner of lock-sets. (With all the rain I have very few pictures from that day)

Bob Miller (TA for this class, NBSS CFM Graduate, Historian, and Tour Guide) in his element

After the paint lecture we went over to the MFA to tour the Americas Wing. With a baby on the way and good chance I could be called away to the hospital at any time I am thankful to have had Bob Miller as my TA this year. Bob is a graduate of the NBSS Cabinet and Furniture Making Program, an historian, professional tour guide and the perfect fit to help keep the course moving through all the venues we had to cover this year.

This year we also had Richard Irons a well known Preservation Mason come by to talk about masonry. The day was a mixture of time spent in the classroom and outdoors mixing mortar, setting some bricks, cutting blocks, re-pointing etc.

A sampling of historic bricks from Richard's collection — A sampling of historic bricks from Richard’s collection

Richard brought with him a nice sampling of some of the many historic bricks in his collection. It’s always interesting to see just how much the look, style and finish varied over time and location.

Felice and Jamie repointing the back of the school — Felice and Jamie re-pointing the back of the school

The students had the opportunity to re-point some mortar joints, lay up some bricks, cut blocks and get a taste for some traditional masonry work.

The last big day of the intensive week was spent timber framing with Brian Vogt who is a fellow graduate of the NBSS Preservation Carpentry Program and is the Carpentry instructor at the school.

Brian Vogt (NBSS Carpentry Instructor) explaining the basics of Timber Framing

After an overview of the tools, techniques and joints used in timber framing it was time to go stand up a frame…

Brian Vogt and Bill Rainford talking about timber framing, 2 man saws etc (Photo by Patti Vaughn 2014)

Also unusual about this event was the fact that we stood up the frame in ‘connector’ at the school which is a new addition that connects two older buildings that make up the main NBSS campus.

Jennifer using the 'Commander' and Susan steadying the ladder. — Jennifer using the ‘Commander’ and Susan steadying the ladder.

It takes a lot of teamwork and heavy lifting to have a safe frame raising and the class did a great job that day.

With the frame standing it was time to get some quick group pictures and then start the process of disassembling it.

Group shot on the completed timber frame

I’m exhausted just looking back on all we did that week, but I’m glad we got through it and I am confident that this group will be another great set of ‘House Detectives’ that will be out in the field solving some of the mysteries contained in our historic homes and museums.

Group photo on the last day of the class

If you’d like to learn more about this course or the school, please check out these related posts from prior years.

Take care,
-Bill

NBSS, Teaching, Workshop, Workshop Projects

Jordan’s Toolbox

March 21, 2014 @TheRainford 4 Comments

Some woodworking projects are for fun, some are skill builders, some are to keep the lights on and some are for necessity. As they say “necessity is the mother of invention.” When taking a woodworking workshop at the North Bennet Street School one of the challenges is often lugging all your tools to class. The school is set in the North End of Boston and most folks take public transportation to get to the school as parking in that area is expensive and in short supply. I’ve seen folks use bags, backpacks, plastic toolboxes, 5 gallon buckets, rolling carts, suitcases, you name it. I can still remember lugging big toolboxes on the subway when I was student.

This past weekend one of my students, Jordan Ruiz, showed up to my Introduction To Shutters Workshop with the toolbox you see below:

He designed it off the top of his head and made it mostly from a single pine board.

What I like about his utilitarian design is how he translated a lot of the traditional hardware needs into wooden or other natural equivalents. Note the oak hasp which is articulated and secured with wooden pins. A hemp rope drawer pull. Dowels to secure the moving wooden tote handle, sliding top secured by a captured dowel etc.

French fitted packing foam to keep the tools in place

I also like how Jordan used some packing foam to ‘French Fit’ all of the tools into his toolbox.

If he’s willing to do all that work to prepare for a workshop I can only imagine the dedication and creativity he’ll have at the job site. I think Jordan has a bright future ahead of him in the woodworking field. (He also made a very nice shutter as seen in the previous post)

Take care,
-Bill

NBSS, Teaching, Traditional Woodworking, Workshop

A Good Shutter Can Be Hard To Find

March 20, 2014 @TheRainford 10 Comments

You don’t often see a good working pair of shutters on a newly constructed home. Most times you see a pre-fab set of vinyl shutters screwed on to the side of a house or no shutters at all. The vinyl shutters usually have no hardware and often are not properly sized for the windows they are adjacent to. I want to reverse that trend and make sure at least a few folks know how to make a traditional wooden shutter.

I designed and taught an Introduction to Shutters Workshop at the North Bennet Street School this past weekend which was a lot of fun. Beyond my usual hand drawn plans I also modeled this project in SketchUp. (You can read more about that effort here).

In the class students learned how to make a shutter using traditional hand tools and via power equipment. They were able to weigh the pros and cons of each against their skill sets and use what was most appropriate to their project. (Some folks will be repairing a few shutters, others will be making enough for an entire home)

After building the frames, cutting all the mortises and tenons, and fielding the panels, everyone learned about traditional draw-boring. By making and using tapered octagonal pins and driving them through the offset hole drilled into the tenon, the joint is drawn together. This joint uses no glue, is quite strong and can be serviced in the future if a rotten piece needs to be replaced.

We also discussed many design options, regional variations and examined several examples we had on hand. It was a busy two days, but I’m hopeful that we’ll see some proper new shutters start popping up in the area.

Take care,
-Bill

P.S. I have several more workshops coming up at NBSS over the next 3 months if you are interested in joining me — there are still a few seats available. Up next is Traditional Molding with wooden Molding Planes in April, Saw Horses and Saw Hurdles in May, and Making a Window Sash in June. You can learn more about each of them here.

Rainford Restorations

Category Archives: Teaching

Summer 2016 Classes

Drywall for Beginners @ North Bennet Street School

Introduction to Sharpening @ North Bennet Street School

Eastfield Historic Trades Sampler
Early American Industries Association

Making a Window Sash Part 1

Upcoming Classes

Molding to Picture Frame Workshop @ The North Bennet Street School

Summer Courses (More Details to be published soon)

From Molding To Picture Frame

Historic Trades Sampler 2015

Teaching Schedule for Spring and Summer 2015