The Indian DIY & Woodworker

A Passion for Fine Woodworking

2025-06-03T18:45:00.002+05:30

Abid Ali: A passion for Fine Woodworking

There can be no telling which path destiny takes a person through. For Abid Ali (56), destiny took him first from a career in the hospitality industry to the world of sports as an ace tennis coach and finally to his passion: fine woodworking – first as a hobbyist, then as an instructor and now as a distributor of world class woodworking hand tools.

Born and brought up in Delhi, he spent most of his years as a tennis coach, which he remains. He moved to Gurgaon in 2003 where he bought a house after his marriage. This allowed him to develop his love for woodworking, something he had picked up from his uncle while very young but had found little opportunity to pursue. He made a dedicated work area for himself in the back balcony of his house. From then on there was no looking back.

“I started my woodworking journey with hand tools. Back then, it was not possible for me to buy power tools as most were very expensive or had to be imported - I am talking about 40 years back,” he recalls. “Since then, I fell in love with the entire experience of working by hand - it's a therapeutic process for me. I also like the quiet, slow process of making things. I am not in a terrible hurry to finish projects, so hand tools fit in my work flow very well.”

Asked whether he considers hand tools as an end in themselves or merely as a means to make things. Abid says he sees “them as an important part of the process of making.” He believes the use of hand tools are an essential skill that all woodworkers must learn. “While machines have their place too - I use them for heavy grunt work - if one is looking to do fine, heirloom quality work, hand tools are the way to go,” he points out. It was this focus on fine woodworking – as compared to run of the mill furniture making – that led to a growing interest in high quality hand tools. Unfortunately, in India most hand tools used tended to be crude and an impediment rather than an aid to first rate hand work. This led to his transition from being a hand tools enthusiast to a hand tools evangelist and finally to a niche supplier of quality hand tools, particularly Japanese hand tools which are considered the finest in the world.

As a woodworking instructor, Abid realised the need for good tools

“All this stemmed from my frustration over the lack of access to high quality Japanese tools here in India. There were a few companies selling Japanese hand saws, but beyond that, none of them had the knowledge or the inclination to increase their range of tools. Meanwhile, there was a steady increase in demand for Japanese tools from the Indian DIY community,” he says. One fine day, he decided to reach out to Kakuri Tools in Japan, because they had a wide range of quality tools at an affordable price point: “They decided to take a chance with me, to the extent that this was the first time that Kakuri offered a dealership to a new business. I now sell the largest range of Japanese tools in India.”

Abid serves a niche but growing market. “The big chunk of buyers are from different DIY communities and groups. I essentially cater to hobbyist woodworkers looking for high-quality tools, as well as small-scale artisanal woodworkers who are doing some interesting work with wood.”

Deciding on what tools to import and which to source locally is critical. He mostly imports traditional Japanese woodworking tools, which are not available anywhere in India, as well as European and Japanese style carving tools. “We have some really good machine tool makers in India, so I don't see the point of importing those,” he feels. “Instead, I source their export quality range to offer my customers. I also collaborate with small custom tool makers to bring hard-to-find tools, such as a range of high-quality wood turning chisels, to the community.”

Abid with Shinjini

One great help and motivating factor that prompted Abid to take the plunge into the business of importing and distributing hand tools was his wife, Shinjini (46), who decided to join hands with him. This changed everything, including their lives.

“My wife has been my biggest supporter in everything that I've done. Once I got my tool business off the ground with the help of friends, it was only a matter of time until I would have had to streamline everything. The thought of dealing with all the paperwork was daunting, given everything else I have on my plate. That's when my wife decided to come on board with me.”

His wife worked in the corporate sector for 25 plus years but remained an artist at heart. She is a mixed media artist, tarot reader, and writer. Her work can be viewed at her website (moderngypsy.in) which is beautiful summary of her journey as an artist. “Once she had saved enough money for herself, she quit and we formed a partnership firm, Beyond Boxes Enterprises,” he recalls. “She takes care of the billing and invoicing and some of the logistical details, while I focus on the parts of the business that I excel at. It's all working out pretty well for us!”

When Shinjini isn’t helping Abid with his business, she’s either in her studio, painting, filming videos for an online video course, which she generally runs in collaboration with international artists, or writing, or curled up in her favourite nook with her nose buried in a book. She also takes care of their two cats, Simba and Loki. In all, the couple isn't complaining!

Abid with tools and students

But hand tools is a very niche business and the going cannot but be pretty tough, especially if someone wishes to make a viable business of it in today's India. “I'm not in this business primarily for the money,” Abid points out. For him, “it's about building a community of like-minded people and providing solutions to anyone wanting to do the craft themselves. From a purely business point of view, I think we have a big and growing market for hand tools, but I don't think it will be a viable business for some time to come, if ever. To make it as a business, one would have to add on power tools as well.”

For Abid the business is secondary to his passion

But things are changing. When Abid started off, woodworking as a hobby was practically unheard of but over the years the DIY community has grown with more and more middle-class Indians are taking to woodworking. This is encouraging especially considering that it was never in the Indian tradition for better off people to use their own hands to make things. “I feel that there is a deliberate effort to break away from mundane pastimes like mall visits and shopping over the weekend. Youngsters these days are eager to try something new,” he argues. “With a lot of my students, I've noticed that while they are great at creating things digitally, or adept at working on the computer, they hardly make anything by hand. This hobby gives them a feeling for doing things by hand, and they appreciate the tactile nature of wood and its versatility as a material.”

Abid believes that this new found yearning to get beyond the mundane is widespread and growing rather quickly, especially down south. He says: “Bangalore has a lot of maker spaces and a few individual teachers who focus on the thriving DIY community there. In fact, my biggest client base for woodworking tools is from down south!”

Abid’s and Shinjini’s hand tools can be found at their website (https://beyondboxes.in) where he has his contact details. Anyone interested in reaching out to him to learn woodworking could write to him at abid@beyondboxes.in.

Let’s wish the couple all the best for venturing into the brave new world of high-quality tools for fine woodworking.

Indranil Banerjie 3 June 2025

Merwyn D’Souza: The Compassionate Instructor

2024-11-30T19:19:00.005+05:30

Merwyn D'Souza

For most people teaching is just a means to making money but for some it is much more. For Mumbai based woodworking instructor, Merwyn D’Souza, it is a matter of passion, joy and fulfilment.
Years ago, when his old mentor coaxed him to teach two young boys woodworking, he was initially reluctant but then he found himself vastly enjoying the process. “I realised I enjoyed sharing the joys of this craft with others. I felt more people should get the opportunity to experience the creative process”, he recalls. From then on there was no looking back. He began conducting regular woodworking classes in his Mumbai home and built a modest workshop to accommodate small batches of students.
“What started as a side hustle to make money to buy tools or machines, turned into an experience in being humble and an attempt to spread awareness of this craft,” he says. “I teach whosoever is interested, the proceeds mostly go towards buying different tools and learning about them, so that I can teach about the new tool too.”
Merwyn likes to keep things simple. He teaches basic woodworking. At times, he holds group workshops where he teaches how to build a “one-off specific object” like a chair or table. “I am prepared to teach whatever the participant wants as long as that person has passion and time and knows why and what they want to learn,” he adds.
Teaching woodworking, according to him, is also an attempt to keep traditional methods alive. “There are few curious enthusiasts, who want to try this craft but don’t know where to begin,” he explains. “I help them reduce their learning curve. These are the few people who wish to break free and experience life. The problem is when they get into woodworking, they are misled by social media or peers into believing that building wooden objects primarily involves screws and nails. I make them realise that once they experience working with actual wood, they can make good looking and durable articles by joinery alone, and its not just about screws and nails.”

Diverse students

Merwyn gets all kinds of people who want to learn woodworking: from housewives who want to learn how to put up shelves at home to budding entrepreneurs who want to make and launch their product. “There are also the working professionals seeking to bring a change to their sedentary lives and add on a life skill, interior designers, architects seeking to put their theory to practice, students pursuing an education in design, artists experimenting with different mediums, and children whose parents let them try out their desires in different crafts,” he says. A big “fringe benefit” of this process, he says, is the opportunity he gets to interact with different types of vibrant personalities.
Unlike most other woodworking instructors, Merwyn believes that children too can be introduced to woodworking: “As a child I remember losing the chance to learn this craft because the stress was on studies and doing well in school. I believe I would have done better in school, had I been allowed to experience the practicalities of science, math, history, geography through a craft like woodworking,” he explains.

Learning woodworking as a joyful process

“I believe that children embody the true essence of the creative process. We are born without boundaries and rules, but are groomed to confine our mental outlook as we grow older. Somewhere during this process, we transition from enjoying the environment in its purest colourful form to quantifying it on a colour wheel,” Merwyn expounds. “For a child, on the other hand, everything is possible, they just need to be shown how. The only limitation that I see is the age and motor function; as long as the child is capable of understanding the safety aspect of woodworking, I help them learn. I allow them to use the tools under supervision and let them experience the power, the joy, the grief etc first hand. The sessions I have hosted for children, have seen some wonderful outcomes, they seldom complain about the effort required, and when the piece is ready, the smile on their face is priceless,” he remarks.
Merwyn’s 6-year-old son has been an inspiration. The little boy enjoys helping him with smaller builds, cleaning the workshop and so on. He has yet to warm up to the tools, but enjoys the process of designing and supervises Merwyn while he makes his designs.

Merwyn with Students

Woodworking, instructing and designing today is a way of life for Merwyn. And the astounding part is that he is largely self-taught. Although he came from a family of rather creative people – his mother was exceptional in needlework, crocheting, and knitting, his grandmother was top-notch in patchwork and quilts, while his uncle, a JJ School of Arts alumni and cinematographer was great at sketching - he was constantly reminded to focus on doing better at school, rather than indulging in arts and crafts.
Later, as he became interested in woodworking and other crafts, Merwyn started picking up knowledge from every resource he could lay his hands on. “As there were no formal schools teaching traditional joinery, I would read up on articles from craftsperson, watch YouTube instructional videos, download e-books and practise woodworking,” he recalls. “Implementing my learning into actual builds became a regular affair and I learnt mostly from trial and error.”
Merwyn bought tools on a need only basis from local hardware stores and spent time learning about each tool, the parts they were made of and how to maintain and hone them. Initially, he made small objects for his home, friends and family. “Having limited tools and a very conservative workspace, there was little I could make. But the passion was strong, so implementing the knowledge I had picked up came easy,” he explains. He eventually realised it was best to focus on working with hand tools rather than with expensive power tools.

Focus on Hand tools Work

“Machines are good for mass production; they help reduce the time to make something. But that comes with a cost,” he feels. “Also, in a metro city, the lack of space, absence of proper service centres, the noise involved, make power tools a poor choice. Hand tools on the other hand are a joyful experience. The swish of the hand plane, the rhythm of a nice saw cutting through wood are therapeutic, it transforms one’s state of mind. The pure joy of using one's limited skills, tools, and time to make something may not be easy and does require a fair amount of skill development, but it is a hugely satisfying and humbling experience!”
People like Merwyn D’Souza bridge an acute gap in our rapidly changing society. Merwyn is conscious of that trend: “Craftmanship in India is slowly dying its natural death. In my humble opinion, our society is the reason. We as consumers want our pieces to be prepared as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The traditional craftsman cannot compete. Most workers prefer earning a quick buck by cutting corners. They trade off skill and knowledge for machine-made, mass-produced items, which fail in comparison to handmade pieces with traditional joinery. My belief is that there may be only a handful of traditional craftsmen left in India.”
This sad decline is one of the things that motivates him to teach traditional woodworking and design. He believes that Indians are naturally creative but need to start making things to bring their latent talents to fruition. “We Indians are traditional craftsmen, and artists and we are creative and frugal,” he believes, adding: “In the rat race we have signed up for, we have forgotten how to make, fix, and use our hands for purposes other than working in offices. We need to step up and learn how to fix a switch, paint our homes, fix a leaky tap, make a small bookshelf, make clay, bake, stargaze, etc. Over time, we have traded all that for a life in a cubical and two sightseeing vacations in a year. That has to change.”

Merwyn D’Souza can be contacted though Instagram - "https://www.instagram.com/merwyn_in/" - and his website www.Liamskyedesigns.com

Indranil Banerjie
November 2024

A New Catalogue from India’s Top Woodworking Tools Maker

2024-11-10T19:46:00.003+05:30

New Catalogue

When I heard that Shobha Industries, the country’s top woodworking tools maker, had come out with a new catalogue, I was intrigued. Did it mean new tools? A new approach perhaps? So, I asked Agnay Chuttani, the company’s managing director, what prompted the new catalogue? He said it was primarily to provide customers with more information that would help them select the right tools. They have also upgraded their website (www.shobha-india.com/) to make it more informative and easier to navigate.

The catalogue was pretty good but there were no new tools, except for the router planes which have been missing from the Indian market. When I needed one some years ago, I had no choice but to get one from Veritas which proved pretty expensive. Now I see that Shobha has two router planes in their catalogue one of which looks pretty similar to the Veritas model. Then there are a lot of shoilder planes and vices I had not seen them stock earlier. I would have been happier though if their catalogue and website had some pricing information which is totally absent.

Soba Router Plane

Clearly the company believes that India is a growing market and they are paying more attention to it. Though Shobha has grown almost entirely on account of successful exports to western markets, Chuttani says “India has a huge potential and we are now equally keen to serve India as a priority.”

The company continues to focus on the export market. For, as Chuttani says, the company “has received an excellent response from our distributors around the world. We have been exporting tools since a long time now and establishing the line of woodworking tools parallel to the product range we were already selling has been easier as we had built up trust in our customers in terms of quality and deliveries.”

“We always ask our customers for feedback on the products we supply to them and have open house days at our distributors where actual users are invited to give us feedback on our products. Small suggestions from a user can result in great improvements and technical upgradation of the product. Also, we have developed software in-house which helps us constantly improve our production processes,” says Chuttani, adding that today he feels their tools are at par with any leading American, Japanese or Chinese companies.

Soba Shoulder Plane

The company initially started by mainly exporting hand planes which remains their strength but innovated and branched into other hand tools manufacture. Hand planes, block planes, and spoke shaves remain their most popular products.

When I told him about some complaints Indian woodworkers had expressed about the quality of some of their products, Chuttani dismissed them, arguing: “Our products have great ratings abroad and it is not genuinely possible that the same product is not good here. We still look into the complaints in the Indian market but feel it is just competition trying to scare us in order to enter the Indian scene.”

He maintains that his company’s strength is their in-house expertise and insistence on quality control. “We as a company are quality driven and customer satisfaction is our primary goal. We completely finish the products ourselves. The raw material is bought and the complete product is finished in-house. This is our strength which is backed by a strong skilled work force of which we are justifiably proud of.”

Agnay Chuttani, who travels the world promoting his tools and gathering feedback from re-sellers, is upbeat about the Indian market, a reason for the new catalogue. “Our people always looking for a great quality tools at reasonable prices”, he says. “And as a next step, we are working on new tools development for wood working and metal working as well as establishing our brand in India.”

Indranil Banerjie
November 2024

Affordable Japanese Sharpening stones for Indian woodworkers

2022-06-07T17:17:00.002+05:30

Kai Japanese Waterstone. [Image courtesy www.kaiindia.in]

Any woodworker worth his name knows the value of Japanese sharpening stones. There can be no better means of sharpening hand tools of all kinds, whether it be chisels, marking knives or plane irons. In my humble opinion, even diamond stones cannot compare. Ceramic stones or waterstones, as they are popularly called (though there are differences between them), cut very fast and leave a super sharp edge.

The problem is they are very expensive, especially for Indian woodworkers. Very few sellers in India stock these stones and more often than not they have to be imported at considerable cost. A single decent stone of 400 grit could cost as much as Rs 5,000 and the finer grit stones upwards of 10,000 rupees each. A full set of sharpening stones would set you back by 20,000 rupees or more. This is far too much for the average Indian woodworker, which is why most Indian woodworkers don't even consider adding Japanese water stones to their workshops.

Recently, however, I discovered what could be an affordable alternative for Indian woodworkers. A Japanese company called KAI is selling their waterstones at very affordable prices in the Indian market. This company, a reputed global knife manufacturer, was established way back in 1908 in a small town in Japan called Seki City, which is a historical centre for blade making. Since then the company has branched out all over the world. Ten years ago, KAI set up a manufacturing plant in India at Neemrana, Rajasthan.

I have been buying knives from KAI for a while now. I also happen to be a hobbyist chef and delight in using good quality knives , which are critical for preparing ingredients properly. Just as a woodworker enjoys using good quality tools, so does a chef enjoy a good quality knife. The knives I have purchased from KAI, some of which are quite expensive, are absolutely top quality, particularly the ones made in Japan.

Recently, while going through their online store (www.kaiindia.in) I suddenly found that they also sell sharpening stones. I immediately ordered a coarse stone (400 grit) from Kai for Rs 1487, shipping included.

I was pleased to find that the stone they had sent was actually pretty good. It was somewhat smaller in size than standard Japanese waterstones but not too small either. It was an inch thick, a little less than 8 inches long and 7 cm or 2.75 inches wide. The stones are good enough for sharpening even the 2 3/8th inch plane irons.

Kai sells three stones of different grits: 400 (Rs 1487), 1000 (Rs 1853) and 3000 (Rs 2210). They all come with a plastic base which obviates the need for a separate holder. The base holds water and the stones could be spritzed with as much water as necessary without making a mess. I plan to pick up all three (I already have two of them) because I think they are quite a bargain considering that the entire set adds up to Rs 5,550, which frankly is a smashing deal.

The stones I received from Kai were very well packed and arrived promptly. I don't think these stones are made in their India factory because their boxes and sides are marked in Japanese which is quite incomprehensible. I suspect the stones are made either in China or in Japan. Whatever, I think they are great stones at this price point. It would be unfair to compare them with the far more expensive Naniwa, Suheiro or Shapton stones. The cheapest of those stones will cost 5000 rupees.

Kai Waterstone Box

Sharpening my kitchen knives with the KAI stones produced a very sharp edge indeed. For a mirror finish, I would recommend using a strop charged with green compound. To know more about making a strop see Paul Seller’s blog on the subject at https://paulsellers.com/2018/07/making-your-own-strops/.

Be aware that the 400 and 1000 grit stones are not very large and just about wide enough for sharpening the widest plane iron. It is also rather soft, as are most ceramic stones and care should be exercised while sharpening chisels and plane blades. It is quite easy to gouge the stones and render them unfit. Also, the stones would require periodic flattening or truing. This is the case with all Japanese water stones. The only difference is some require flattening more often than others depending on their degree of hardness.

Decent sized stones, good enough for sharpening most tools

There are special flattening stones for truing these Japanese water stones. They are not very expensive but by the time you import them they will cost 3000 rupees or more. I have found it is not necessary to import a flattening stone. One effective alternative is 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper glued onto a small (8 inches by 3 inches) piece of float glass. This produces a very flat surface which is perfect for flattening Japanese stones.

I would recommend using a honing guide for sharpening. Sharpening by hand is fine for those who are adept at it but for the newbie and the average woodworker it is easy to inadvertently gouge the waterstone. A gouged stone can only be repaired by abrading a lot of material off the stone’s surface thereby reducing its life.

In all, I think that Kai stones are a great bargain and a wonderful way to start experimenting with Japanese waterstones and finding out what they are capable of doing to your hand tools. Best of luck.

Indranil Banerjie
7 June 2022

Bringing Japanese Tools to India

2022-05-29T10:20:00.005+05:30

Japanese Saws

Several years ago, much before I became somewhat familiar with Japanese hand tools, I received a surprise package from Osaka ,Japan. It was box containing a nokogiri (which is the Japanese word for hand saw). It was sent by an Indian acquaintance who was living in Japan at that time. In the note that accompanied the saw, he wrote that this saw had belonged to his Japanese father-in-law who no longer used it and he hoped I would find good use for it.
The nokogiri was quite unlike anything I had encountered: its shiny stainless steel blade looked as new as the day it had been made, only the bamboo handle wrapped in rattan suggested the saw had seen better days. Nevertheless, it's dark impulse-hardened teeth were razor sharp even after whatever time it had been used for and cut through a piece of hard White Ash like a hot knife through butter. I was astounded!
After this surprise introduction to a Japanese hand tool, I started finding out more about them. I ordered Toshio Odate’s famous book titled Japanese Woodworking Tools (available on amazon.in). and realised that Japanese hand tools were quite apart from their Western counterparts. The only problem was they were difficult to procure. They were not readily available in India at that time and one had to order them from Japan.
Fortunately, at that time, there was a very good Australian-run online store in Japan called www.toolsfromjapan.com. The owner of the store sold his tools at reasonable prices with reasonable shipping charges. I bought a number of tools from him over the years and would have continued to do so had he unfortunately not shut shop a few years ago. With that I had no option to buy Japanese tools at reasonable prices from Japan any more. Ordering from Amazon Japan or from other Japanese stores proved to be prohibitively expensive.
Now we have Mr Abid Ali to our rescue. He is a tennis coach and avid woodworker, who, having encountered a problem similar to mine, decided to import Japanese tools in some quantities and sell them at a modest markup to woodworkers in India. Mr Ali is a great help to anyone who wants to learn anything about woodworking, is passionately devoted to the craft and a woodworking instructor himself.

Mr Abid Ali

He recently got his first import consignment from Japan and is selling them through his website www.beyondboxes.in. He can also be reached at abid@beyondboxes.in. A complete list of the items he is offering are available at this website under the “japanese Tools” section. These include handplanes (kanna), chisels (nomi), knives (kiridashi), small brass bar clamps (hatagane), marking gauges (kebiki), saws (nokogiri), hammers (tsuchi), sharpening stones (toishi) and a honing guide.

His prices are reasonable and the quality of his offerings rather good. At present, he is importing all his tools from Kakuri, which is supposed to be a reputed Japanese hand tools brand (details available at www.kakuritools.com). Hopefully he will reach out to other companies as well in the future.

Japanese Chisels - Kakuri range

The heartening part is that the response to his Japanese tools sale has been overwhelming. “The stuff is flying off the shelves”, Mr Ali says. He plans to order his next shipment next month which is good going.
Buying tools from a person who is a woodworker himself is always preferable to buying from people who are merely trading in them. Not only will a woodworker ensure the tools are of a certain standard, but he will also be able to advise customers on the proper use and care of each tool. For, often it is not clear which tool is suited for which specific purpose. Here Mr Ali’s expertise would be invaluable. He is also offering to tune the tools (for a small price) to customers who are unfamiliar with Japanese tool usage.
I picked up a Ryoba, a set of small clamps and a kiridashi, which was absolutely stunning and easily the sharpest tool I have ever come across!. A kiridashi is used for various purposes including carving. I will only be using it as a marking knife and that alone would be worth it. The Kakuri ryoba too is a fine sturdy saw designed for cutting fairly solid pieces of lumber (though not designed for really fine work). The little hatagane are so pretty and delicate, I feel I should use them for decoration only!

Kiridashi from www.beyondboxes.in

It is satisfying to know that we can finally get a few decent Japanese tools at reasonable prices. Apart from Mr Ali, there is another individual, Mr Deepak Chaddha, who sells Japanese saws from the well known saw maker Nakaya. Unfortunately, he does not seem to have a website or a publicly available address where potential buyers could contact him.
Toshio Odate writes in his book: “...the craftsman, the ultimate user, must respect both the toolmakers and those who provide the opportunity to use the tools. Finally, the craftsman must respect himself, the craft and the tools.” Truer words could not have been written.

Indranil Banerjie
29 May 2022

Banerjies: The Joy of Making

2021-09-06T15:58:00.004+05:30

During the height of the pandemic's second wave, it was not uncommon to receive calls from distraught friends and acquaintances complaining they were going out of their minds sitting cooped up at home all the time. "I can't take it anymore", was a common refrain. While I commiserated, even sympathised, deep down I felt it need not be that way. For, humans can adapt to the worst of situations and even Anne Frank locked in her claustrophobic annexe could think of something inspiring to do. For us, it was so much better. For me, it was woodworking. I had taken to woodworking some ten years ago, driven by a childhood desire to create things with my own hands. By then the Internet and online ordering had arrived and for the first time an average Indian like myself could learn and practice woodworking. I also blessed by the opportunity to see first-hand some of the masterpieces of woodworking in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Moscow and London, and I knew this was what I wanted to do.

CUTLERY BOX: THE WOOD MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

A craft or art when it becomes an obsession draws you into its folds, the rest of the world recedes and you realise you won't be bored ever again. So, when the pandemic forced us indoors and inwards, it was almost welcome. That was the time when I decided to take my work one step forward: begin to sell it. Over the years I had made many pieces of furniture, boxes and clocks - sold some, gifted many and stuffed our home with what I couldn't part with. But now the growing output of my work needed release and so a small business was born: www.banerjies.in. This is a micro enterprise - more of an artisanal venture than a proper business. I take time and care to make everything on my own which means output cannot be great. The idea is not to produce in bulk like a factory of a furniture workshop, rather the aim is to make each piece unique, more like art than manufacture. I think of my workshop as an artisan's studio. I look upon myself as a craftsman, not a businessman.

PEN BOX WITH TRAY MADE FROM PADAUK WOOD AND WHITE ASH

The biggest challenge was marketing. Fortunately for people like myself, the social media offers a modicum of opportunities and it is there I turned with the help of my wife, who is much savvier about these matters. Then came the website which I designed and deployed myself. I also invested in studio lights, stands and other paraphernalia for taking good product pictures. All this helped in getting the word across and I began to get orders from the beginning of this year. I was most pleased to find I got orders from places as unexpected as Poland and the United States. Selling is only one part of the enterprise; the principal part is the making. That is the inspiration, the raison d'etre as well as the ultimate objective.

A CLOCK IN THE 19TH CENTURY STYLE

Wood has its own secrets and mystique as well as the propensity to inspire people to shape it into something, transform it into a work of art or utility. I, like millions of others, have been drawn to the beauty of wood and learnt to understand some of its qualities, its variations, behaviour and so on. I have been sharing some of my experiences and lessons learnt in my woodworking blog at www.indiandiy.blogspot.com which attracts thousands of views each month. I also learnt that design is the other most important part of woodworking, which is quite apart from the use of tools and techniques employed in the craft. I had two main sources of design inspiration: one came from the 18th century cabinetmakers of England and the United States. That was the golden age of furniture design and the works produced then are incomparable even today. The second source of inspiration came from the works of Indian artisans in olden times, who painstaking created objects of great beauty and style. Both these influences have shaped my aesthetic and I feel I am still learning.

PEN BOXES BASED ON A DESIGN FOUND IN RAJMAHAL

As a craftsman I feel there is a huge amount one can take from the past and adapt all that to create exquisite objects. For instance, my box and clock designs are based on objects that were crafted by Indian and European cabinetmakers based in Calcutta in the 19th century as well as by artisans in small places such as Bengal's ancient capital Rajmahal, Vizag in the Andhra and so on. I wish in my own small way to preserve some of the long-forgotten traditions; I believe that all great art and craft stand on the shoulders of previous arts and crafts traditions. Without traditions, we are after all like the fiddler on the roof.

Indranil Banerjie
31 August 2021

This article first appeared in Blink, Hindu BusinessLine
Crafting joy: Wood and the art of making

Of Pens and Other Collections

2021-05-01T09:58:00.004+05:30

A few months ago, I rediscovered an old fountain pen, a long-forgotten companion from my college days. It was a cheap Parker with a plastic body, hidden in the midst of a drawer full of odds and ends. I resurrected the pen, washed it and filled it with ink and Voila! It was as good as the day I had laid it aside. It raced across the paper; its old nib abraded to perfection for my writing style. As I wrote, memories flooded back: College Street in the late Seventies, copying notes in the portico, long hours in the library of the economics department and hurriedly penned personal notes. Everything returned with a haunting intensity, unleashed by the opening of my old fountain pen. I wondered why I had discarded this and a couple of other fountain pens used eons ago. The pens and a couple of bottles of ink had survived the decades despite being abandoned. The computer and cheap gel pens had rendered the fountain pens redundant. But once I started writing with the old Parker, I realized what a terrible mistake I had made. Forgotten muscle memories woke up as did a whole process of cogitation. I realized that writing with a fountain pen is more than just forming words on paper; it involves many cognitive processes, arousing somnolent parts of the brain. These COVID-19 times were ideal for reviving old habits. I not only resurrected the few pens I had but also discovered the wonderful world of fountain pens (largely from this blog!). Nowadays with easy imports and online stores, I found it easy to procure a number of excellent - and for me, intriguing - fountain pens and some inks. I was entering into a whole new world. I connected with some old friends to share my new found passion. Many of them, I learnt had sizeable pen collections. One of them, who is an author of several books, suggested I make a wooden box for his pens. My passion for making wooden boxes and clocks is no secret in my friends' circle and I have made many items for them.

I happily agreed and got down to deciding on a simple but elegant design for a fountain pen box. As a tradition respecting person, I don't usually turn to the Internet for design inspiration. Rather I prefer to dig into our past and try to find design traditions to base my designs. I have been aided in this process by my work that has taken to me various corners of this country and exposed me to many arts and crafts forms.

My first idea took me back to a small town in Bengal I had visited years ago. Today, it isn't much of a town but in the past, Rajmahal was a place of great strategic importance as it stood at the entrance of Bengal where the River Ganga swings south skirting a region of hills and jungles. All invading armies normally had to enter Bengal through this route because the other routes led through thick jungles of the Chotanagpur plateau. Every Nawab stationed troops and guns at Rajmahal. The place declined as the British enforced peace throughout the Subcontinent but several old families and a few isolated mansions survived the vicissitudes of time. I had visited the place and had been shown surviving houses and artefacts. I clearly recall seeing a number of wooden objects, including boxes, almirahs and stools used in that era. These were based on colonial designs - an amalgam of European and Indian traditions. I modified a simple design with a sliding lid, a single tray and pen rest that I recall having seen, I called this the Rajmahal Pen Box. This box first found its way to my author friend, who quickly filled it up with his collection. Then others demanded one too. And thus, was born a line of pen boxes which I now make and sell in small numbers. Through my website www.banerjies.in.

Another design has a regular lid but is similar to the Rajmahal Pen Box. I call this the Panagarh Pen Box after the memory of an Army officer who was once stationed at that depot near Durgapur. Boxes are all about memories and storing things we cherish. They must be as lovely as the items that are to be stored. This was my first impulse and even today I strive to make each of my boxes as exquisite as possible, using the best woods like African Padauk, American Maple, White Ash and English Oak. The boxes are not put together by nails or screws but time-tested dovetail and similar joinery. The finish is either Shellac (French polish) or polyurethane, both painstakingly applied over several days. The pen boxes have brought together my two passions in life - writing and woodworking. They are both wonderfully fulfilling. The fountain pen has returned to my life and I am so grateful for that. Today, I first pen my articles and then copy them into my computer. I have no need to make corrections as the process of keying it into the computer is like writing a second draft. The pen makes it faster for me to put down my thought - years of practice perhaps from my formative years. But it is a wonderful process I look forward to every morning: choosing a different pen and ink combination and filling up my journal with inconsequential things no one will ever read. Indranil Banerjie
1 May 2021

[This piece first appeared in www.inkedhappiness.com]

Project - Face Mask Rack

2020-09-27T20:15:00.001+05:30

Face Mask Rack Diagram

In these times of rising Covid-19 infections in India it has become imperative to wear and store face masks properly. It's a precaution that the sensible will take irrespective of what arguments are given against its usage. At any rate, my family members and I remain very particular about wearing face masks in public.

One problem though is storage - the mask has to be handled up by its elastic band alone and not the mask itself. Proper storage requires it to be placed in such a manner that one doesn't have to touch the mask when picking it up again.

The best and easiest solution, I reckoned, was to make a rack for the masks where they could be hung on coat hooks. I came up with a design that is so elementary that I am sure any hobbyist woodworker would find it easy to copy and implement.

The rack consists of there strips of wood - two vertical, one horizontal - and one box. The horizontal strip goes on top (see diagram) and the box at the bottom. The coat hooks are attached to the top strip and the entire assembly is fastened to the wall.

The box which goes at the bottom can be made any way you choose

The box can be made by any method - I chose to just butt joint the parts with glue and screw the bottom on for added strength (which come to think of it was pretty pointless). Glue is good enough to hold the box together as it is not going to be subject to any stress or take heavy loads.

The essence of this project is to make it quickly, easily and put it up on the wall for use as soon as possible. I would urge everyone to make something like this for their homes and use face masks.

Good luck and stay safe.

Rack in Use

Ps - There is a video showing how I made this rack for those of you who might be interested.

Indranil Banerjie
27 September 2020

Some Great Indian Brands for Woodworkers

2020-09-06T21:28:00.003+05:30

The Indian Hobbyist Woodworker's Eternal Quest for Quality Tools

Abid Ali, the Gurgaon-based woodworking coach and maker, and I are old hands at tool hunting in India. There was a time not long ago when decent woodworking tools were virtually impossible to find in India. To get hold of something worthwhile, one had to scour unpleasant locales such as Chawri Bazar in New Delhi or rummage through the rare shop that stocked tools of another generation, mostly rusted and useless.

The entry of Amazon into the market brought about a consumer revolution in my view and companies that were hitherto unknown popped out of the fog of Indian industry. Smaller companies making specialised tools, who had so long only been selling to a handful of industrial clients, began to wake up to the fact that there was another emerging market of hobbyist woodworkers and individual makers interested in quality tools.

Today, there is still a dearth of good manufacturers of quality tools but the situation is much improved in the last decade. There are a number of companies in India who are making top notch tools and that too at very decent prices. Abid and I decided to each list five manufacturers whom we thought make good tools.

First is Abid's list of his five favourite Indian manufacturers of tools, equipment and hardware.

Anant
The company started in 1949 and in 1952 they introduced the first Indian made hand plane, since then they have been the market leader in carpentry tools. Anant does make tools for other industries as well. Some of Anant's outstanding products are bench and joinery planes, mitre/corner clamp and chisels
Website www.anant-tools.com .

Anant Tools

Ebco
This company started in 1963 as a tool room from there it has grown to become the biggest manufacturer of hardware and fittings for the furniture and construction industry. They have three verticals: Worksmart - office furniture and hardware, Livesmart- intelligent hardware for homes; and Ebco - drawer slides, locks, furniture assembly components etc.
Website www.ebco.in

Ebco Hardware

Kristeel Shinwa
They are my first choice when I recommend marking measuring tools to a student excellent quality and great value for money, they're are in technical collaboration with Shinwa Japan. Kristeel has three manufacturing units and they control 65% of the market share. Woodworking, engineering, jewellery making, textile, photochemical are some of the field they cover.
Website www.kristeel.com

Kristeel Shinwa Measuring Tools

Paul Forging
This mid-size manufacturer from Jalandhar makes excellent assembly clamps at very reasonable price, the product that I love and recommend is the sash clamp, its about 30 per cent lighter than a T bar. Paul makes a fantastic sash clamp. They also make metal working vice.
Website www.paulforgings.com.
+91 99880 11674 contact person Mr Satinder

Paul Sash Clamps

Climax Vices
There are very few good manufacturer of proper woodworking vice and most are very expensive, Climax who sell through Amazon make every size from mini 6 inch to massive 9 inch vice with very nice Toe in feature even in the entry level model, they also make a very good clamp on woodworking vice to convert any table to a woodworking bench, their customer service is excellent.
Website www.climaxvices.com

Climax Vice

My List

Shobha Industries
My list has to start with Shobha, a company I have been a big fan of for many years now and have become acquainted with its young owner, Agnay Chuttani, who operates out of a pleasant factory in Sonepat, Haryana. Shobha have been making fine hand planes, chisels and a range of woodworking tools for the UK and US market for many years and it is only in recent times that they have started selling in the domestic market, which incidentally remains miniscule as compared to their export market. I have and will continue to recommend getting hold of their tools for woodworking, be it hand planes of all sorts, chisels, gauges, vices, you name it. They have a website which unfortunately is not up to the mark in my opinion and does not list even half of the diverse tools they make. To buy their products call Ms Preeti at [91]- 11 - 4311-8888
Website: www. Shobha-india.com

Shobha Rebate Plane

Taparia
Taparia makes tools mainly for industrial uses but there are a few items that could be useful for woodworkers, including clamps, punches and screwdrivers. I particularly like the clamps which are an essentially requirement for any kind of woodworking. Taparia makes two kinds of clamps that could be used by woodworkers - the common C-clamp, which comes in many sizes and can exert enormous pressure, and the F-clamp, which is also very versatile. I have had their clamps for years and they are as good as ever. They list an email in their website (sales@tapariatools.com). However, I would be pleasantly surprised if you get a response from them. They operate through an extensive network of dealers and it is best to locate a re-seller for their products in your city.
Website: http://www.tapariatools.com

Taparia C-Clamp

Pidilite
The plain old white glue (Poly Vinyl Acetate of PVA) has been around for more than a century and has proved to be one of the most enduring glues ever invented. The Mumbai-based company Pidilite has been making this glue for years under the brand name Fevicol which is the best-selling glue in the woodworking industry. Over the years, the company has added a large number of products to their inventory, including polyurethane glues, rubber glues, contact cement and much more. There is absolutely no need to give these adhesives a miss and go for much hyped foreign brands that do a similar job but cost ten times as much. Fevicol is available widely all over India at hardware and paint stores.
Website: http://www.pidilite.com/our-brands/fevicol/

Pidilite's Familiar Fevicol

Accutec
Want world class router bits at a fraction of the cost? Then contact the fellows at Accutec Tooling, an Ahmedabad-based company that specialises in making cutting tools including router bits, saw blades, shaper cutters and more. I have purchased several specialised router bits from them over the years and have always been happy with the quality. They are perhaps a tad more expensive than similar Made in China router bits but are still very affordable. I like their solid carbide bits the best which compare very favourably with some very expensive bits I had imported from the United States. The best thing about this company is that they respond to emails and phone calls, take small orders and usually deliver on time.
Website: http://www.accutectoolingsystem.com

Accutec Solid Carbide Bit

JK Files
Files, rasps and good quality drill bits are a must for all woodworkers but procuring these easily and cheaply was a challenge till recently. This company makes all three types of products and exports a lot of it. The company is a subsidiary of Raymond Ltd and has been around for 70 years. These guys have a huge product range and an equally vast network of dealers and retailers. They also sell on amazon.in. Must check their needle files for sharpening saws and rasps, which are both excellent.
Website: https://jksuperdrive.com

JK Rasp

My General Observations

Most Indian companies suffer from a huge attitude problem: they do not consider it worth their while to deal with individual or small customers. They want big companies, the money bags, bulk sales, lakhs or rupees for every order. Most do not respond to individual queries. Others do not bother to reply to emails and many won't pick up the listed phone - often even the phone numbers listed on websites are non-functional!

This cavalier attitude, which stems from unbridled greed, leads to hubris and ultimate failure. The successful entrepreneur, on the other hand, is one who treats all customers - big or small - as worthy of respect. One of the reasons why Chinese entrepreneurs are so successful is that unlike their grasping Indian counterparts they see great potential in small buyers, the individual client and little by little they gobble up the market.

Wholesale dealers in India often do not care about a particular brand, but only the price of an item. The workmen and artisans who buy tools and hardware from the local market are equally unconcerned about brands, quality or efficacy of a tool. They prefer to buy the cheapest one. This mentality stacks the odds against companies only interested in doing bulk sales who are not interested in creating a brand loyalty or following.

For the hobbyist woodworker, the quest for tools within the country remains a tedious and frustrating endeavour. The ones with money in their pockets turn to sellers in faraway China, Europe or USA to fulfil their needs.

The silver lining is that attitudes are slowly changing. Companies like Shobha, which is most willing to sell even a single tool to a customer, are thriving, prompting rivals to follow their lead. The enormous success of Amazon in India has also allowed smaller companies to establish a market presence and sell to individual customers. This has the potential of hugely expanding their market and helping the hobbyist woodworker in acquiring decent tools.

Our recommendations here are actually a fraction of what is available and becoming available in this country. The better-known manufacturers of yesteryears with their myopic traders' mentality are fast becoming extinct. Who knows, perhaps, this is the dawn of the age of quality in India!

Indranil Banerjie with Abid Ali
6 September 2020

American Woods for Fine Furniture

2020-06-18T10:26:00.001+05:30

North America is a major source for imported timber

India is one of the largest importers of wood in the world which is not very surprising given that our forests are badly depleted and good timber is scarce.

A lot of the wood we use today comes from North America. Most of it is relatively cheap and plentiful. My question though is: Are all these imported woods suitable for making fine furniture?

I decided to find out which wood species were traditionally used to make fine furniture during one of my visits to the United States. Here I tried to find out which were the woods most coveted by American cabinet makers of the past. My questions were addressed by conservationists and curators at the world-famous Winterthur Museum in Delaware, United States.

The Museum is the legacy of the late billionaire Henry Francis du Pont. The sprawling 3,000-acre estate on which it is situated and the magnificent chateau which houses the collections was once home to the du Ponts. Henry Francis du Pont began converting it into a museum during his lifetime. He lovingly purchased some of the finest examples of American decorative arts objects from all across the country.

Today, the Museum holds the world's largest collection of American decorative art objects, including furniture. There could not be a better place to learn about traditional American furniture than this museum.

I was also fortunate to meet one of the museum's curators, Professor Gregory Landrey, who has had years of experience in studying, restoring and researching period American furniture. He explained to me the types of wood used in fine American furniture in the past.

By far the most coveted wood in the past was Mahogany - particularly the variety from Honduras. Today, Mahogany is very scarce and some of the best varieties extinct. In the past though, a lot of the very best furniture, like the many pieces in the Museum, were typically made of Mahogany.

Mahogany is a tropical wood and, as Prof Landrey explains, a diffuse porous wood, meaning that the pores or vessels in the wood are uniformly distributed throughout the wood. Many temperate woods, on the other hand, are "ring porous wood" where the vessels are of different diameter and the growth rings pronounced.

Photo: This magnificent Mahogany high chest or "chest on chest" at the Winterthur Museum is an example of the very best furniture made from the coveted wood (1760-80). . Winterthur

The original Mahogany sources in central America has long dried up. Today, we can only get Mahogany from some other parts of the world and Mahogany substitutes like Sapele.

Photo: Mahogany drop leaf "breakfast" table. These tables became popular in the US during the 1770s. Winterthur

Cherry is one of the woods favoured by American craftsmen. The professor explained that Cherry is a diffuse porous wood and comes from the same tree that produces the cherry fruit. There is an evenness to the wood and in the past very wide panels were available. Cherry also carves to a very fine detail and over time the wood darkens and begins to resemble Mahogany.

Dark Walnut was another native American wood that was highly prized for its strength and character. Professor Landry explains its properties through the example of ta drawer and a pie crust table. Walnut is a strong and very distinctive wood - one that is in between diffuse porous and ring porous - called Semi-ring Porous or Semi-diffuse Porous. There is a richness in the colour and character that has made it such a popular wood for use in fine furniture making.

Photo: Walnut High Chest from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1760-75. The intricate rococo carvings were typical of that period. Winterthur

Photo: Details of the top of the walnut chest with its elaborate moulded and carved pediment. Winterthur

Curly maple with its distinctive stripes was and remains another American favourite. Unlike the other woods, Maple is light in colour but ages to a wonderful golden honey colour over the years. This is also a diffuse porous wood.

Photo: Chest of drawer made of curly maple (1790-1810). Winterthur

While these four woods were the top choice of American cabinetmakers of the past, they are not the only great woods suitable for making fine furniture.

There are other excellent woods we can use in fine furniture making, such as White Oak, a lot of which we import, Yellow Cedar from Canada, and so on.

But the bulk of timber that comes from north America is construction grade lumber, not really meant for furniture at all. Therefore, it is best to be discerning when buying wood for making objects that are intended to last a lifetime and beyond.

History is a great teacher. In the case of wood too, we can minimise our mistakes if we let the past guide us. There is a wealth of knowledge lurking in the works of long-gone craftsmen - we only need to seek. The answers will tumble out!

Indranil Banerjie
June 2020

Have a look at the video on the same subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjMWhxtwNh0

Project - Teak Side Table

2020-05-26T09:13:00.005+05:30

Several years ago, my wife had to undertake the sad task of disposing off her parents' furniture - her father had passed away and her mother was moving in with us. We had very limited space at home and could not accommodate most of the furniture which had to be sold at throwaway prices. Among the pieces was an old bed made with Burma Teak for which the scrap dealers were offering just Rs 3,000. I knew the wood itself was worth at least twenty times that amount and convinced my wife to let me cut it up and take the pieces home. That wood has gone into several projects and a little bit was still lying around when the Coronavirus pandemic hit. So, I decided to use if for a bedside table that I desperately needed.

I could not bear to cut up the fine Teak leg pieces into slim tapered ones so I decided on a simple, if somewhat clunky, design. In the end, I did not regret it. Almost all the last pieces from the old bed have gone into it and the table has turned out to be a solid heavy object.

The only bit of it which is not Burma Teak is the bottom shelf which I had to make out of some not very nice dark red wood that has been lying around the workshop. I would ideally have liked to make that out of Teak as well but the ongoing lockdown (we stay in a containment zone) ruled that out.

The table was constructed with very traditional joinery methods - mortice and tenons which I hand cut. Chopping the mortices was a little tedious but went quickly once I got into the flow of it. I had to chop a total of twelves mortices including four for the bottom stretchers.

I prefer using a regular heavy mortice chisel as it does a good job gouging out the waste. The critical part in cutting mortices by hand is the layout or marking. If that is accurate and the first round of chopping carefully done, the rest of the mortice will usually come out fine.

Cutting the tenons requires more skill, or so I think. The cheeks of the tenons have to be absolutely parallel and a good fit requires a high degree of accuracy. To make things easier, I made a couple of simple sawing guides - one for the cheeks and the other for the shoulders. The final finishing was done with a router plane - using a chisel to finely pare down the tenon cheeks to fit is far more difficult.

A good fit is very rewarding. It feels awful when a piece sits twisted in a mortice hole or is skewed. If this happens it becomes very difficult to assemble the frame properly or keep sides square to each other. I know because I have produced horribly twisted pieces in the past.

After having checked the fit of the frame in a dry assembly, the final glue up is a satisfying process. I could not photograph most steps of this project because I was filming it. Those interested could watch the video of this build (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtyGoQY_UX4&list=PL7Iwnkag-ieSlnoWRb7bfNviZDa3kQsNv&index=2&t=0s).

The top, again made from the same teak bed pieces, was finished with shellac and attached to the frame with turn buttons. The turn buttons allow for the movement of wood and will ensure that the top does not crack over the years. To learn more about turn buttons and how to use them see my blog post: https://indiandiy.blogspot.com/.../how-to-fix-table-top.html

The table now sits happily by my bedside with books, phone, remote and so on. The best part is that another part of the old bed that had served my wife's parents for decades has been recycled for another generation.

Indranil Banerjie

26 May 2020

Projects: Making a Cutlery Box

2020-05-04T19:58:00.001+05:30

A piece of some exotic African wood

It is not always that a woodworker gets to showcase a beautiful piece of wood. Often, the object is such that a large splendid plank of wood has to be sawn to smaller size or fitted in a manner that does not befit its aesthetics. Table tops, counters, large panels and the like offer opportunity to show off lovely wood.

I had a couple of planks of some exotic African wood - the seller couldn't say what it was - lying around and I could not for the life of me decide what to do with it until I hit upon the idea of a cutlery box. This isn't an essential or common object around the house but can add a touch of class to a dining situation. A cutlery box can be carried to the table or sideboard and used as necessary.

Top and bottom

I had just about enough wood to cut and join the planks to make the top and bottom of the outer case of the cutlery box. I used Oak for the sides and White Ash for the rest.

The outer Case in clamps

I used straightforward joinery methods for the outer case construction: routing trenches for the sides and a groove for the back. Once fitted, I glued all five parts together to form the case.

Outer Case Ready for finish

The drawers came next. After the usual fussing with the fit of the sides and front, I marked and cut dovetails. After the box was ready, I added a piece of wood as a slip to the inside of the front, then routed a groove to take the plywood bottom. The back of the drawer was cut to allow the back to slide in as is done with most drawers. I finally attached a false front to the dovetailed drawer. This was a piece of old Padauk marked by fine beetle holes.

Dovetails on the drawer sides

Drawer in clamps

Finishing was the best part because both the Padauk and the top and bottom took polish well. I used my favourite finish - de-waxed Shellac - and found it was such a pleasure applying it on receptive wood.

Cutlery Box Finished

Once the drawer was complete, I made and fitted dividers, and attached a brass pull.

It was a fairly straightforward project, the making of which I have shown in a video uploaded on Youtube, which could be viewed at https://youtu.be/9Qa0jIwbd8g.

Indranil Banerjie
4 May 2020

Finishing - Using Water-Based Paints

2020-02-27T10:43:00.000+05:30

Painting a shoe rack

Water-based paints aren't as popular in India as they are in the West primarily because few people know about them and even fewer companies promote them.

In India, most paints used for coating wood and man-made materials are oil-based. The paint pigments, binders and other paint additives are dissolved or suspended in oil-based solvents which include turpentine and other chemicals. Some of these compounds have been found to be a health hazard and give off an unpleasant smell.

Water-based paints, on the other hand, are based on a different set of chemicals and use water as the primary solvent. They don't smell and have minimal levels of harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which add to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere..

I have been using water-based paints for a while now and find they offer a host of advantages over standard oil-based paints.

Advantages:

Safety: In my opinion, this is the biggest advantage of these paints. Water-based paints do not contain highly volatile chemicals or solvents (like paint thinner which is highly poisonous) so you don't breathe in hazardous fumes. They dry without giving off toxic vapours.

No smell: Oil-based paints have a strong smell that can leave the room or workshop smelling for days. This can be quite unpleasant in the home. Water-based paints have virtually no odour.

Quick Drying: These paints dry incredibly quickly, within minutes and are completely dry in less than half an hour in our kind of climate - I believe they can be a problem in cold weather though. This means that a paint job which normally takes days could be accomplished in a day. That in itself is a game changer.

Hard and durable: Once dry, they are hard and durable. Hardness means that the surface coating is waterproof, can be cleaned easily with water and surf and can be buffed to a high gloss. I believe that this paint is also more durable than oil-based paints, has better adhesion to both metal and wood and resists fading.

Easy Cleaning: Cleaning brushes is a breeze as just plain tap water and soap are good enough.

I would be amiss if I did not mention some of the disadvantages of water-based paints.

Somewhat more difficult to apply: The paint is thicker and does not flow as well as oil-based paints. A good brush eliminates some of the problem but even then the high viscosity of water-based paints means it is less liable to even out. Brush marks are often visible after painting and need to be sanded down for a good even finish.

More expensive: Water-based paints are somewhat more expensive than regular oil-based paints and more difficult to find in hardware stores in India. Not too many companies market them.

I have made a short Youtube video (see at the end of this post) demonstrating the use of water-based paints in which I used primer and paint made by AkzoNobel and sold under the "Dulux" brand name.

A water-based primer such as this Dulux "Quick Drying Primer" is recommended for priming wood and metal surfaces before applying paint. Two coats is usually more than enough

This is the Dulux brand "Stay Bright" range of water-based paints. They are available in a wide variety of shades

The rack I painted was made from salvages boards from an old door

I made a simple shoe rack using old weathered boards salvaged from an old broken door. The idea was to find out how well water-based paints would do on these rather poor-quality surfaces.

I first sanded the rack with 80, 120 and finally 180 grit sand paper using a random orbital sander, then applied the Dulux "Quick Drying Primer" diluted with a wee bit of water to improve the flow. It was a little difficult to apply and left very visible brush marks. Perhaps I should have diluted it a little more but was afraid it would turn too watery and require many more coats.

After one coat of primer

At any rate, I sanded the first primer coat with 240 grit sandpaper. The great part was that the primer dried literally within minutes and did not clog up the sandpaper. The entire paint process went really fast - though in my case, I had to hold it for a day as I had other work to do.

I followed the standard steps:
one coat primer, sanding with 240 grit paper, filling cracks;
second coat primer; sanding with 240 grit;
first coat paint, sanding with 320 grit paper;
second coat paint, sanding with 400 grit and then 600 and 800 grit paper;
buffing with polishing compound (usually 3M).

Finished Rack

The result was most pleasing as the paint dried very hard and was ready for buffing in half an hour after the last coat. On some surfaces, I had to apply a third coat of paint as the coverage was not adequate.

I concluded that in future I would stick to water-based paints as there was no need absolutely to return to the smelly oil-based paints. For a real high-end finish though I would prefer the polyurethane route with a spray set-up but that is a different ball game altogether.

Indranil Banerjie
27 February 2020

Fine Furniture in Context

2020-01-29T12:04:00.000+05:30

It is not uncommon to come across a piece of fine furniture in terrible settings such as dark cluttered rooms full of execrable pieces of furniture and odds-and-ends. This sad state of affairs has become all the more prevalent since the explosion in the availability of cheap or indifferent factory-made furniture. People don't think twice about buying a piece of furniture that catches their fancy and bringing it into already stuffed rooms in our small contemporary homes. The result is an eclectic collection of often terrible furniture, a hideous mishmash amidst which at times a piece of fine furniture languishes, completely overshadowed, diminished and robbed of all dignity.

Fine furniture must be viewed in context, in a setting. Just as one would not normally place a great painting, or even a fine reproduction of one, between say two cupboards in a dreary bathroom or in one dark corner of a room, a piece of fine furniture needs a decent setting, like a great painting needs a good frame and an open well lit wall.

The Empire Hall is one of the numerous rooms at the Winterthur Museum. Each room represents a period, style or region in American furniture history. This room represents the Empire style in furniture that became popular during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. This style, which was dominant in the period 1795-1830, was heavily inspired by Roman and Egyptian motifs. In England it was known as the Regency style. In the United States, the great cabinetmakers Duncan Phyfe and Charles-Honore Launnuier were its chief proponents. All the furniture in this room belongs to that style and the room's décor matches that period, thus determining the room's elegance and splendour. Photograph: courtesy Winterthur Museum

Moreover, a single or a couple of pieces of fine furniture cannot determine the aesthetics of a room or setting. Rather, fine furniture ought to be a part of a larger harmonious whole. The aesthetics of a room is defined by its overall decor, furniture style, accessories, palette and so on. Compatibility and harmony are key.

Ana Lopez, the Houston based designer, metalsmith and teacher, points out that this is the concept behind gesamptkunstwerk - the total work of art. "This ideal, begun by Otto Wagner and a central precept of the Weiner Werkstatte, idealised a fully designed home from flatware to the architecture", she explains.

The ultimate objective of an aesthetically pleasing setting is to create a sense of emotional wellbeing in its user. Humans like beautiful, harmonious settings and go to great lengths and spend vast amounts of money to enjoy pleasant settings, whether it be a swanky restaurant, a holiday spot or a hotel. An aesthetic setting at home can be a great asset and generate mental repose and gratification.


Memorial Library at the Winterthur Museum. Painted in a shade of green and panelled, this room houses chairs of the Chippendale period and upholstered chairs of the Federal or late Chippendale periods. The palette of greens, browns and reds creates a calm and pleasing atmosphere. Photograph: Indranil Banerjie

The du Pont Dining Room at the Winterthur Museum was where Mr. du Pont entertained and dined. The décor and furniture are of the classical style. The sideboards and table are typical Federal period pieces. The carpet too matches the setting. Photograph: Indranil Banerjie

The importance of setting is well appreciated by furniture connoisseurs, architects and interior decorators. During my visit to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, USA, I discovered the importance of setting. The Museum's founder, the late Henry Francis DuPont recreated period rooms in his museum corresponding to different American styles and periods. Furniture viewed in a larger, congruous context and in keeping with a particular style rises to another level, revealing its full glory,

A room need not be stuffed with great or expensive pieces of furniture; even a sparsely but tastefully furnished room with compatible pieces and matching décor could be a good setting for fine furniture. Arts and Crafts Movement founder William Morris had once remarked: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

In an aesthetically pleasing but unadorned setting, even a single piece of furniture could serve as a accent piece elevating the entire mood of the setting.

But the key is harmony and setting. Even the Kohinoor in its original earthy settings knew no splendour. It achieved lustre only after it was polished and set in a crown.

Indranil Banerjie
29 January 2020

Winterthur Sojourn

2019-09-20T12:42:00.001+05:30


At the Winterthur Estate

I have always been intrigued by the designs of Indian furniture of the traditional kind. Cabinetmakers in this country when asked to make traditional pieces follow designs that have a commonality, not just in terms of looks but also in the kind of joinery employed. This, it seemed to me, suggested a shared set of customs and the question that naturally arose is from where did they originate?

A little research suggested the origins of most so-called traditional Indian furniture designs are Western, specifically English. For, traditionally in India, as in most Asian societies, furniture of the kind we use today was entirely unknown.

Writing about the "Manner of Life" in India during the height of Mughal Rule (Emperor Jahangir), the Jesuit traveller Francisco Pelsaert writes: "They have no furniture of the kind we delight in, such as tables, stools, benches, cupboards, bedsteads, etc.; but their cots, or sleeping places, and other furniture of kinds unknown in our country, are lavishly ornamented with gold or silver, and they use more gold and silver in serving food than we do, though nearly all of it is used in the mahal, and is seen by scarcely anybody except women. Outside the mahal there is only the diwan-khana, or sitting-place, which is spread with handsome carpets, and kept very clean and neat."

This is excerpted from the "The Remonstrantie of Francisco Pelsaert" Translated from the Dutch by W. H. Moreland in 1925. Other European travellers too remarked on the lack of furniture and Europeans travelling to India in the 17th and 18th centuries had a hard time sourcing furniture of their kind. Gradually over time, English cabinetmakers settled in the principal British Indian cities and brought with them their designs, methods of works and cabinetmaking traditions. These were passed on to Indian artisans who carried on the trade.

Winterthur Museum, Delaware, USA

For some years I have been trying to identify the styles and types of furniture common to our past. This process was greatly accelerated following a grant from the Winterthur Museum and Library at Delaware, United States. Four glorious summer weeks at this idyllic location were spent pouring over volumes of wonderful books on various furniture styles and discovering the trove of antique American furniture of various styles housed in the Museum.

Here I found a way to make sense of Indian furniture of the colonial period by comparing them with those made by English cabinetmakers of the same period in other former British colonies, including the United States. English cabinet makers, renowned for their skills in the late 18th and early 19th century, were sought after in many parts of the world and many had emigrated to the United States as well.

Empire Hall: One of the Many rooms in the Museum

The Museum was stock full of works by various cabinetmakers including several famous ones who had emigrated from England. Studying their work was fascinating. The Museum, it seemed to me, was designed for researchers like myself and all those who delight in great furniture.

The Museum is the legacy of the late billionaire Henry Francis du Pont. The 1,000-acre estate on which it is situated and the magnificent chateau which houses the collections was once home to the du Ponts. Henry Francis du Pont, during his lifetime, began converting it into a Museum, lovingly purchasing some of the finest examples of American decorative arts objects. Today, the Museum holds the world's largest collection of American decorative art objects, including furniture.

Accessing that treasure with the help of the curators and professors of the Museum was an opportunity of a lifetime. They were eager to help me learn and gave as much time as I wanted to take tours and examine the many fabulous pieces of the best furniture the world has ever produced.

I will remain forever indebted to Dr Catharine Dann Roeber, Professor Thomas Guiler, Director Gregory Landrey, library director Emily Guthrie and Susan Newton of the photographic services office for their warmth and constant assistance during my sojourn.

Winterthur Estate

Not only did I learn an immense amount about furniture, its history and traditions but I also enjoyed the vast estate with its rolling landscape, towering oaks and poplars, and its picturesque walks.

Winterthur is testimony to the vision of a man who believed that beautiful objects, the masterpieces fashioned by artisans long gone are worth preserving as is the landscape that attracted the du Pont emigrants escaping difficult times in their native France.

The sojourn has inspired me to learn more about the many nameless artisans in my own country who once produced magnificent furniture. Their pieces might not be lovingly housed in any museum in this country but at least we could honour their memory and trace their unwritten history.

Indranil Banerjie
20 September 2019

The Soba Bedrock #4 Hand Plane

2019-05-04T12:17:00.000+05:30

Soba Bedrock #4 Smoothing Hand Plane

Soba Industries, India's number one maker of hand tools, has come up with a bedrock hand plane which is the first of its kind in this country. All hand planes made in India so far have been Bailey type planes. I was given a prototype of the plane to check out.

First impressions were good as is the case with most Sobha tools. The machining, the materials used in the construction, attention to detail and so on are all very good. The Soba #4 Bedrock is a nice looking plane with a Indian Rosewood handle and tote, a uniformly ground sole and adequately buffed parts.

The Bailey and Bedrock type planes were both originally developed by the famous hand tools maker Stanley. The bedrock planes were made over a 50-year period till about 1943 and then discontinued. These planes still command a premium in the hand tools market and premium hand plane makers such as the US-based Lie-Nielsen fashion their hand planes after this type.

The essential difference between the Bailey and Bedrock type planes is in the frog and the manner in which it mates with the base of the plane. The Bailey planes have multiple contact points in the base on which the frog rests while the bedrock planes have one flat precision ground base on which the base of the frog with its flat matching underside rests.

Base difference in the Bailey type (LEFT) and the Bedrock (RIGHT)

Different frog design in the Bailey type (LEFT)and the Bedrock (RIGHT)

The frog of the Bedrock plane perfectly fits the base in a manner that eliminates any slop or lateral movement of the frog once it is in place.

Some hand plane experts contend that the bedrock type plane is superior because of the frog design and the fact that its rests precisely and perfectly over a large flat contact area. This theoretically causes less chatter and therefore makes the plane a better performer than its Bailey counterpart.

This view is contested by some who believe the Bailey type planes can be as good and the design of the frog does not make a radical difference in performance. I am of the latter view and believe that any well-tuned, well-made hand plane will do the job well. But a superior plane can make the task of tuning that much easier.

A set of three nuts at the back of a bedrock plane control the movement of the blade

The other advantage of the Bedrock plane is the ease with which the opening of the mouth can be adjusted. There is no need, as in the Bailey type planes, to remove the frog for this kind of adjustment. In the Bedrock plane, two screws at the back of the frog below the blade adjustment wheel need to be loosened and another nut between the two be turned to move the blade in or out.

Agnay Chuttani, CEO, Soba Industries

Agnay Chuttani, CEO of Soba Industries, says he decided to develop a bedrock plane because he wanted to provide an affordable option for woodworkers given that the bedrock planes being made today are very expensive - some cost upwards of US $ 350 a piece!

Chuttani explains that bedrock planes are more difficult to make and the material that goes into their making more expensive. For instance, his bedrock planes, like some of their other newer hand planes, will use thicker than normal 3mm blades made of high carbon steel. He is also setting up a new casting process and sourcing better components.

Quality, he explains, is also dependent on the materials, inputs and manufacturing processes chosen, and therefore ultimately ofncost. For instance, a lot of top-quality Western planes use cryogenically treated A2 steel for their blades which adds significantly to costs as do the laser cutting methods used to form the blades.

His challenge is to produce a top-notch tool at a fraction of the cost of similar Western ones. His clients in the West want hand tools alternatives they can price for the mass market but not ones that are deficient in any way. That can be a tall order indeed.

Perfecting the Soba bedrock plane will therefore take some extra doing. For, there are obvious glitches. This bedrock plane is a good tool but I came across a couple of issues with it.

The first problem was with the blade: it's back had been ground badly leaving a distinct hollow towards the end. Preparing a blade requires the back to be as flat as possible. Levelling the back of this blade proved to be a long and arduous task.

It took hours on coarse diamond plates and eventually I had to switch to Japanese ceramic stones which worked better with the hard steel of the Soba blade.

Low Area at the back of the blade

After much honing, the hollow disappeared only to be replaced with a low areas towards the crucial end of the blade which required even more work

Even then I could not manage to entirely flatten the back and the very tip remained a few microns below the rest. I will eventually hone the back of the blade flat again but only when I have the time and inclination.

The other problem was with the handle which was loose and would not tighten. It rattled and made planing impossible. I eventually fixed the problem partially by inserting a small washer into the hole at the top of the handle, then re-inserted and re-tightened the brass screw.

The Flatness of the sole can be checked with a feeler gauge

I checked the flatness of the sole with a feeler gauge and was satisfied. For extra measure, I polished the sole on 600, 800 and 1,000 grit wet and dry sandpaper. The sole felt good.

The blade required a little bit of lateral adjustment but not too much. In the end, it worked well on a piece of Sapele. Sapele can be a difficult wood to plane because of its rising and unpredictable grain. But this piece at least planed well and came out very smooth.

In all, I am pleased with the Soba plane. Its maker, Soba Industries, have got the design and engineering right. And if they can fix the glitches mentioned before they begin full scale production, I do believe they would have a clear winner.

Indranil Banerjie
4 May 2019

Tips on Making Built-ins

2019-03-17T19:13:00.000+05:30

My latest project: Cabinets for the living room

Many of us get into woodworking in order to build stuff like kitchen cabinets and built-ins for the home. Newbies tend to assume this no big deal provided one has the right tools. After all what could be so complicated about putting together a few large box-like structures, laminating or painting them and adding doors. But often major projects for the home are often not as simple as they seem.

For the past four months I have been busy working on various home projects, mostly built-ins, and find the going tough. I realise working with plywood and other sheet goods has its own set of challenges.

After attempting my first built-in, an alcove cupboard, for a study, I learnt a few things the hard way. Thought I would share some of the lessons I learnt. You could also check out an older post titled "Working with Plywood". [https://indiandiy.blogspot.com/2012/11/working-with-plywood.html]

Get an assistant
Plywood, MDF and board are all heavy materials. They usually come in large 8 by 4 feet sheets which take some effort handling. Moreover, once a carcass is built it can be impossible to lift into place safely or without causing a hernia. I would highly recommend getting an assistant to help you with the heavy lifting as well as with the many slow and routine tasks associated with plywood construction such as lamination, planing and attaching margins to edges and so on. A good assistant can greatly expedite the work and save you much heartache. Out here in Greater Noida, the daily wage for a woodworker is about Rs 700; check out rates in your area. It is worth paying an assistant this much or more.

My Trusty Assistant

Select an outdoor work area
Working indoors is a bad idea as sawing and sizing sheet goods generate an enormous amount of dust and wood chips.This is absolutely avoidable if you have children at home. I use my drive where I have placed a plywood sheet on two sawhorses. I can clean up this area once I am done in the evenings.

Learn to cut accurately
The key to making good built-ins is accuracy in cutting. This can be challenging in practice, especially when it comes to cutting out several pieces of exactly the same dimension. There are many methods and systems (some very expensive) to cut sheet goods accurately and repeatably. There are a few very simple aids or jigs that can be built at home to facilitate this. I will post some ideas in a later blog post. But one that you could start off with is a story stick which has all the dimensions accurately marked on it. You can refer to this story stick every time you make a cut.

Use Screws and Glue
I often see woodworkers in India using just nails to put together sheet goods projects. This, in my humble opinion, is a bad idea. Nails don't have the clamping strength of either glue or screws. Also, using nails to close a glue joint is not recommended because the strength of PVA (white) glue comes from the clamping pressure applied. Clamps or screws apply far more clamping pressure on a glue joint than do nails. This ensures that joints will endure. I find a lot of woodworking coming apart, especially in kitchens where cabinets are constantly being opened and closed, and where heat and oil are additional sources of stress. Use good quality screws along with PVA or Polyurethane glue to put your cabinets together. See my previous blog on working with plywood for the various types of fasteners available for putting together plywood projects.

I made this unit in a modular fashion; it was much easier to build and fit

Make Modular Units
If the unit you wish to build is large - more than four feet in either direction - I would suggest you make it in pieces, that is use a modular approach. Lots of smaller, easier to build modules could be attached together to form a large unit.

Laminate the Insides
Many people tend to paint or varnish the interior of cabinets to save time and money. I say don't do this; laminate it or apply some good quality finish such as polyurethane (coloured or clear). In India, our kitchens attract a lot of insects some very tiny ones that can get into cracks and like the rough surface of plywood. We also have a major dust problem in most parts. Laminates and properly polyurethane painted interiors can be kept clean with surf and warm water.

Get First Rate Hardware
Don't stint on hardware. Tough handles and good quality drawer slides can make using kitchen cabinets very satisfying. Today, we have several great sources for hardware, including Hettich, Blum, Hafele, Godrej, Ebco and so on. Go for branded hardware as you won't regret it in the long run.

First rate hardware makes an enormous difference to any project

Design with a Finish in Mind
When you design your sheet good built-in and cabinets do so with a particular finish in mind. Laminating the exteriors looks pretty tacky and dated. Go for natural wood veneer, natural wood or if you wish plywood exteriors and shutters. Natural wood and veneers can take a Shellac, paint or polyurethane finish whereas sheet goods like plywood or board are best finished with polyurethane coatings which can be expensive but which provide some terrific options. Check with the leading paint companies - Asian Paints, Dulux, ICA and Sirca - for alternatives.


Measure the interiors of alcoves at every corner


Laminate the interiors

Decide on your finish at the design stage

Account for Inaccuracies
The most aggravating part of making built-ins and cabinets in my opinion is building and fitting keeping in mind the major variations in the walls, floors and ceilings of most homes. Take it from me: walls and floors in our houses are rarely straight. I have encountered plaster walls that lean forward an inch or more from bottom to top. Therefore, when you measure an opening or even a spot where you will fit cabinets, check all the dimensions of the space where the cabinets or built-ins will fit. I have had to dismantle an entire cupboard when I discovered the internal height of an alcove varied from one internal corner to another by more than an inch. It is often better to construct built-ins an inch or so smaller than the opening in which they will fit. These can later be fixed by shims' cleats and so on. In the fitting process, you will find an assistant greatly helps in avoiding excessive rise in blood pressure and mental imbalance.
Good luck!

Indranil Banerjie
17 March 2019

Looking Back at a Fast Year

2018-12-22T18:37:00.000+05:30

Either this year moved too fast or I slowed down. Whatever the case, one thing I know for certain is that I got around to doing much less this year than in previous ones. This was mainly because of health issues.

But then the year wasn't a washout either. I did get a few things done, learnt a lot and developed methods of work to make woodworking easier and more pleasant.

2018 Projects

Boxes
I made six boxes this year, all of them dovetailed and finished with Shellac. Obtaining decent quality hardware in small quantities was a challenge but I did make a few interesting discoveries in the alleys of Old Delhi. White Ash and Padauk are fast becoming my wood of choice for box making; they make for an interesting natural contrast and take on Shellac wonderfully.

Box made of Padauk and Teak

A Pencil box of Padauk and White Ash

Two boxes made of Ash and stained

Beech Table
Beech is an extremely hard wood with a tendency to cup and twist. Planing Beech by hand is often hard work. I was not too fond of this wood but after seeing the kind of finish it takes I have changed my mind. In the ultimate analysis I would say it is a handsome wood. Masculine with a subtle character. This summer I struggled between bouts of ill health to make a simple study table for my wife. It looks and is tough and seems just right for her corner.

Beech study table

Overhead Cabinet for the Study
After completing the table, I struggled for a few weeks to make an overhead cabinet to go with the table. This was not too difficult and only the finishing took time. I also made a pen box to complete my wife's study.

Overhead cabinet made of plywood and painted

Ash Cabinet
White Ash is also emerging as a favourite and I used this to make a floor standing cabinet with doors and a drawer. I used white Maple for the top and the drawer front. This was the first time I had used Maple and loved the creamy gentle wood. Plan to use more of it for next year's projects.

Cabinet made of Ash and Maple

Wall Cabinet
I had got hold of some kind of exotic African hard wood last winter and thought it would make an attractive cabinet door. Built this for a doorway and filled it up with cans of stain. A drawer was added later but I haven't gotten around to take a photograph of the completed item.

Wall Cabinet

Misc Projects
One is always having to make little jigs, accessories and such things for the workshop and the house. They don't take much time and are very satisfying. Both these projects, the sawhorse for my plywood cutting and the Neem chopping board for the kitchen were useful additions this year.

Neem chopping board

Sawhorse - usefiul bugger

About half a dozen projects in various stages of completion are cluttered around the house and stairway. I can never stop asking for more work table space and time. At times it feels like walking under water.

There are several reasons for the slow pace of work. The first is a small workbench, the second, problems related to milling and third the finishing process.

As of now I have a smallish workbench on which I must do everything, from milling to assembly. I have taken to do most of my finishing outdoors but even then, workflow is restricted since woodworking projects have to go through several stages, some of which can't be hurried such as glue ups. One solution would be to make temporary tables on sawhorses.

Milling everything by hand is not feasible and owning large and potentially dangerous planers of the type we get here is not an option either. I get my wood rough milled at a local timber yard. This means I have to drive up and down, carrying as much wood as possible in my car. Then, given the rather unsatisfactory quality of the milling, I have to spend hours and days to plane them.

Finishing is a very satisfying but slow process. Hurrying things doesn't help. I usually finish my projects with Shellac or Polyurethane. Shellac is somewhat faster but both these finishes require longish curing time before the final rubbing down can be carried out. This means at any point of time I might have several projects in the finishing line. This demands space and time.

The good thing about this year is that I have learnt to slow down, sort of flow with the stream. I have also learnt that time is life's greatest gift. It should be savoured not squandered.

Indranil Banerjie
22 December 2018

Painting a Plywood Shelf

2018-10-12T18:13:00.001+05:30

Plywood is the material of choice for most home projects, from built-ins to kitchen cabinets. It is versatile and easily put together with screws and adhesive. To look good, however, plywood surfaces generally need to be finished well or covered with laminates of some kind. This is because most plywood sold in India is coarse grained and only veneered plywood stains well. The latter kind tend to be very expensive and not easily available. I generally paint my plywood projects.

The first step is sanding. This should not be too heavy but should level the plywood and any fillers used to plug screw holes and so on. This is also the time to do any edge treatment. I prefer to glue and nail on solid wood lipping or margin as it is locally called here. Strips of lipping or margin are widely available in most timber shops. The lipping usually needs to be planed flush with the plywood sides. A flush trim bit loaded in a router is usually the quickest way to get this done.

Next comes a coat of wood primer - putting it on with a roller is quick and easy. Be aware that most rollers create texture and not a flat smooth surface. So if you want a smooth finish you could stick to a paint brush or use a brush to paint the last couple of layers.

A few of the easily available Wood fillers

The critical part of the painting process is the application of some sort of filler over the primer to fill the grain streaks and create an absolutely flat surface. In the past, I would use a mixture of Chalk (Mitti) powder and paint but now I find a variety of fillers available in the market, beginning from Timbermate to the fillers made by all paint companies. My favourite are the acrylic fillers that are easy to apply and dry hard. Sirca also makes a good wood filler though I cannot say if it is acrylic or something else.

Shelf Primed and Sanded

The filler needs to be applied evenly but not too thickly. Once it dries it should be sanded back until it just fills in the grain, pores and whatever other indentations.

The next step is another layer of primer followed by paint. I put on the first couple of layers of paint with a roller as it goes on quickly. Hand sanding with 320 or 400 grit sandpaper in between coats is a must. The final couple of paint coats are brushed on. The roller leaves texture marks which I do not always like whereas the brush leaves a flat pattern free surface that can be lightly sanded down for a better sheen.

Shelf after a couple of coats of Paint

The painting process tends to be time consuming because the paint must dry before the next coat is applied. But this is fine with most home projects. I took my time, allowed the paint to dry properly before sanding and was rewarded in the end with a pretty decent surface. I attached the 6mm plywood back only after the paint job was done. Otherwise it would have been a bit awkward to get inside the shelves with a roller.

Shelf Fixed in its Place in the Study

Once that was done I attached the doors and fixed the shelf above the computer table. That's how I finished this simple plywood project; you could try something else. Good luck with your project.

Indranil Banerjie
12 October 2018

Amazon.in Widgets

Making a Basic Drawer

2018-09-07T19:38:00.000+05:30

Drawer with Dovetails: After planing and sanding the dovetails do not stand out but they perhaps will after applying a bit of finish

Yesterday I finished making a small, shallow drawer for a wall cabinet. It was a project I had been putting off for weeks primarily because of lack of time. The last few days were good for woodworking with dark skies and intermittent rain outdoors. My workshop lit with warm daylight LEDs was a good place to spend time doing what I like most: pottering about with small projects.

Close up of the Drawer Sides

This time I decided to make the drawers with half lap dovetails in front and through dovetails at the back. I hadn't cut dovetails in months and wondered how it would go.

My Moxon vice coupled with a simple jig to hold the pieces while marking the pins and the use of blue tape along the edges worked well. The blue tape, as suggested by some woodworkers on Youtube, shows exactly where to saw and helps produce a more accurate cut.

A simple jig which aids the laying out of tails: The two pieces are held in this jig in a vice. This prevents the two pieces from shifting and allows for accurate marking

My weak eyes would often strain to out a thin knife line in darker woods. My ill-lit workshop didn't help either. Three recently installed super bright LEDs made a big difference in accurate marking and cutting.

At any rate, the drawer dovetails came out just fine which was a relief. A couple of weeks ago while making a drawer for a cabinet I had chosen the expedient of rebates instead of dovetail joinery.
Upon seeing the Facebook photo of my incomplete Ash cabinet, Merwin D'Souza a woodworking enthusiast from Bombay had remarked he would have liked to see me make a traditional drawer complete with half blind dovetails.

I was torn by indecision. Half blind dovetails are a thing of beauty but does every occasion call for one? Not this time I thought, busy as I have been trying to complete a built-in cupboard project.

Rebates in drawers take side pieces

The back of the drawer sits inside two housings cut into the sides

Dowels Added to drawer sides

I went ahead with rebates in the front and two housing or dado grooves at the back for the drawer. For added strength, I drilled three dowel holes in each side in the front and hammered in dowels with a bit of glue. While this method might seem lacking it nevertheless is good enough for most purposes. The drawers are strong and will last a lifetime.


Completed Drwaer with rebates and housings

These drawers should Serve Well for a Long time

Dovetails of course are stronger and very pleasing to the eye. But I think I will mostly go with the rebate method in making drawers. This will help me get on with my projects instead of them lingering on for weeks. Sometimes the practical and quicker option is the best. I can of course always choose to change my mind later.

Indranil Banerjie
7 September 2018

How to Fix a Table Top

2018-07-12T16:48:00.000+05:30

A table top requires a lot of work and it is always a shame if it is to crack or split a few years down the line. It is imperative that it is properly attached to the table base.

It is always distressing to come across badly designed and improperly made wooden furniture in our large format department stores. Some of the wooden pieces look good and are priced well. But on close inspection an inordinately large number fail to make the grade.

One common problem is the tendency to glue and screw on table tops. This is an absolute travesty because it does not allow for the seasonal movement of wood and invariably leads to a split top or crack over time. For professional furniture makers this kind of construction method is inexcusable - they ought to know better.

Cracks are visible on the top of this circular Teak side table. This was inevitable given that the top is glued on to the skirting underneath and does not allow for the seasonal movement of wood

Table tops or anything else that has to be fixed to a base where the wood grain runs in the opposite direction should never be glued or fixed. This is one of the first rules of good construction. The table top should be attached to the base in a manner that will allow for the expansion and contraction of the wooden top.

There are a number of ways to achieve this. My favourite method is the use of traditional wooden turn buttons. These are L-shaped pieces usually made of some species of hardwood which attach to the table top with screws and into a pocket or mortise in the skirt of the table base.

Wooden turn buttons

The ends of the turn buttons are not inserted all the way into the mortise but done so in a manner that leaves a small gap for its expansion during periods of low humidity when the table top contracts. At the same time, the buttons should be sufficiently inside their pockets so that they do not come loose when the table top expands.

Mortises cut into the skirting for inserting the ends of turn buttons

Turn buttons attached to the underside of the table

I have found this to be a very sturdy method of fixing table tops and preventing warping of the top over time. At the same time, this method also allows for the seasonal movement of wood.

Turn buttons are easy to make and one good way is the one described by the British master craftsman Paul Sellers in one his Youtube videos (it's a short 5 minutes video well worth watching). The pockets or mortises can be cut by hand or by a router (which I prefer as it is faster).

The top of this simple wiritng table was attached with turn buttons. The top is securely attached to the base and yet it will move easily with humidity changes

The other methods for attaching table tops include the use of metal fasteners: either z shaped ones that work very much like wooden turn buttons or figure-8 fasteners. These are easy and good options too but I am yet to find them in India and importing them doesn't make sense.

At times, yet another simple expedient can be resorted to: elongated screw holes. Blocks or strips could be attached (glued or screwed on) to the insides of the stretchers or skirtings and elongated holes drilled for screws. The screw holes need not be elongated in the front but most certainly in the side and back skirtings to allow for wood movement. This too is a very effective method for fixing table tops.

Whatever else, table tops should never be glued on. That's really shabby work.

Indranil Banerjie
12 July 2018

Finishing - Pore Filling Alternatives

2018-06-09T12:46:00.000+05:30

Porous Woods need to be filled

Should one wish to achieve a high gloss finish on wood, it is recommended that the tiny pores visible in many types of wood are filled. Otherwise, a finish when applied on porous wood would seep into the pores and create an uneven surface. It would require several layers of finish, often laboriously applied, to eventually fill all the pores and create a flat even surface capable of manifesting a high gloss.

Filling wood prominent wood pores solely with a top coat could be problematic in some instances. Some types of finishes which are plasticky and highly reflective, create a glitter inside pores and could produce an unpleasant final effect. It is for these reasons that a pore filler is often recommended.

One alternative is a sanding sealer. These sealers are applied before the application of top coats and form a flat even base once sanded. Typically, these sanding sealers contain silica or stearates which settle in the pores and because of their low reflectivity do not interfere with subsequent top coats. They also sand easily and therefore produce a flat surface ready for the top coat. Most oil based polyurethane products have associated sanding sealers.

Also popular are the Nitro-Cellulose (NC) sanding sealers which are typically used with varnishes and lacquers and there is the popular Varathane sanding sealer which can be used with any type of top coat. One or two coats of such sanding sealers are generally enough to seal and fill pores in most woods. However, sanding sealers are not very effective when it comes to filling highly porous woods such as Sapele.

Dent fillers and various kinds of putties are also used to fill wood pores. These work best when wood is to be painted. Putties and dent can be applied with a jute hessian or a plastic spatula and forced into the grains. Once dried the surface can be sanded prior to applying a top coat.

Timbermate is perhaps the best marketed putty cum grain filler in the world. The makers of this product claim: "Timbermate does not shrink, sink, crack or fall out and has an indefinite shelf life. It is non-flammable, non-toxic and can be used to the last gram. The secret ingredient of Timbermate is tap water therefore containing no Acrylic, Latex or Solvents. Timbermate comes in 13 premixed colours plus Natural Tint Base. Timbermate takes all types of known stains, varnishes and coatings Mix 10% to 15% water into Timbermate to make a perfect Grain filler, Sanding Sealer and Prime Coat all in one application."

Timbermate is made up chiefly of Barium sulfate to which a small amount of quartz has been added. The binder is Guar gum and a little water is added to make the product into a paste like consistency. Barium sulfate is widely used for various purposes including in pigments, paints, adhesives and paper coatings.

Oak has large pores that often need to be filled

Other putties use similar ingredients or the cheap and freely available Calcium carbonate. Basically, any base material such as Calcium carbonate or Barium sulfate together with a binder (adhesive) and some solvent (water, glycol, oils and so on) can be used for making putties and dent fillers.

Putties and dent fillers, including ones like Timbermate, need to be tinted if they are to be used as wood fillers in wood that will be stained. Normally, the procedure is to first apply a thin coat of sealer (such as Shellac), followed by the stain and then the grain or pore filler. After the pore filler has dried, the surface should be sanded and ideally sealed before proceeding with the top coat. The grain filler should ideally match the stain unless a contrasting effect is specially desired.

In the West, several oil and water based products have been specially designed to act as pore or grain fillers. These are usually in dark colours and are of a thick consistency. There are, however, several other perfectly good traditional methods that will fill wood for staining or painting

Chalk Powder

Calcite or Calcium Carbonate Powder is a naturally occurring substance that has been traditionally used in India for a vast number of purposes including grain filling. This is readily available in local paint shops as Chalk power or Chalk Mitti. This is usually applied after the surface has been sanded and stained. The powder is mixed with a little water and sometimes a little Shellac and rubbed into the pores, a little at a time. The surface is lightly sanded after the powder dries. As layers of Shellac are bodied on, the powder becomes translucent and takes on the colour of the stain or wood under it. This makes chalk powder a cheap and excellent pore filler. In painting applications, chalk powder is mixed with a little amount of water and paint and applied as a thick creamy paste which is then wiped cleaned and sanded after it is dried.

Calcite or Calcium Carbonate crystals: this is a cheap widely available substance


This is a box lid I was working on. Knot holes were filled with epoxy and then the pores filled with chalk mitti (French Chalk in Calcutta).

After pore filling, I polished the lid with Shellac. The result was a highly polished surface with no pores visible. The finished box below:

Plaster of Paris

Plaster of Paris is hemihydrated calcium sulfate and when mixed with water it undergoes a chemical reaction creating a hard plaster. This makes for a cheap and superb grain filler. This was a traditional method for pore filling and remains perfectly acceptable. However, most woodworkers have abandoned it for other better marketed products. In times past, even piano makers used plaster of Paris to achieve the high gloss finish associated with pianos. Here is a link to a superb article on the subject: http://pianomaker.co.uk/technical/filling/

Pianos and other musical instruments are traditonally given a high gloss finish

I have tried all these methods for pore filling and find the traditional ones the least complicated. In staining projects, I generally use a Shellac wash followed by the stain; after that dries, I either add a little chalk powder mixture or go with pumice as a filler. I have also used Plaster of Paris for a couple of projects stained and finished with Polyurethane. The resulting high gloss has persisted over five years without any problem.

Generally, though, Plaster of Paris is messy and dries very hard which makes it difficult to sand. For a Polyurethane top coat, I sand the chalk powdered surface and apply a thin coat of Shellac that helps adhesion of the subsequent coats. A very high gloss surface can be obtained by this method no matter whether the finish is of Shellac or Polyurethane.

Indranil Banerjie
9 June 2018

Introduction to Spray Painting

2018-02-27T10:35:00.003+05:30

Lucky Singh giving lessons in spray painting

I have been applying finishes by brush, rag and roller for years without problem. But when it came to finishing an apartment full of in-built cabinets, furniture, doors and windows, I thought it might be a good idea to acquire a spray paint system.

It was a big decision because the system involves getting an air compressor, a moisture filter, fittings and hoses, and finally the spray gun itself. I got a Metabo 50 litre compressor (about Rs 23,500 street price), filter (Rs 3,000), fittings (Rs 2,000) and a spray gun (Rs ,3000).

The first compressor supplied didn’t work properly as its auto cut-off valve wasn’t functioning. The Japanese company Hitachi-Koki has taken over Metabo and seems to have brought its inefficiencies with it. For, it took Hitachi and its local dealer an entire month to replace the compressor. The customer isn’t king in India, not in the northern parts at least.

The Metabo compressor

PU for spray painting

At any rate, after the new compressor came in it took me a while to figure out everything and I probably would have blundered on for a long time had it not been for Manmeet “Lucky” Singh (whom I have written about earlier).

The good man turned up one Saturday afternoon and set up the whole thing, fixed leaky fittings and adjusted the troublesome filter which had no manuals for the uninitiated.

A few woodworker friends turned up to have a go at spraying and in all it turned out to be great fun. The spray system once you get it working is a wonder. Spraying properly needs skill, however, as Lucky demonstrated.

A steady hand and eye is called for

Most of us managed a pretty uneven spray with stuff dripping all over the place. But Lucky, the professional finisher that he is, showed how a steady hand and eye could ensure a thin even coat.

The air compressor is a bloody noisy machine (at 93db) and will take some getting used to. The results however should compensate for the inconvenience.

One reason why I overcame my initial reluctance to get into spray painting is the lure of the many exciting new finishes (including stains and top coats) a few European companies have introduced in India. Some of the wood stains are pretty stunning and good results are only to be obtained through careful spraying.

I also plan to experiment with polyurethane and polyester paints that are far more durable than regular emulsions. These paints also can be applied with various effects (most of them pretty hideous or odd, to be sure) some of which can be quite pleasing or even stupendous.

But that’s for the future. In the meantime, plenty of practice for steadying the blinking eye and shaky hand.

Indranil Banerjie
27 February 2018

The Excellence of Desi Timbers

2018-02-16T19:13:00.000+05:30

Chhattisgarh Teak Forest

The average Indian's ignorance of timbers, their type, variety and characteristics, is odd given that this country has a long tradition of using wood products. The Subcontinent's forests at one time were vast and contained innumerable species of excellent furniture grade tree species.

Writing in 1929, Hugh Trotter, forest economist at the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, observed: "For high class furniture, cabinet-making and decorative panel work, there are several very ornamental and excellent woods in India. The chief characteristics required for these uses are nonliability to crack and split, retention of shape, ease of working, and good colour, figure and grain."

So important was timber and its uses in India that a forest products laboratory was set up in Dehra Dun in 1906. In the pre-WW II era it was "the largest, and probably the best equipped of any Forest Research Institute in the world, and the advice and experience of the many specialists employed there are always at the disposal of timber users and others, whether large or small, without any charge." [Trotter 1940]

The institute at Dehra Dun still exists and the use of wood is continuously rising in this country. Yet, general awareness about woods remains low. Poor quality factory made furniture, mostly of plywood disguised with layers of wood veneers, are hoisted as objects of desire. Few customers care to look beneath the superficial shine of chemical finishes or care about matters such as wood grain, figure or durability.

In the past, customers of fine furniture and cabinetry appear to have been far more discerning. This was particularly true of the country's European population They favoured a variety of local woods and much of the excellent furniture crafted here was also exported to Europe, chiefly Britain.

While some of the woods once so popular are well-known names even today, many others are long forgotten.

Of the 15 top cabinet grade woods of yesteryears listed in Trotter's invaluable handbook on common Indian timbers, only a handful continue to be well known to the public. These include Teak, Sheesham, Walnut and Mahogany. These woods continue to be commonly used for fine furniture and cabinetry.

Three of the woods in Trotter's list are now so scarce that they are either in the endangered list or are regarded as under severe threat. Chloroxylon swietenia (satin wood), for instance, a highly attractive and durable wood has virtually disappeared from world markets and is on the IUCN Red List. This unmatched wood is found in small quantities in south India and Sri Lanka.

The famous Andaman Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides) too has largely disappeared although it is not officially protected. Similarly, East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) is on the CITES list and can only be found in the black market in small quantities.

Of the eight remaining woods, a few continue to be used and cherished by Indian cabinet makers. These include Toon (Cedrela toona) as well as the Sirish and Kokko family (Albizzia species).

The rest, including Betula alnoides (Indian birch), Chukrasia tabularis (chikrassy), Phoebe species (bonsum), Pteroearpus marsupium, Terminalia bialata (silver grey) and Terminalia tomentosa (Indian Laurel), seem to have gone off the radar, at least as far as cabinet making is concerned.

It's a pity that a number of excellent cabinet grade woods native to this country are no longer available or used. Some discerning woodworkers are, however, making a special effort to pick up and use local woods when possible.

Indranil Banerjie
16 February 2018

Some local woods used by woodworkers

Abid Ali

Abid Ali (North India)
Indian red cedar or toon. This is wonderful wood to work with, very easy to plane takes finish well. Love the colour.
Walnut. The Kashmiri walnut when you can get some is pleasure to work on, I like this wood when the project demands a bit of carving.
Teak. Yes I know you will say who doesn't like teak. Simple fact that it's a very easy to work teak and you get excellent finishing results puts it in the top 5. The put off is price.
Indian rain tree/Sirish/ monkey pod. This is a wood I came across in guitar workshop amazing grain pattern, tough to work but it's worth the effort once you see the finished product.
Deodar. This is a amazing softwood. Excellent to work with, this wood is quite resistant to decay, insect attacks can be used for outdoor projects too. Only problem is availability outside of Kashmir and Himachal.

Kingshuk Chakraborty

Kingshuk Chakraborty (Eastern India)
Toona Ciliata:, Common name Toon Indian Mahogany etc
Pros: Takes a very good polish, very easy to work, readily available, very good texture; Costs 1200-1400 per cft. Cons: Very susceptible to borer especially sapwood. This wood cannot be stocked for long time as sapwood will attract borer inevitably; This is not a very stable wood and bows significantly during seasonal changes. Contains some characteristics of mahogany family and interlocking grains sometimes pose challenge with hand planing (tear out).
Baadam (Terminalia cantappa). Indian almond is found primarily in the north eastern forests. Heartwood is golden brown and sapwood is white to yellow. Grain and texture are very similar to teak. Pros: Takes polish very well and after polish resembles teak; price tag is relatively low around 1400 per cft; termite resistant; relatively stable wood; machining and chiselling is easy. Cons: Heavy interlocked grain; heavy contrast between sapwood and heartwood poses challenge to staining; primary source is Assam and due to transport restriction, availability is restricted.
Bhola (Merbau): This is a wonderful wood respected by local carpenters who rank this wood after teak. Bhola is a very stable wood, used for window, cot preparation. Assam Bhola is best one, although it is also imported from Indonesia and Malaysia. Heartwood is dark brown and sapwood yellowish orange in colour. Doesn't have very distinctive figure as texture is usually dark. In my house, Bhola is used in windows and doors and has survived the humid weather for more than 30 years. Pros: A very stable wood, robust and heavy; very easy to chisel and plane; gives a good lustre after finish; termite resistant. Cons: Not a heavily figured wood and price tag is on higher side 2600-2900 per cft.
Champ (Michelia Champaca): A highly figured wood gives a fairly good competition to other figured species like teak and Sheesham. Available in north eastern provinces specially from Assam. Texture is greenish brown to yellowish brown. Used for window and doors frames and panels. Pros: Easy to work; finishes well, termite resistant and reasonably priced, Rs. 1400-1700 per cft. Cons: This wood takes a long time to season. Air drying should be carefully done to avoid twist and cups.
Black Sirish (Albizia odoratissima). This wood belongs to the Fabaceae family and should not be confused with Monkey Pod (Albizia saman). Also known as Kakur Sirish or Kakur locally. Heartwood is yellowish brown to dark brown in colour with black patterns of annual rings looks wonderful after polish. Pros: Relatively cheaper rate Rs 1000 per cft; pungent smell repels termites and other insects; Gives a very good surface; Very sturdy, durable wood used for tables, stools and benches. Cons: A very hard wood to work. Need to cover mouth, face and eye while sawing and machining, as smell is very pungent and some people may have allergic reaction to it.
Two more woods need worth mentioning, Neem and Acacia. Both are very hard to work but produces very durable furniture. People here make cots with Acacia wood, which gives decent surface polish and are economical substitutes for more expensive woods.

Vinay Oommen

Vinay Oommen (South India)
The following are the woods that I use often though I am not sure if they are local. They are available in Vellore locally, but may be sourced from central India or Abroad.
Karuvelam: (Babool wood). This is a very hard wood, with beautiful grain. So hard that it is difficult to work with. But this is used in door posts etc. It is cheap in Vellore (about Rs 1250 per cubic foot). The problem with this wood is that it sometimes has fibres that are at right angles to the main grain (I am not sure of the technical term for this) but this this makes it difficult to get a good smooth finish and uniform stain.
Neem: This is again a hard, cheap wood (Rs 1200 or so per cubic foot). Very difficult to work with, but can be used for structural work. The tree is abundant in south India.
Mango. Not so commonly available, as I think people prefer the mangoes rather than the wood. But when it is available it is a light coloured, wood, and cheap (Rs 1250). This is also very fibrous with fibres running all over the place. I think it is used in Pepperfry.com type of furniture a lot to make shelves etc. I would use it if I get my hands on it, but the trees are not so common especially I think with people now going for hybrid mango trees.
Naatu Teak (native teak). This is cheaper than the Burmese teak or Nigerian teak. I think the native teak refers to the fact that it is Indian teak. The trees are usually thinner and so one only gets thinner reapers, sometimes with the soft wood also included. It is used to make teak wood beading. But this is far cheaper than the other teak varieties, so that if a project is planned with small thin strips, this is the wood I would go for.
Country wood: This is a loose term I think that is given to other trees that have little commercial value. This is usually handled by the smaller lumber mills. One of my students got a whole small tree trunk for about 1000 rupees or so, that he used to make a martial arts dummy.
The other wood that I use a lot but is not local is Vengai. This is more expensive (about 2500-3000) per cubic foot. At this range we also get Irulai, and some imported teak varieties. Padauk is also got at this range, but I hear it is imported now.

The Big Deal about Chopping Boards

2018-01-12T10:14:00.000+05:30

Chopping boards for healthy living

In meat shops all over India, butchers still use a tree stump, usually from the Neem (Azadirachta indica) tree as a butcher's block. There is a reason for this: end grain wood self-heals and lasts a long time. Moreover, the natural oils in the wood of trees such as Neem are anti-bacterial.

There has been a shift towards plastic chopping boards in recent times because they are easier to clean and handle. However, they seem to have a problem: knife cuts scour deep fine lines on the plastic which can get clogged with minute quantities of food matter.

Even a minute quantity of food matter lodged inside the fine cuts in a chopping board will spoil and breed moulds and bacteria, including toxic ones that could cause chronic digestive ailments.

This is one reason many people today are going back to using wooden chopping boards particularly the end-grain ones, which are very durable and inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi.

I have gone back to using wooden chopping boards but never got around to making an end grain board. I used regular Pine for making my kitchen boards which is not such a bad alternative.

Recently, I picked up a thick cross section of Neem which I decided to turn into a chopping board. Some of the cracks required filling with epoxy and the bark had to be taken off. The top and sides were smoothed by several hours of serious sanding.

Filling cracks with epoxy

After a lot of sanding

Adding pads

Paraffin - a food safe oil

Pouring Paraffin

Paraffin soaked

In Use

I attached four rubber pads in the base to and finished it with Paraffin Oil purchased at the local chemist. Paraffin oil has medicinal uses and is food safe. A bottle costs about Rs 150. I allowed the oil to soak in and dry in the sun for a few hours. It was then ready for use.

My wife was somewhat unnerved by the appearance of this rather large chopping board (three inches thick and two feet at its widest). She argued it would be difficult to move around but I assured her she would get used to it.

In retrospect it does seem rather large and takes up quite a bit of counter space. But the good thing is it will probably last us a lifetime!

Indranil Banerjie
12 January 2018