have been used 200 years ago. He uses hammers and scratch awls to produce nonuniform marks. The trick is to make the markings look like they were made by knives and other utensils being dropped on them. He deep planes edges, particularly on tables, which took much abuse. He will even make extra-large gaps around joints to make it look like the wood has shrunk.
The woods he uses are dictated by the period as well. They are mostly tiger maple, cherry, figured cherry, birch and flame birch, some walnut, mahogany, and pine for painted pieces and secondary wood. One of his primary lumber suppliers is Badger Hardwoods of Wisconsin in Walworth, Wis. When he wants to recreate a really primitive piece, Kates uses reclaimed wormy chestnut for the look he needs.
“My work has to be authentic — no plywoods. I also have to search for very wide material. I rarely use lumber under 8" wide and keep a small inventory of boards up to 24" wide.”
Kates strives for a worn look to his pieces, which feature the use of wide boards.
KATES from previous page
od-style furniture because it has character. He is not the least bit interested in building fine, modern pieces.
He works out of a 1,000-sq.-ft. shop, a garage he rents from a friend and just minutes from his home. Using some of the shop skills he acquired in high school, Kates basically learned on his own. He reads continually about the subject to pick up time-honored techniques.
Beds, tables, chests and highboys,
chairs, sideboards … he makes it all. But he won’t make matching sets or alter designs from hundreds of years ago, despite requests from customers to accommodate the needs of modern households. The one exception is beds.
“Avoiding the trends is not difficult. This is a traditional art form of recreating 150-year-old pieces. It’s not something I feel a need to change since I’m not designing the pieces but rather recreating existing designs,” said Kates.
Since he is recreating existing an-
tiques, Kates doesn’t have a need for drafting software. He does do a tremendous amount of research, however. Some pieces have measured drawings that are readily available, while others have to be measured from existing collections.
Kates strives to make his pieces as close to the original as possible — not only through basic designs, but in distressing. In his reading and research, he’s learned that the trick is applying common sense to how things would
Kates prefers hand tools over power tools, and doesn’t sand his work. Such methods further contribute to the worn look he’s aiming for.
“I do most of my shaping using hand planes. I haven’t used a belt or random orbit sander in years since I have a large collection of Lie-Nielsen hand planes that I use for finishing surfaces. I’m not really into power tools, only those that are absolutely necessary.”
Kates’ machinery includes a Powermatic 66 table saw, mortiser and planer, and Delta 8" jointer, bandsaw and shaper, along with several Porter-Cable routers and a Hitachi jig saw. Kates does not have a lathe, so he outsources his turned table legs.
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Woodworking technology is just a mouse click away at the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association’s newly redesigned Web site: www.wmia.org. The site features WMIA’s online sourcebook, an electric database of woodworking equipment, software, cutting tools, accessories, and other products and services offered by the association’s 160 member companies. The sourcebook allows visitors to search for products by product type, brand name, company name, regional distribution or available services.
Other features of the site include information on woodworking careers, scholarships and industry news.
Contact: Woodworking Machinery Industry Association, 3313 Paper Mill Road, Suite 202, Phoenix, MD 21131. Tel: 410- 628-1970.
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