1. hobbies and interests
2. arts and crafts
3. woodworking

~
Material handUng
made easier with
special accessories
Brushes,rags &. guns:
How to use die simple
tools of wood finishing
Squeeze profits from
projects with basic
cost-cutting measures
On a modified band saw, David Borek cuts blgleaf maple burl
slabs Into hIghly prized turning blocks. His PacIfic Northwest shop
Is exclusively devoted to thIs specIalty lumber. Page 8
8
WOOOSHOP
NEWS . SEPTEMBER
1~
&
Modified equipment,
loggers' cooperation
madethe difference
By Bill
LaBay
_Wrti...uk-etuddedDMJDBteiD
IoomiDIb8bjDdDaYid
Borek'oobopmicbt be
~
-.. than 8D8D9i8HeYiew,but tbio
fiIodsillof W88hiD,_'0 c.-II8 MouateiDr8DI8
-t.. cI.&D.a ofpi8C8that:o
minored in Bolek hi.-r. ".. cla8D
air aDdopara1y~
laDdocape
oua-t the frODti8rW.t retbor than
tba Jar.- un- CBDter
of SeettleIe..
than ao miIeoaway,aDdBor.k baa
the rMO~
t.. matda.
HaviDcwa1kedaway hm the
aDdcI.maDdoof running a
hicb PI1JdI1djon
c.-t..m millwork
ohop,the 42-yeer~ YODken,N.Y..
00rn Borek baaaweat8d.bartered,
oaivapd, raotored,rebuilt, ~.
IIeereoi,jury-ric.-d, aDd.aoa1aotreoort, openthie way t.. a ohopd88iID8d
for juat ODetbiDc
- omg
-
~
maple
burIo for woodtumen.
He.- mppIioa11-8 bIcbly JWiI8d
blrDiDg~
t.. ~
opeI2a)ty
wood.--Iero
;
- 01
aDd
!be
,.-
beckaDdcurly lwuber.
In many ways,the opecialtyfocuaof
Borak'sburl shop
Mought bjm
f\ill circle in his relaaonobipt.. wood.
" I laad to lea",
WG811" prepared
-unkeen -r
r'
a lot I
for: chaill
Be;"'_"
---os,
.
!ilmg, I thoug hi I could
.1Ib it all out. The lint lIDO
otreooofmaDaciDI twOodoa8D
employ.
Unlike -furniture hard- pulp mill. A81n~tift, Bolek pays
- aDda ..-iDc buoiD8..got t.. bjm. woods,mr leaf mapiaia oftan~
two t.. three timee what the lop
-rbere werejoot too maDY
ed aDd~
not for lUIiIh8rbut
would nonnally fetch. Becauoebe
beadocbeo:Bolek 8id. "I weon't
"r pulp, whid1ia then usedt.. make
. can't be on the road aUthe time, be
ID8kiDI eny ~t,
aDdI wun'\ hav.
pa.-. To haw t.. burIa and fig- mabo periodicruno t.. pick up burla
ins 8DYfua. With that mud1oae., lured
s...k had t.. cxm- the kIg.. aDdlop when the quantia- make
W88IouL This ia
better. J can
ph diI'8dIy aDd8rraII88t..lI'Udthe trip wortbwbiJa.At tbio point,
1r...t late or eerly, whJ wanL"
!be materiol beforeit w..t int.. the
there 8r8 no guaranteeothat Borek
Borek.doddedt.. dII8!bemiBwork
~.
The burIo 8r8 aoayt..apot,
8'Itt8n hia lIMIneY'owortll.aDd
obop.HeaIm-d 011"
theequipment butbehadt..aIIw.t. the
and u.-
a party t
1eI..- bjo new.
L__L.
~
..-
t L-
"'_0 ...,
1.--"
,.
Aa a toIrDaraDd ...xId..orkar,
Borek.
~
Ca1iiaruiaaUthe way up t..
He 1aomad t.. turn et age 11, and
the Canadian proviu.. ofBritiah Co1m
, ia
t.. the ~
ma~
era) woodworkiug skiBo, it was that
original enthaBiaom for bJrning thet
laUDdlad tbio ..ture.
"- 4.VII ~ 1,-.
oiderably
-than the 8Opr
mapia hm tba ~
aDd North.
eaot, but tIIe,'ra -1ib1y
t.. yield
I~
with carty or quBIad ftsure.
Some aIoo fonD Jar.- haria, IQW.d.d
tzavelingthe Baotem United Statee,
eventual1yheadingweat t.. oettlain
Auatin, Tezao.Tboachbe openeda
shopt.. prod... cuotomtiJmiture.
redwoodburl tableeand general
wCKldwork,
be WaomoD~aIiainIln
dooro,windowsand other millwork
for the nIatoratiouof hiatJIric~
aDdother otl'udu.- in the area,induding the otate~t..1 building.
Borak'sdiMte wce often wealthy,
but he oaidthey truly a~ted
Tbia Soutb.D geaality, Boreksaid,
aa-, -.,ht attar ". -and
turDiDI -*.
Boutpro..-8ing is a
dirty ~,
~,
and the raw
supplien Borek.beard aboutsot )MJOr
NVi8W8hID tb8Ir matomora.
"I cheekedout what peopJawere ..yins: Borek said. ~
~nIplaiDed
that tba hlankoW8nD't oquan, or
w- too tbif:k or too thin, or ~
)MJOr
quality. And they ook!it by the
polmdwhen it W88still wet. It's 08-soiDI t.. be 8Dbonaotdeal that way,"
Borekbad two t\mdamantaltaob
though
helaterdewloped
- sen. ~
traao
~
W88in marked..t.. the aUitoda
of sou. of the ---a
riehe"dieote
be w«bd for after be relocatedt.. the
SeaWeareain 1988.Borekutab1iobedaDOdI8rohopthere,but the
peopJa -
thatiDdI.
now Borek.'o w)Qfti.
para
, .-tiDI aaIda
lop that wooa)d
otbenoiaeSOt.. the
of hie-.k ia aDUaheadofhim.
"You_'t know if,w
iDIIht a
~
b8i,«1ag ~,
t.
it, be oaId. '"nIio . a ..-DIPm80
In proc-.in,
tbaroach ot..ca int..
premiumtumin, bIocbor aluoift
veneer.qua)ityburl fiIUre, Bonk uau-
awood
that:o
mo.
-:...I:
---'
of.-rmal ~wood
"-
"'--
lIE
air.
no
mackeL
on
tax
put
and
inmme
their
of
craftamen
Borek
apent
mlldlofbjoearly
2(M -
...
-
okilled
'nI.-
knewthat thePadftcNorth_, &om aol ~
- D8WW~
-
a little abINt the 1I8rkpatt8rnaand
yean
_arl"
killed me,
be- iIwMi
&-!"mobu!iII.-liat.e!'"
bepn otJI8:
t8I)taIa th.-.
c-.e
aU the molley
went
tba tran8iIiIJD ... bjo new ~
cate ftIIIr8Ii wood u...t
becaU8
--,~. .,-,~
pie
U8iD&
~ opeoiaJ1y
modifiedb&8II-David BorekbjcJeaf-pia b...1olabaInto hJ8hqpri88d
". 'otherran """*' quiJ":;:fidoIIe- turBI-. blooka.Bo""'1.- devotedhieeadreMop to Proo-;.l b1lrla-.I fipred lumberfro- North- try aDd aIoo miDo tMgJeaf
aheadofbjm when he daGdedt..
plungeint.. the buoIn... of burla.
Firat was findinl a oapplyof the raw
material, aDd~
waogettins
equippedt.. bancUeand ...t iL
Thoughburl catting
b--tI.-. heotWto iad
&
taka d8YG-~ -.;;~;
in tM craftthat lOt hila ~
tunlinc.
WOODSHOP NEWS.
t
ally anticipates a loss of about 65 percent. 'ntisrelatively
low yield, and
the enormous amount of specialized
equipment and mmntenance required
to procesa the burls, make the business an ambitious and sometimes
precarious undertaking.
Most of the risk and work stems
from the nature of burls themselves.
Many grow at the base of the b-unk,
and nearly all of them have bark inclusions, high silica content, hidden
rocks and other surprises that brutalize cutting edges. Borek loves the
beauty of burls, but he a!JlO_pects
theDl as be would a worthy adversary.
Once he uses a 3,200-psi pressure
washer to water-blast the raw
mounds, which can measure 3'-4'
acrosa and weigh over 3,000 Ibs., he
uses a chain saw to cut them into
halves or quarters. 'ntege more manageable sections are then slabbed,
trimmed, and cut into blocks on two
modified band saws.
An average day's sawing will require
six blade changes, Borek said, and if
be's really puab~ it that count can
climb to 15. Likewise, the contest between chain saw -.,d burl has each
devouring the other. If he spends all
day roughing the burla into sections,
the tally for fresh chains can eaaily
exceed two dozen.
,"",at's what keeps this going - the
maintenance," Borek emphasised. "I
had to learn a lot 1 waan't prepared
for: chain saw upkeep and grinding,
saw setting, filing. 1 thought I could
sub it all out but I couldn't. ~
lint
two years nearly killed me, because all
the money went back into the shop."
With almoet half of the business's
$6,000 monthly gross income going toward blade and chmn saw mmntenance, Borek knew he had to make
ROmechanges. He bought and restored
an ancient band saw blade grinder, a
complex mechanical assembly of pulleys, Oat leather drive bells, gears,
trip levers, and guides that automatically position each tooth, grind it, then
index the blade forward and sharpen
the next tocKh. He bartered an antique
gun for a saw chain filer and started
buying chmn in bulk rolls. Bringing
these operations in-house made additional demands on Borek's time, but
he's gotten much faster through sheer
repetition and now haa more control
over his direct costs.
Once the
burl. are
unloaded
and powerwa.hed,
Borek
secUon.
them with a
chain saw to
get rough
blocksofa
manageable
size. Burled
rocks and
hiCh silica
eontent
tend to
annihilate
the chain'.
cutUna
teeth,80
Borek buy.
bulk saw
cham in
roD. and
does hi. own
sharpening.
..
repairs, and got the saw owner to
agree to a trade. Two days later the
band saw was sitting in his shop.
Though both saws are maaive
enough to dwarf Borek's big 6'2"
frame and each has a sizable 15-hp
mcKor, they weren't really designed 88
sawmill machines. Borek went to
work on some m~fiC8ti0D8 to change
all that.
The lint maehine would be the head
saw, used for cutting the rough burl
sec:Qonsinto slabe. 'The cutting itself
wean't the obstacle 80 much as handling the burl, holding it securely as
it traveled into the blade. Cobbling together a mix of salvaged machine
parts and a double reek-and-pinion
track, Borek built a rolling carriage
with &teel clamping doga to hold the
burl in place.
He then rigged a remote control relay on an articulated boom arm, 80 he
could control the width of cut and the
feed rate without making any adjustments on the carriage it8elf. A push-
The beast, times two
The biggest testimony to Bo~k's
commitment and his seat-of-the-pants
engineeringability is the sawingstation planted squarely in the middle of
his shop. It consists of two 36" mdustrial "shake bolt. band saws, designed
for cutting cedar roofing materials,
which were manufactured by a now
defunct Seau.le company. 'nlOUgh he
also uses them to resaw the figured
maple lumber fTom the logs he buys.
they'~ really modified for one very
specific: purpose. Borek uses them in
tandem to slab burl sections, then cut
the slabs into bJoclts.
Though he was aIJIe to buy one of the
saws used, the second belonged to a local man who said ilewasn't interested
in selling. When ~k
1eerned that
the man wanted a pickup !.ruck another feJlow bed for sale. he brokered a
deal. He bought tile truck, made some
button controlsetsup the naxt peasby
indexingthe burl pest the bladein I"
I
increments, and a dial determines the
feed rate. It's an impressive machine
to watch, and it should be. Borek estimates that between the saws original
cost and the substantial modifications
he made, be baa almost $18,000 in-
vestedin this onemachine.
Oncethe slab is cut, Borek slidesit
aO
&
a steel roller bed and sets it up
at his secondband saw.With the
slabeIIOWreducedto a moremanageI able size,another automaticfeedsystem wasn't necessary.
Instead,Borek replacedthis saw's
fixed platfonn with a sliding table
that travels on precisionsteeltrack
and industrisllinear bearinga The
aI~t effortlessmotionof the table
lets him trim the slabsquickly, and a
built-in fenceand scalemakeit easier
to sizethe turning blocksaccurately.
I
The opeetacular
burl offers.
SEPTEMBER 1996 9
fteure of this ro~ hed-out bowl _t-.e
9I.L..,..' ~
&0 t/ie rew8rdo
'Tha blocks air-dry for a few days,
then get a wax dip to keep them &om
checking. Even for this laat aimple
scteP'
~rek im~oed.
INlAY
PHOTO
Rescued from the oblivion of a mili.
tary surplus wareboue, a stainless
steel kettle burner that saw duty in
the 1991 Persian Gulf War now baa a
more peaceful mission. Borek U8M it
to melt the large blocks of paraffin be
uses to seal the cut burl.
Oncethey'~ dipped,the blocksget
sortedonto sbelvesand, finally, are
~ady to ship.
The rewards of patience
Bo~k's origins 88a woodturner
have kept bjs enthusiasmfor burls
high and his eyesharp.
He'. adamant that scraps end up in
the firewood pile, not in someCR)8'sorder. Small offcuta and lower-grade
blocks get sold by the pound in bulk
cartons, but be's elective about the
better grade blocks and sells them by
the board foot, not by weight. P~mium burl ~tails for about $17/bf, with
wholesale pricing offered for purchases of 100 bfor mo~.
"I try to cut stock I would want 88 a
turner: Borak said. "I don't want to
ell anything I wouldn't want to buy."
Bo~~ customer. include noted
turners such as David Ellsworth,
Bonnie Klein, and Michael Petersen.
He also wholesales large quantities of
burl turning blocks and figured lumber to catalog retailers such 81 Woodcraft, Penn State Industries and Groff
&. Hearne Lumber.
With turning an increasinglypopular pastime,demandfor burl blanks
has grownsomuch that Borakh81
had trouble keepingup by himself.He
recentlytook on a partner, Ren~
Booth.and organizedthe wholesale
and retail salesefforts under a new
company,Maple SpecialtiesInc., offering burl blocksand micro-thin, figured
maplelumber.Hsving a partner,
Borakhopes,will give him moretime
for equipmentmaintenance,burl and
lumber cutting, and attendingto his
wholesalebuyers,and it may evenallow a few stolenmomentsat the lathe.
When Borek gets a bowl blank on
Be. ~r,
Page 11
12 ~DSHDP
By Thomas
NSWS
. SEFnaMBER 1996
Clark
r
.
~
__STAFF
OPINION
I recently
found myself
scratching my head over the
deaign oC a built-in desk Cor
an extra room over the
garage, and ended up opting
Cor a construction technique
that seems more .hop-built
than built in.
The built-in concept seemed
80 logical Cor the space. I had
framed in a niche that lits into the knee wall so there
would be support for the desk
components on three sides.
This buill-in support, I reasoned, is an economical and
elegant solution to the desk
problem because SO much is
hidden from .ight anyway.
Why not utilize alllhat slrucrural support rrom lhe walls
80 you can save the precious
hardwoods Cor lhe surraces
lhat show?
It aeemed like a no-brainer
until I sat down toligure oul
precisely how to do it. Buddenly, I realized that I'd entered a realm wilh it. own
language and rules. Dh, il'.
simple enouKh to hang a ~t
deaip The frame-and-panel
construction at the sides of
the knee hole would provide
the tradit.ional reference. But
using expoled joinery for the
drawers would give it a more
contemporary flavor
So the problem became one
of devising a means to .upport the banks of drawers,
bul retaining the traditional
look you get with rrame-andpanel construction - the narrow stiles and rails dividing
tbe drawers. I guess I could
have used plywood, but thal
seemed like throwing away
the original concept or econolni%ingOll materials. So, what
I came up with was that the
easiest way for me to carry
out that look was to make up
series of rrames just as if it
was a rree-atandingdeak.
Well, I lhoughl, at least I
can use the strips along the
walla instead or panels al the
ends..
righl? Maybe nolo
How would I do the drawer
runners? I didn't want to buy
hardware runners, 80 I'd need
would be fewer places to
screw up
So Cor a buill-in desk, I senlially was able to eliminale a few panels on the
back, a truly minimal savings
in materials Oh sure, I didn't
have to use the good cherry
for the interior Crames,saving
myself some money, but I did
use aboullhe same amount of
solid wood.
Now, I'm sure there's a way
to build a good built-in desk
using less materials. Trouble
is, my enlire reference is either solid wood, rree-standing
rumiture
or plywood-panel
cabinel construction.
The
methods used ror built-in
work are bound to produce a
different
look than what I
started wi!.h as a premise. So,
by trying lo reproduce my
traditional
rramework in a
buill-in motir, I had started
out from !.he wrong spot.
Maybe I'll get it right next
time.
one on the other side of the
knee hole. My concept. also
had a run or shallower drawers running over t.he lhree
banks and lhe knee hole and supporting t.he top.
wha~ size lhe pieces had to
be, and milling the stock ror
them, and whelher
there
welv Muds in the right spots,
and getting them to line wi!.h
lhe runners in the opposing
A Michi,an
compo ny,
ITW I Amp International,
mallufactures
pneumatic
V-llaili",
machine. for Join"'" mi/end comers in picture
frames alld other wood a.-
lib a lot leas work just making up two molV Crames.
That way all the parls
would be the same and there
Till wmpany con be rmdJed
al 37450 Elllerpri.e
Court,
FarmiJIgtoll HillI, MI48331.
TeL' 800-322-4204.
Bl.llN4AV_TO
It took a lot of work to make oIabbing the burls look
this 888)'. Borek built a power-feed carriage for his
lead band saw, and added a boom.mounted push-but.
toD control to set the cutting width and feed rate.
of shelvesf)"m a waiL
to position the wood runners Readers
But what I had in mind was on the wall to match !.herun.
three banks or fairly deep neroin lbe frame.
Fro.. PO&'"'10
drawers, two on one aide and But when I lhought about
The concepl is an interpretation of a t.raditional desk
Thoma. Clark i. Senior
Editor of Wood.hop News.
:
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
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I
I~
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0
Address
I
I
C ity
I
0 Check
(if any)
..
51
M
\0
n .
my
~
t
a e
7-
rl
~
~
-
. ~CMI-
: (00-. oIlheU.S.A.
- '10~
~
,;
I
E
peryear.)
PI8Ue
- 6--lor
~
..iW8Iy;
-
recipie.nta,;hosenby Presi.
I
dent Bill Chnton out of more
'd
tial
d
awar
than300applicants
submit.
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Since 1906, Menominee
Tribal Enterprises (MTE) has
sold 2.25 billion bf of timber
while sustaining the health
and size of it. 220,000.acre
forest
ted to the President's Council
on Sustainable Development.
MTE was the only lumber
producer to receive an award.
This was the.first year the
awards were B'ven.
I
I
In late March. the tribe's
foreat management system
The Menominee
miles northwest
I
I
received
Award
B.ay,
pine,
I
opment
Honors
for
the
p'residential
SuStaInable
Devel.
during
Prosram
Preaident!al
ceremonies
I in Washington,D.C. The cer.
I emony was presided over by
1200 II
~
means a lot of grunt work
before the payoff. and
Borek apparently needs no
reminmng of the reality of
his business, especially st
the end of a long day. Still,
as he pulls a freahly sawn
block off the band saw
table and lets a good look
at the intense burlligure,
he sounds inspired.
"If you're not a patient
person, you don't want to
do this," he said. "But to
me thia is what it's all
about, working and getting
to the gold."
For information contact
Maple Specialties
Inc.!
Borek Enterprises, .3306
S.E. North Bend Way,
Suite 2, North Bend, WA
98045. Tel: 800-409-9663.
I Menominees earn
0 36 monthsfor $29.97 I presl en
-.
enckI6ed
the lathe and starts turnjug, it's obvious he can em.
pathize with the woodwork.
ars who buy from him. He
watches intently as the fig.
ure and abape of the piece
change with the gouge's
progress, looking for the details he wants to preserve
in the final turning.
Unless one has witnessed
him wielding a chain saw
with a .' har or slamming a
quartered burl in place on
the head saw carriage, it's
a little deceptive to see
how differently
Borek
works at the lathe It's e
task that seems almost ef.
(ortless by comparison,
I
0 24 months for $23.97
Name
~ny
From Pap 9
:
012 monthsfor $15.97
I
. .
=:
New subscription 0 Re~~~a~
I
I
!
-.
for the term checked:
which in reality
it is. Handling thoee large raw burls
awyer
panel - it suddenly aeemed semblies.
Pleasesend my WOODSHOP NEWS
I subscription
S
VIee President AI Gore.
MTE was one of 15 award
Wis.,
includes
hemlock,
hard
oak, ba'.swoocl'
yellow birch.
fore4t, 40
of Green
white
maple,
red maple
and
These woods,along with 10
other hardwood and soft.
wood species, are marketed
worldwide.