Gluing Rusty

Last Thursday at the Berkshire Carousel I again had the opportunity to do body work with the former shop teacher, and master carver, Phil. (check out his website Custom Carving ). The master taught me a lot.

Our project was to build the blocks for the spare horse Rusty. I say spare horse because the plan is to build about forty steady steeds for the carousel;thirty-three will be the operating number, eleven rows of three, plus two chariots; and an additional seven horses that will serve as backup when others may need repair. Rusty will serve as a backup.

Phil made sure I understood the plan, and how the head, neck and tail were to be formed, the dimensions and quality of the boards to be cut. "Watch out for split boards, or knots." "If you can get a full six inches in width, it will work." And as I dutifully carried the saw from one room to another, anticipating my job, he congratulated me on one of the first rules of shop education, "You are planning ahead."

We talked about school as we worked. I confessed to him that as a guidance counselor, I always tried to work the shop teacher to accept the thirteenth or fourteenth student into a class. Often I was successful. Sometimes I was rebuffed by the argument that there was a wide range of students in the class, each of whom had access to a weapon: a variety of power tools, or  a hammer, screwdriver, saw, etc. Despite all, my relationship with the shop teacher was very good, as even then he taught me about small engines and construction techniques, a perk of working in a comprehensive high school.

A couple of weeks ago, Phil taught me about gluing and clamping, and I had to remember that as I sawed and put the parts of Rusty together. After an hour or so of clamp time, I presented Phil with four blocks of wood for him to plane. Three were fine, but the fourth was pulling apart in one corner about 1/32 of an inch. Additional clamp time did not help. I offered redo. "I think I can save it," he said.

He grabbed the glue bottle and nodded me to the back area. There he treated me to the most amazing demonstration of gluing that I had ever seen, as he put glue into the gap, and applied the nozzle of the shop vac to the side of the wood where the gap extended down;  the glue was sucked deep into the gap so that it coated the interior sides of the boards. He clamped it again; excess glue sqeezed out, and the piece was saved.

So Rusty will be on his way to the carving table this week, soon to be part of the array of backup horses. He will get his chance to shine, and with him, all the carvers and painters who are working on the Berkshire Carousel. Of course Phil and Phil, too.