Max May
Max May, Clarrie Glass
One of the sharpest tools in the
Woodworkers’ Guild shed is Max May. He has a thing about tools. In fact, he is
so sharp that he can make a tool out of almost anything – things that people
throw out – old blunt screw drivers, old drill parts, a nail or a thimble. He
is a part of a group that designs and makes up new tools in addition to
fashioning old ones. Our guild has a reputation for making their own tools for
use and they are the bestsellers in shows and gatherings. Max is also an expert on anything that he
does and he can do almost anything. His systematic lectures on processes from
French polishing to using routers are great. He used to be a boat builder near
Lake Eildon that is about 25km away from Alex. He taught me one of the nifty
little tricks they use to make wooden boat joins naturally waterproof. It’s
simple and simply clever. Along the length of where one plank of wood joins the
other, in the middle of the ridge, a flat screw driver or some flat edge is
hammered in slightly. The wood fibres compress under the metal edge and form a
groove. Then the wooden edge is planed down flat to just the level of the
lowest part of the groove. This is done on both wooden edges that meet. They
are then joined. When the wood hits water, the compressed fibres try to expand
and form a watertight seal, pushing against each other in the middle!
Max will tell you the best of whatever he
knows, in a slow, calm voice. His knowledge is wide ranging – colours, woods,
tools and along with Clarrie and Ernie, forms a living encyclopaedia. Max’s works have an elegance about them that
is hard to achieve.
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