In the early 1900s in Pasadena, California, architect brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene (aka Greene and Greene) expanded their profession to a new level during the American Arts and Crafts movement. Not satisfied with simply designing homes, the visionary brothers also created the living spaces and furnishings for their homes in meticulous detail. Exceptional craftsmanship was evident from their designs of the roof’s rafter tails, projecting beyond the eaves to the vermilion rose inlaid in a mahogany dressing table. The brothers designed several dozen homes and hundreds of pieces of furniture during their 30-year career. But, since none of their furniture was mass-produced, it never gained the popularity or notoriety of the Stickley pieces manufactured during this same time period.
One of their finest works, the Gamble House at 4 Westmoreland Place in Pasadena was built in 1908 and is now open as a museum. The house was originally built for David B. Gamble, a second-generation member of the Proctor and Gamble Company. In the Gamble house as in the Greene’s other major works, no detail was left to chance. The structure, interiors, furniture, lighting, carpets, picture frames, stained glass, and hardware, each had an artistic identity of its own, and yet each blended quietly into the harmony of the overall composition of the home. I first toured this house over a decade ago, and a convert was born. Since then I have purchased nearly every book written on the Greene’s architecture and furniture. And, I’ve designed and built a houseful of Greene and Greene-style furniture. In addition I’ve worked with my daughter and her husband to start building their own G&G collection.
The Greenes designed many subtle elements into their furniture. One design element I’ve tried to carry through on the pieces I’ve built is the use of exposed ebony plugs (also referred to as buttons and pegs). Much like the original G&G pieces, the plugs on my pieces are mostly decorative and occasionally used to conceal screw heads.
Darrell Peart, one of the most proficient masters of G&G-style furniture and author of Greene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop, designed and worked with Lee Valley tools to manufacture and distribute square-hole punches for the creation of the mortises to house these plugs. The punch tips are machined and ground from hardened O1 tool steel (Rc 48-50) and combined with shanks of softer steel for shock absorption. The punch shanks have a black-oxide finish to resist rust, and are lightly grooved for better gripping. As shown below, each punch is a two-part assembly: shank (top) and cutting chisel (bottom end).
The cutting chisel part is hardened for cutting and the "shank" is optimized for being struck with a hammer. Each punch has a guide hole in the center for drilling out waste material once the punch has been seated. The punches range in size from 3/16” wide to ½” square (outside diameter), and make the creation of the shallow, square mortises a snap to make. For a quick overview on how to use these punches, see Darrell’s video. Listed below is how I used the punches in my own shop. I've reviewed the process closely with Darrell to make sure he's in total agreement with my method.
Here’s a step-by-step review of how I used the punches in my own shop.
1 Using a sharp pencil and small square (I like my 6” Starrett for this), mark lines to locate the center of each plug mortise, like that shown below.
2 Carefully center the punch over the marked centerlines. Then use a square to make sure the punch is perpendicular to the furniture piece the mortise will be machined into. If you’re locating and machining a pair of plugs, like those shown in the image, use the square to also locate the inside edge of the punch from the edge of the furniture piece. This ensures your plugs will be aligned top to bottom.
3 Lightly tap the punch with a hammer to seat the cutting end into the furniture member. Seat the punch just deep enough so it stands upright without being held. Be careful not to tap the punch into position until after you’ve got it perfectly squared to the outside edge of the furniture member.
4 Fit your portable drill with a bit 3/64” under the size (outside diameter) of the punch you’re using. For example, use a 21/64” twist drill bit for a 3/8” punch. See the chart below for bit sizes. Use a regular twist bit, not a brad-point bit. The cutting points on a brad-point bit can catch in the punch and ruin the edges of the bit. Drill into the wood about 5/16 to 3/8”. The depth of the hole should be about 1/6” longer than length of the plug you’ll use. The extra 1/16” allows room for glue. Note on the image below how I used a thin strip of painter tape to ensure I drilled to the correct depth.
PUNCH SIZE/BIT SIZE
Punch Size Bit Size
3/16” 9/64”
¼” 13/64”
5/16” 17/64”
3/8” 21/64”
7/16” 25/64”
½” 29/64”
5 Withdraw the bit from the punch. Lightly tap the punch to the same depth as what was just drilled. Be careful not to tap the punch too deep, as the exterior sides of the punch flare outward which can cause the hole to be enlarged. Wiggle the punch slightly after every few taps so the punch can be easily removed when you’re done. If you don’t wiggle the punch, it can become wedged in the hole, and you can bend the edges of the wood fibers next to the hole when removing the stuck punch.
6 Use the drill and drill bit again to remove any chips or waste from the inside of the punch, but more importantly it removes the debris that was created with the punch when squaring the hole. The punches come in handy for creating the pieces like my version of the Ford House Server below, and the G&G-style picture frame below that.
Suggestions
•The punches come in clear plastic tubes with screw-off caps and round foam inserts at each end of the tube as shown below. For storage and to keep the working end sharp, store the bits in the tubes, with the foam inserts in place, after each use. Also, the first time you take the bit out of the tube, wipe the oily substance off the bit so as not to transfer it to the wood you’re working on.
•Buy only the bits you need. Although the bits come in six different sizes as shown below, determine what sizes you use the most. Personally, I found a set of three to meet my G&G building needs.
•Should you use your punches a lot and sharpening becomes necessary, you can hone the inside of each punch with cone sharpeners. Lee Valley sells a pair (coarse and fine) of diamond cone sharpeners to do this. Sharpen the punches in the same manner you’d sharpen the bits on a hollow-chisel mortiser.
•If a second production run of the bits occurs, I’d recommend stamping the bit size on each bit.
You are correct. I'm going to try another method of marking the plug locations this weekend. Instead of marking centerlines, I'm gong to mark the perimeter lines, and use those to locate the punch. The punches are very sharp so the more accurately you can locate them initially the better. Once you press down on them, it's a bit difficult to slightly adjust the position. As is, I'm using two squares to locate the punch. One for the edge perpendicular to the edge of the piece furniture member and the other parallel to the the edge. I do love the punches especially for square holes like those on the frame below. Marlen @ WOOD
I am in the process of rebuilding a group of chairs for a dinning room set. The chairs are of reasonably good quality and of sentimental value to the owner, so as much as I dislike this sort of project I am hard at work......
There had been a few screws driven in during some past repair, after looking at them there was an opportunity to plug the old screw holes with Sq plugs in a consistent pattern through all the chairs.
I selected the point at which I wanted the centre of the plug then drew 2 lines at 45 degrees thru the centre spot, I then placed the 4 points of the Sq chisel on the lines, this registered them perfectly without measuring.
I then thought I would try a new look with "Diamond" plugs instead of the old Square style;
Here are a couple of the chair arms with the holes cut for the new and improved "Diamond" shaped plugs
