Wood Moisture Meter
New mini-Ligno E D High Performance Low-cost For hobbyists and woodworkers to avoid frustrating moisture problems. PO 30145, Portland OR 97294 503-257-8957, B X 503-255-1430, wm.lignomat.com, i Good hardware means different tilings to different people. No matter the style, there are three elements to consider Material You chose your wood carefully Choose the hardware just as carefully We use solid brass. It lasts forever. Construction Good construction is a must. Hardware reflects the countless...
Roundabout Chairs
A style of chair very popular in the first half of the eighteenth century is the roundabout chair. Its popularity was probably due to its comfort, obtained from the curved back. It is constructed with one leg in front, and the other three legs carry through the seat to support the arms and back which are built on a curve. They are found in three styles, the transition, the Dutch, and the Chippendale. Figure 516 shows a form of chair known as a wheel chair, owing to the fact that the...
Oak Chest With Iron Strapwork 1
6 ft. 4i ins, long by 2 ft. i in, high by I ft. 4 ins. back to front Fourteenth century. Capt. N. R. Colville, M.C. THE CHEST, FIG. 7, WITH LID OPEN, SHOWING THE DECORATIVE PAINTING. THE CHEST, FIG. 7, WITH LID OPEN, SHOWING THE DECORATIVE PAINTING. appearance of being a reconstruction. This type of chest persisted well beyond the fourteenth to the earl fifteenth century, as in Mr. Smedley Aston's example, Figs. 10 and ii, but here the top and the uprights are scratch-moulded, a sure indication...
Making The Spindles
Windsor chair making starts with a freshly cut log. Because green wood is swollen and lubricated with moisture, it is easy to cleave and bend. It is also less work to shape. Splitting wood from a log offers other advantages. First, it is stronger, because the break follows the wood fibers rather than shearing them, as a sawmill does. And second, wood seasons better if it is shaped while still green. A chair spindle, for example, will season more quickly and be less prone to cracking than a...
How Many Tools Are Needed
Professionals in all trades share one secret the right tools make the job easier and quicker and do the work better. Furniture restoration is no different. It will pay you handsomely in the long run to acquire the right tools. Fortunately, it won't cost an arm and a leg to add to your present tool collection, but there will be some expense. You need to buy good tools only once, and you can amortize their cost over a large number of jobs. If you find need for an unusual and expensive tool that...
Furniture
Enhance every room in your home with these easy painting projects How to Load Your Biushes with Paint SkkLw IfcwUc I gt titling N iilU'l. lt aftiJm t Lm.lmj the Scrip Lfcxr OrJtiMf N stars ruvtli Pat urn Lavender amp Hydrangeas on Stackable Drawers Trompe L'oeil Foldir gt g Screen l f iri i ir II cooccpt of th Uxik creatcd frena mam o thc kWit that rouJtcd n n my imrrxir dccoratmf dayv Somet rao a dtent o mine ould Iknt an unuuul oc entunen-til piecc he anted t pan ni j rw n dccoc, lut il e...
Walnut Twotier Sideboard 1
Height, 3 ft. ii ins. width, 4 ft. 2 ins. depth, 1 ft. 6 ins. Late sixteenth century. Church is over-furnished, is original to that edifice. This pulpit is evidently made tip from old panelling. It is much more likely that it was removed from the ruined Aldington Priory, the refectory of which is now a part of the adjoining farm buildings. In the Church are fragments of screens both of late fourteenth and middle fifteenth-century dates, evidently from the same source. The present additional...
Gluing the bedpost vase sections together
Although the joints connecting the pommel sections and finlals of the posts to the vase sections are not glued, the tang joints between the vase sections must be glued to give the posts adequate rigidity. Spread adhesive on the tenon and in the mortise of the tang joint and on the contacting surfaces between the two pieces, then secure them in a bar clamp, protecting the stock with wood pads. If the post begins to distort as you tighten the clamp, reposition it in the jaws until it remains...
Removing Old Finishes And Preparing For New Ones
WHEN we reach the point of removing old finishes from our early furniture, we must first consider whether or not we really do want to remove them. We shall, of course, find some pieces which have had one, or many, coats of varnish now possibly cracked and stained. But, in such cases, cleaning and smoothing are easy. Sometimes we may find furniture of light-colored wood, such as maple or pine, which has been deeply stained in imitation of mahogany. Such examples are extremely hard to restore to...
Veneers In Furniture Restoration
When we began to restore furniture, we discovered a number of uses for a knowledge of veneering. First, we found that old, severely damaged veneers often had to be replaced. The 1852 dresser we restored during the writing of this book was a good example of that. Next, we found that sometimes we could take a plain piece of sound hardwood furniture, the kind that was made for utility rather than appearance, and upgrade it to a beautiful piece by veneering all or part of it. Finally, we constantly...
Hand laying veneers
The veneers must be laid one sheet at a time, for built-up patterns taped together cannot be laid by this process, as will become evident. A fast worker could no doubt lay a sideboard top without using the heated iron, but the veneer sheet would have to be very amenable, and it is wise not to attempt large areas without the iron until proficiency is achieved. The usual practice is to coat the groundwork or substrate evenly with thin glue, swab the outer surface of the veneer sheet with hot...
Chaptek I
S a record of manners and customs the illuminated missal is to the Middle Ages what the sculptured frieze is to ancient Greece and Rome. It repre sents the earliest history of domestic life of mediaeval times. The Egyptians constructed their household furniture in stone, the Greeks and Romans in marble and bronze, and the people of the Middle Ages in wood. Setting aside coronation chairs and choir stalls few pieces of mediaeval handicraft are in existence. Without the aid of old manuscripts all...
Fine Woodworking
Mackall used a bed to divide this bedroom. The front of the headboard includes integral nightstands, bookshelves, and lighting. The headboard back has a mirror and a built-in dresser. Positioned as it is, the headboard also functions as a privacy screen, effectively creating a dressing area between the closets and the rest of the room.
Squaredrive Screws 1
In the article on screws, we talked about the advantages of using square-drive Robertson screws, see page 21. Wood-smith is offering two kits of these screws with drivers, see box below . There are also several mail order sources square drive screw co, 5900 West 84th Street, Bloomington, MN 55438. 800-544-9460 . This company will send out a sample kit that includes 24 No. 8 x IV flat head. IxvRoot, zinc-plated screws with a Recex drive, and about a dozen more sample square-drive screws and a...
Grooved and moulded frameworks
Grooved frameworks present no special features. The width of the rail tenons will be less the depth of the groove and also of the haunch, which is essential to fill the groove in the stile, worked afterwards. A typical example with raised panels is shown in 226 1. In rebated rabbeted frameworks with stuck moulding, i.e. mouldings worked in the solid and not glued on as separate pieces, the rebate is worked as before, followed by the moulding which must be to the same depth, while the cutting...
Candle Stand
of racking stress which pulls them away from the column. The Shakers compensated for this weakness in several ways. The most important was attaching the legs to the column with sliding dovetails very strong and durable joints. Some Shaker candle stands have survived 150 years and are as sturdy as the day they were made. To give the legs added strength, a metal plate, known as a spider, is nailed to the base of the column and legs. The design of the legs also fortifies the stand. They are 3 s...
The Edging Strips
Now the solid-wood edging strips can be added to the front and back edges of the plywood sides. All of these strips are cut from 5 4 stock l' W thick actual . back edging. The back edging strips C , are ripped to width so they're just slightly Vie wider than the thickness of the plywood sides, see Cross Section in Fig. 1. This extra width provides just enough material so the surface of the strips can be planed and sanded down perfectly flush with the plywood. Then these strips are cut to length...
The Mirror And Glass
A WATER-COLOR of Alma Tadema's in the Centennial Exposition represented the former wife of one of the Merovingian kings sitting at her lattice, while the new wife, in the group without, receives the rite of baptism sitting at her lattice, and contemplating the beauty that has been discarded, in a hand-mirror. It is this hand-mirror, round and small, and with a handle, that was the only glass of the Middle Ages. And this was bequeathed to that period by the periods long past, many specimens of...
Advantages of manufactured boards
1 Plywood and laminboards, etc. have no natural line of cleavage and cannot be split across the length or width, as the grain direction of each alternate layer is opposed to the direction of the force. General stiffness and rigidity is also much greater, and a strip of plywood is Stiffer than a strip of steel of equal weight, and therefore thicknesses as opposed to solid wood can be reduced by as much as 25 per cent. Particle boards do not have the same high strength weight ratio and are...
American Countrycolonial
Using local wood species and unsophisticated construction methods, colonial America's pioneers adapted traditional country designs from England to produce simple, practical furniture known as American Country. Although more sophisticated styles supplanted these designs in prosperous colonial towns, rustic furniture prevailed on the ever-advancing frontier. With its simplicity, durability, and economy, traditional American Country furniture continues to appeal to 20th-century furniture makers,...
Chronology
5500 - 4000 BC Badarian 4000 - 3500 BC Naqada I Amratian 3500 - 3300 BC Naqada II Early Gerzean 3300 - 3200 BC Naqada II Late Gerzean 3200 - 3050 BC Naqada III Late Gerzean 2686 - 2181 BC Dynasties III-VI 2181 - 2040 BC Dynasties VII-XI 1 2040 - 1782 BC Dynasties XI 2 - XII 1782 - 1570 BC Dynasties XIII-XVII 1570 - 1070 BC Dynasties XVIII-XX 1070 - 525 BC Dynasties XXI-XXVI 525 - 332 BC Dynasties XXVII-XXXI Alexander the Great Philip Arrhidaeus Ptolemies Roman Emperors
Axonometric Projection
This is a variation of isometric projection, sometimes known as 'bird's-eye' perspective, as it gives more of a downward view 333 4 . The true plan is first drawn to scale at angles of 45 and 45 or 30 and 60 to the horizontal, and the verticals projected from it. This projection is chiefly used for interiors, and it is interesting to note that the base of the socket housing in the plinth only becomes visible with this method. Distortion is great and obvious. This projection is sometimes...
Making pocket holes
Use a commercial pocket hole cutter like the one shown on page 82 or a shop-built jig like the one shown above to make the pocket holes. This jig consists of two pieces of 3 4-inch plywood joined to form an L-shaped cradle and two support brackets that angle the cradle at 15 from the vertical. Seat the workpiece in the cradle, and align the stock so the clearance hole will exit in the middle of the board edge. Install a Forstner bit and drill a hole just deep enough to recess the screw head...
Mitre Shooting Board
Kffd WW ftftfliniy if id tJif Jrr Dn lt i rllrE ltOM'IJ ftftf 4 lt x V.ef'i cor 3 amp t Hn ixwf II iiondr fur ijjetiiil wnri. PERHAPS the most obvious amongst ih - i k- si muling boa id and us gixc may vary from ' fl. lon up IO m fl. in1 so, it jh n rd partly Lor planing joints in thin wood and partly Lor trimming the ends o Yvood SCjUiu'e, bill is planed over m a very slight angle. otherwise when die plane is LLsitl the cutter i tl remove shavings from ll, Note thai ihr lower corner k planed...
Drilling the mortises
You can cut the mortises in the posts by hand with a chisel and mallet, or use a router fitted with a mortising bit. But considering the depth of the mortises 1 inches a hollow chisel mortiser, like the one shown at right or a drill press with a mortising attachment, will do the job most quickly and accurately. Set up the machine following the manufacturer's directions. For the mortiser shown, install a 3 8-inch bit and place one of the posts on the table, centering a mortise outline under the...
Cutting mortises in the stiles
Use one of the tenons you cut in step 1 as a guide to outlining the mortises on the edges of the stiles. To make the job easier, clamp all the stiles together face to face with their ends aligned. Install a mortising attachment on your drill press and clamp one stile to the fence, centering the mortise outline under the chisel and bit. Make the drilling depth Me inch more than the tenon length make a cut at each end of the mortise before boring out the waste in between left . Repeat the...
Fourpoint platforms
Another development of Pirelli is the resilient rubber diaphragm with triangular steel loops 493 4 engaged in metal bosses screwed to the 494 Detail of chair seat for loose cushion with resilient webbing straps secured by metal fasteners in grooves sawn into rails 494 Detail of chair seat for loose cushion with resilient webbing straps secured by metal fasteners in grooves sawn into rails framework of the chair 493 3 . They are used instead of webbing for loose cushioning, and the four-point...
Gluing And Clamping
The boards have been chosen for grain and color, the edges are cut square, and I'm ready to glue them together. Again . . . patience. I get everything ready, just as if I were going to apply the glue and clamp them up. Then I set the glue aside. But I go ahead and clamp the boards together a dry run to check things out. When clamping. I use pipe clamps bar clamps tend to bend too much . You need enough clamps so they're spaced no more than 6 to 8 apart. Also, they should be alternated, one on...
Q Drawer Assembly 1
9 32 holes, countersunk on bottom 8 x 11 4 F.H. wood screw Attach bottom to back with 6 x 3A F.H. screws. Clamp 77 i6M-long scraps to the legs to make sure the drawer opening will be the correct size. Refer to the drawing above. Position the scraps during dry assembly, and leave in place during glue-up. 3 Dry-assemble the side panels M between the upper side rails C , and the completed side-panel assemblies into the front legs A and back legs B . Be certain that the grooves in the sides of...
Taunton Interactive
Jodie Delohery, Michelle Rutkowski, Robert Steigerwald, Stace Caseria, Christopher Casey, Mark Coleman, Jennifer Wheeler Conlon,Trish Dardine, Ruth Dobsevage, Geoff Krajeski, Howard Runyon. Kevin Hamric, Director John Bacigalupi, Brett DeMello, Allison Hollett, Elizabeth Quintiliano, Rebecca Shafton. Single Copy Sales Mark Stiekman, Valerie Droukas. MJWB ilfcB JXB fknqy tfhtff ftmf P MJWB ilfcB JXB fknqy tfhtff ftmf P featuring the largest selection of woodworking tools and supplies anywhere...
STYLE IN FURNITURE Lfy
much criticism, but he was prepared to defend his proceedings. He wrote Though I am publishing a work of Chinese architecture, let it not be suspected that my intention is to promote a taste so much inferior to the Antique and so very unfit for our climate but a particular so interesting as the architecture of one of the most extraordinary nations in the universe cannot be a matter of indifference to the true lover of the arts . . . Again, he says I cannot conclude without observing that...
Classic American Furniture
TIME-LIFE BOOKS ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA THE ART OF WOODWORKING was produced by ST. REMY PRESS President Chief Executive Officer President Chief Operating Officer Series Editor Series Art Director Senior Editor Editor Art Directors Designers Administrator Production Manager Coordinator System Coordinator Photographer Indexer Kenneth Winchester Fernand Lecoq Pierre L veill Pierre Home-Douglas Francine Lemieux Marc Cassini Andrew Jones Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, Michel Gigu re Time-Life Books is a...
STYLE IN FURNITURE Ifw
events, no Chippendale extravagances there in the way of Pagoda-cum-Rococo. We may, therefore, overlook these occasional divergences from the straight path, seeing that we have such overwhelming evidence of previous good character and we may be permitted even to express surprise that, with a brain so phenomenally active, fertile, and imaginative, such lapses were not far more numerous. Their absence proves conclusively that Sheraton did not regard the designing of household furniture as an art...
Tavern And Stretcher Tables
This class of tables covers a delightful variety of sizes and styles, ranging from the extremely rare and valuable oak tables of the seventeenth century to the smaller and more easily found sorts so much in use throughout the eighteenth century. Tavern tables were turned out in large numbers and were the favorite tables in the kitchens of the old homes, where they suffered much rough treatment. They often come to us minus tops, drawers, and feet. The loss of height, through wear, decay, or the...
Low Tech Moulding
To soften the top edges of the stretcher a bead Is run along its length. This could be done with a router but I prefer, where possible, to go low tech and use a steel slotted woodscrew which has been inserted into a piece of beech. The screw's head then becomes a cutting edge, so has its face sharpened on an oil stone.The width of the bead produced by this tool is governed by how far the screw projects from the piece of wood which acts as the fence, but this isn't infinitely variable as the...
Drsskrs And Sideboards
furnishing. In many cases it is an old bureau which is a family heirloom, but where this is absent the general choice is for a chest of drawers, especially the well-known type where the plinth pulls out with the drawer. Many of these chests have been given in exchange for a good bureau. On Plate XVII there is a design for a cupboard chest which should answer all the purposes of the bureau or shoddy chest of drawers and even surpass them. It could he made in deal or whitcwood and painted, or in...
Order Toll Free 1
The Fine Tool Shops, Inc. Dept. FWB5 20 Backus Ave, PO Box 1262, Danbury CT 06810 Send me_ lt qty. HOLD-IT bookstand s for just 14.95 plus 2.00 shipping and hand l ing total 16.95 . Charge my VISA MasterCard AmEx Account Exp Date All prices post paid. Call for other prices. Techniques 1-6 15 ea. list 17 . All 6 B6.00 NEW Bub Carve Wood list 14 12.50 NEW Dunbar Windsor Chair list 14 12.50 Tage Frld Joinery or Shaping list 18 16.00 Both Odale Japanese Tools list 23 20.00 Watts Houseful of...
Making the Drawers
There are six drawers that fit into the drawer housing. Although the dimensions of the two bottom drawers differ from those of the four top drawers, each drawer is constructed identically. An assembly diagram is shown in Figure 13. 1. Rip 20 linear feet of 1 x 8 pine to 6-1 2 inches in width. 2. Cut the following pieces from the ripped pine to construct one of the four upper drawers two drawer front back pieces V , each 11-3 4 inches long, and two drawer sides W , each 16 inches long. 3. Cut a...
xivLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
116. Block-Front Chest on Chest, 175075 . 118 17. Block-Front Chest on Chest, 1750 75 119 118. Block-Front Chest on Chest, 1750 75 120 119. Block-Front Chest on Chest, 1750 75 . 121 120. Block-Front Chest on Chest, 1750 75 . . 122 121 Knee-Hole Block-Front Dressing-Table, 1750-75 . . 123 122. Knee-Hole Block-Front Dressing-Table, 1750-75 124 123. Knee-Hole Dressing-Table, 1750 75 125 124. Chest on Chest, 1750 75 126 125. Chest on Chest, 1760-75 . . . . . . 127 126. Chest of Drawers and...
dated theff J
J.E.S. and the date 1574 being carved on the cresting rail of the back, an honour shared only with the chest and the standing cupboard. The skirting to the base is a later addition. 1 ft. 10 ins. long by i ft. 10 ins. high by i ft. i in. deep. Early sixteenth centurj'. Late sixteenth century. Lord Amherst. Late sixteenth century. Lord Amherst. See next page for sizes. Barking Church, Suffolk. ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CHAIR, FIG. 219. ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CHAIR, FIG. 219. Floor to top of straight...
It jLHwardattheirfeetadis
in the short length Fig. 78. of the timber between hitcham, roof of nave. the collar-beam and True double hammer-beam type. Late iGth century. Length 48 ft. Span 24 ft. 6 ins. the wall-head. Throughout the whole roof . . . the dropping of the hammer-beams, the distortion of the hammer-posts, and the springing of the principal rafters, are considerable. Sir Frank Baines has kindly furnished two photographs of the Eltham Palace, roof, taken while the work of restoration was in progress. In the...
WALNUT ARMCHAIRS Lcp
Victoria and Albert Museum. Date about 1O70-S0. Bond's Hospital, Coventry. and enriched to accord with them. These two chairs from Belton, especially Fig. 302, show this ornate character in unmistakable fashion. Here we have the amorini not only in the back cresting and front stretcher, but also as terminals to the balusters of the back and as ornamental details on the front legs. Of these elaborate chairs, examples exist in many noted houses, as at Glemham Hall, for example, which show7 that...
Merle Adjustable Corner Clamp
Adjustable, uniform clamping pressure on all corners. Forces a frame into perfect square. Almost no capacity limitation. Ships with 23 foot reel of steel banding. Aluminum and steel construction. MLCS LTD. Circle No. 817. DOWELMAX JOINT-MAKING SYSTEM Dowelmax creates professionally made joints which are quick, easy, accurate, and strong. Dowelmax is versatile and adjustable to accommodate virtually any joint configuration. O.M.S. TOOL CO., LTD. Circle No. B25. JAPAN WOODWORKER CATALOG...
Gesso grounds
Gesso consists of an adhesive with an inert filler. Traditionally, animal glue is used as the adhesive but gesso can be based on casein, acrylic or other materials. The term gesso originally referred to a gypsum- calcium sulphate based gilding ground such as those commonly used in southern Europe. In the general context of painted, japanned or gilded furniture, the term is extended to include grounds based on calcium carbonate. This may not be the case in other conservation disciplines, where...
Glue injector
Another type of glue gun is the glue injector, similar to a medical hypodermic syringe but made of plastic. The injector enables you to injcct glue deep into a loose joint in order to fix the joint without taking the furniture apart. In some cases, you can insert the long, thin tube of the injector directly into the loose joint. In others, you must drill a ' 6-inch hole near the joint to gain access. The glue injector does a good job on temporary repairs, but once furniture joints have started...
Grain direction
Carcasses built up of solid wood boards must have the grain directions continuous, with the side grains vertical and the top and bottom grains parallel to the leading edges, so that all the shrinkage across the width of the boards is from back to front, as indicated by the arrows 186 1 . If the grain of the sides were horizontal, and the top and bottom from front to back as in 186 2, then a moment's reflection would show that any pronounced shrinkage across the width of the boards would lower...
Drawer rails runners kickers and guides
A typical carcass framing for a chest is shown in 243 1, with A the top bearer rails dovetailed into the sides, B the lower drawer rail twin stub tenoned in, C the central division, D drawer runners, and E kickers, whose function it is to prevent the drawer sides kicking up as the drawer is withdrawn. In solid work the drawer runners 3D are stub tenoned and glued into grooves in the front rail and housed to the sides, but the housing dadoes must not be glued, and the runners are secured by open...
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM ROBERTS Xsm
to go with his musician's fjl chair LEFT A musical table to compliment a musical chair different pieces can co-exist well enough together, but to produce two pieces that visually belong to each other is a challenge - and very rewarding when they are successful. The client who commissioned my Musician's Chair, see previous article, asked me if I could design and make her a small desk to go with it, and I readily agreed. As with the chair, design sketches and scale models soon started to...
E Routing Detail
3 Glue and clamp the clock assembly A, B , checking for square. Remove excess glue with a damp cloth. 4 Cut the exterior top and bottom pieces C to size. Fit your table-mounted router with an edge-rounding bit we used a Craftsman 26337 and fence. Position the fence and bit, where shown on Drawing 1a. Using the same detail for reference, position the fence and bit, Va x 10 16x 1011 16 glass Magnetic catch screw requires a W hole 1 4 deep Magnetic catch screw requires a W hole 1 4 deep e rabbet 1...