Contents
97 Assembling the safe 104 Shelving 106 Tin-panel doors
Gluing down the cockbeading
Cut the cockbeading to fit inside the front frame, miter-ing the ends. Cut and fit one piece at a time, aligning the mitered ends with the corners of the rabbets. Spread a little glue on the contacting surfaces. Use any suitable clamp to secure the cockbeading along the top and bottom of the opening, protecting the stock with wood pads for the sides, wedge thin wood strips slightly longer than the gap between the cockbeading above .
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...
Installing the corner strips and shelf supports
Spread some glue on the contacting surfaces between the corner strips and the stiles of the pie safe, and position each strip, making sure that the dadoes face the interior of the cabinet. To clamp the strips in place, use thin wood scraps slightly longer than the gap between the strips above . For the shelf supports represented by dotted lines in the illustration , measure the distance between the front and back stiles of the safe and cut the pieces to fit. Ensure that the supports are wide...
Routing the slat mortises in the rear legs
Outline the slat mortises on your rear leg blanks using the story pole shown above, centering the outlines on the inside face of each blank. Then secure one of the blanks between bench dogs. Install a -inch mortising bit in a router equipped with an edge guide. Center the bit over the mortise outline and adjust the edge guide to butt against the stock use the second leg blank to support the router. Make several passes, increasing the cutting depth with each pass until the mortise is completed...
Shaker Design
The Shakers are recognized today as one of America's most interesting communal religious societies. Thanks to the vigorous crop of books, articles, and exhibitions that have sprouted up since the Shakers' bicentennial celebration in 1974, most people think of them first and foremost as producers of simple and well-made furniture. But in their heyday from 1825 to 1845, they were better known for their original blend of celibacy and communalism, a deep commitment to Christian principles as...
Preparing the legs for the side rails and stretchers
The mortises in the legs for the side rails and stretchers must be drilled at compound angles they are angled in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Start by securing one of the rear legs in a handscrew and clamping the assembly upright to a work surface. Then use the chair seat and side views on page 27, a protractor, and a sliding bevel to determine the drilling angle as you did in step 2. But instead of taping two sliding bevels to the stock, cut two square pieces of plywood, clamping...
Preparing the door frames for the false mullion
To enable the pie safe doors to close properly, cut a rabbet along the inside face of both doors at their contacting edges a wood strip, known as a false mullion, will be glued into the rabbet of the left-hand door so the doors will rest flush when closed page 115 . The Vs-inch gap between the right-hand door and the edge of the mullion will prevent the doors from binding when they are closed, as shown in the end-on view in the inset. For the rab bets, install a dado head on your table saw and...
Tables
With help from a shop-built jig that rests on the bed of a lathe, a router fitted with a dovetail bit plows sockets in the column of a candle stand. The sockets will mate with sliding dovetails at the top ends of the legs. For instructions on making this jig, refer to page 81. The early years of Shaker communities were far from bountiful. As one resident of the Hancock village said in 1791, Our food was very scanty. But what we had, we ate with thankful hearts. For breakfast and supper, we...
Preparing the crest rail for the spindles
Cut the crest rail to size, then mark the spindle holes on its bottom edge, using the holes you drilled in the seat as a guide. Clamp a piece of plywood as an auxiliary table to your drill press, install a brad-point bit, and adjust the drilling depth to about 1 inch. Align the first hole mark under the bit and clamp a board to the auxiliary table flush against the face of the rail. This will serve as a fence to position the rail. Butting the rail against the fence, drill the holes right .
Shaker Rocking Chair
The Shaker rocker shown below shares many features and building techniques with the Enfield side chair. For example, the crest rail mortises in the rear legs are routed page 28 before the legs are turned and bent. In this chair, the rear legs are bent from the arms to the top, instead of being canted back, as on the Enfield. The mortises for the back stretchers, rail, and slats are then bored with an electric drill page 32 the mortises must be angled 2 to compensate for the outward splay of the...
Household Articles
Used in textile making, this device featured a column and leg design borrowed from the can die stand . Assembled with sturdy through dovetails, these mini-stepiadders enabled Shakers to reach the top shelves and doors of floor-to-ceiling casework three-and four-step versions were also common With their swallowtail joinery and copper tacks, these containers were sold in the thousands to the outside world assembled much like Shaker boxes page 133 Usually made from pine, racks were used to dry tow...
Weaving A Tape Seat
Shaker tape, called listing by the Shakers, began to supplant other types of woven seat materials after 1830. Its range of colors, neat appearance, durability, and ease of installation made it ideal for furniture builders bent on producing quality goods as efficiently as possible. And unlike cane or other naturally occurring materials, tape does not dry out or split nor does it pinch or snag clothing. Shown below and on the following pages, weaving is fairly simple. One length of tape, called...
Making the glassstop molding
Cut the molding that will secure the glass in the doors from a single -inch-thick board. Start by rounding over both edges of the piece as you did for the divider page 120 , then rip the molding from the board on your table saw, feeding the stock with a push stick above . Saw the molding to fit into the rabbets in the doors, making 45 miter cuts at the ends of each piece. Cut and fit one piece at a time, making sure to align the miter cuts with the corners of the rabbets. a ' le-inch gap around...
Using a story pole
To help you size and prepare the chair legs, mark key dimensions and the location of mortises on a shop-made story pole. Made from a strip of plywood, the story pole shown above includes the length of the front and rear legs, and the placement of the stretcher, rail, and slat mortises. Refer to the side view illustration of the Enfield chair on page 27 for the height of each element. The marks on the jig can then be used to cut the leg blanks to length and outline the mortises on the blanks....
Pegging the mortiseandtenons
Mark peg holes at all four corners of each door frame, centering them on the front face of the rails IV2 inches from the side edge of the door. Install a 5 ie-inch brad-point bit in your drill press, place a backup panel on the machine table to minimize tearout, and set one of the door frames on top, centering a drilling mark under the bit. Adjust the drilling depth to about two-thirds the thickness of the frame. Butt a board against the frame and clamp it in place as an edge guide. Then,...
Making and installing the breadboard ends
Plane the breadboard ends to the same thickness as the top, then saw them as long as the top's width. Cut the grooves along the inside edges of the breadboard ends on your table saw page 62 . The grooves should be as wide as the tongues you routed in step 3 and slightly deeper than their length. Fit the ends in position and counterbore three holes through each one and into the top, locating one hole at the middle and another a few inches from each end. Use a file to elongate the holes in the...
Chairs
Anticipating modern-day advertisers by more than 100 years, the Shakers proudly promoted their wares to a marketplace of non-believers who were nevertheless poised to purchase quality furniture. As one of their early catalogs proclaimed, Shaker chairs offered durability, simplicity, and lightness. The level of craftsmanship that they attained enabled them to back up their claims. Shaker-made chairs sold well, proving that their business acumen was as well developed as their piety. The Shakers...
Pegboard
A place for everything and everything in its place were words the Shakers lived by, and many household items in Shaker homes hung from assigned pegs. A place for everything and everything in its place were words the Shakers lived by, and many household items in Shaker homes hung from assigned pegs. The pegboard is a fitting symbol of the Shaker's approach to both daily life and craftsmanship. As with other Shaker-made items, the clean, unadorned lines of the pegboard reflected its humble...
Pie Safe
Pie safes were once common in American kitchens. The one shown at left reflects the Shaker devotion to utility. The cabinets were essentially large bread boxes, designed to store baked goods made and consumed by Shaker families. That the cabinets are elegant and attractive is, in a sense, coincidental, for it is a reflection of the Shakers' spare and utilitarian ethic rather than an expression of esthetics. All property and goods in Shaker communities were owned collectively, to be used as...
Dropleaf Table
The Shakers appreciated the versatility of drop-leaf tables. The leaves could be raised when a wider top was needed, and folded down afterward so the table would occupy less space. Shaker drop-leaf tables ranged from 10-foot-long dining tables, sometimes referred to as harvest tables, to small work tables just 2 feet long. At 41 inches long, the table shown in the illustration below is a comfortable compromise. The top can expand to a width of more than 3 feet, seating four people comfortably....
Enfield Side Chair
The most striking feature of the Enfield side chair is its backward slant of 98 , as shown in the side view on page 27. The design allows the chair to conform to the anatomy of the typical user and provide comfortable seating without needing steam-bent back posts. The slant, however, does present a challenge in executing the joinery. Few of the joints in this chair are cut square most are assembled at compound angles. It is a good idea to refer back to the side and top views as you build the...
Trestle Table
Despite their large size, trestle tables are easy to move. This is because the joints connecting the feet to the legs, the legs to the rails, and the rails to the top are fixed not by glue, but by screws and bolts. The table shown below relies heavily on knockdown hardware, a modern version of the Shaker practice of assembling tables with bolts that drew against a trapped nut, allowing easy disassembly. Shakers frequently used cherry for their tables this remains a good choice today. To prevent...
Rush Seat
Early Shaker chairs, like the Enfield chair featured on the preceding pages, were finished with rush seats. Traditionally, the rush was natural, consisting of marsh grass twisted into a cord which was woven in a center diamond pattern over the frame. Rush seats are both comfortable and durable, and can be done in an hour and a half or so once you get the knack. This section shows how to rush a chair seat with a more contemporary material tough-grade, fiber paper twisted into long strands, known...
Preparing the back board for the pegs
Starting near one edge of the back board, mark the peg holes along the middle of the stock. The pegs on the board shown at left will be spaced 5 inches apart. Install a 2-inch brad-point bit in your drill press and attach a backup panel to the machine table to minimize tearout. Set the back board on the panel so the first mark is directly under the bit and clamp a board as a guide fence to the table flush against the workpiece. Then, butting the back board against the fence, drill the holes...
Shaker Furniture
TIME-LIFE BOOKS ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA THE ART OF WOODWORKING was produced by ST. REMY PRESS Series Editor Series Art Director Senior Editor Editor Art Directors Picture Editor Writers Contributing Writer Contributing Illustrators Administrator Production Manager Coordinator System Coordinator Photographer Indexer Kenneth Winchester Pierre L veill Pierre Home-Douglas Francine Lemieux Marc Cassini Andrew Jones Normand Boudreault, Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, Michel Gigu re H l ne Dion, Jean-Guy Doiron,...
Rs
Raised panels, 94-95, 96 Revolving chairs, 19 Rocking chairs, 19, 24, 25, 38-39 Arms, 41, 42-43 Assembly, 42 Backs listing, 24 Cutting list, 39 Legs, 40, 43 Rockers, 41, 43 Tape seats, 44-47 Routers, 94 Jigs dovetail jigs, 132 sliding dovetails, 57, 81 Raising panels, 94 Rush seats, 34-37 Sewing desks, 20 Shaker boxes. See Boxes Shaker culture, 10,73-17 Shaker style, 6,16-J 7 See also Architecture Shop Tips, 55, 113 Sill cupboards, 21 Sliding dovetail joints, 57 Candle stands, 57, 78, 81-83...
Meetinghouse Bench
The meetinghouse bench served as a pew for the Shakers. During services, the faithful would sit and listen to a sermon delivered by an elder. At the close of the meeting, the benches would be moved out of the way and hung from a pegboard page 138 . With the floor cleared, the Shakers' ritual dancing Made of cherry with a pine seat, the meetinghouse bench shown at left is modeled after those used by Shaker worshippers. Because people are larger than they were in the Shakers' time, the seat is...