In this post I want to focus on one piece in particular. Pictured first is a description of a highboy built by the Dominy shop between 1791 and 1806. Note that this particular piece was one of the most expensive pieces produced by the shop. Based on that fact, I think it is safe to assume that this piece was considered a first class piece at the time.

Today, a new reproduction of a piece like this from a custom cabinetmaker would probably cost you about $7,000. However, as we look at the piece, it becomes very obvious that what was acceptable and expected in a piece of furniture in 1790 may not quite be what our standards are in the present day.

I found it interesting first that a piece with such early features was built so late in the period. The piece is unmistakably Queen Anne Baroque in style, yet most tastes during this part of the period, which was after the revolution, were for furniture in more of what we would today consider the Chippendale or Federal styles. This piece, being very symmetrical and devoid of any excess ornamentation, clearly doesn't fit the Chippendale ideals and certainly is not suggestive of the Roccoco in any way. But it is still a beautiful piece, and in my opinion, it's restraint from being overly ornate is its strong point. For what it's worth, this happens to be my favorite style of early American furniture.
 

Looking a bit closer, we can begin to see some of the construction methods used by the original builder and mentally disassemble the piece. Pegs in the leg block to hold the tenon into it's mortise suggest that clamps weren't likely needed, at least not for assembly of the cases. This is a very different way of thinking than we are accustomed to today. However, looking over the piece, it becomes clear that the maker probably didn't use clamps for any part of the assembly. The joinery used made clamping unnecessary.

I find these two pictures particularly interesting. Note the sliding dovetail used to fix the drawer blade to the case. This is the same drawer blade, just opposite sides of the front of the case. Note how the dovetail on the left has a single angled cheek while the dovetail on the right has two angled cheeks as we would expect. What happend to that left dovetail? Would you have done the same or would you have made a new drawer blade so both dovetails matched? This drawer blade was not unique to this piece. None of the blades had matching dovetails. In my eyes, this is glaring evidence that the masters who made these pieces were much less concerned with perfect joinery than we are today. Go back and look at the picture of the entire piece again. Do you seen the different dovetails now that I have pointed them out? Did you notice them the first time you looked at the piece?

This is another picture that I think is thought provoking. First, note the nails holding the knee block to the leg. This was common practice with cabriole legs. However, also note the fix that was made to the bottom of the side panel. Is this an original repair done by a cabinetmaker who accidentally made a bad cut or a restorer not very good at their job? Also notice the back of the leg block. It's full rough width if you can't tell. The rear of the leg blocks of the back legs weren't cut flush to the case but left straight. Would you have done something like this (I certainly wouldn't).

I always find looking at these old pieces to be very thought provoking. How would the original maker have done this or that? Why did they do this or why didn't they do that? If there was money on the line and I needed to meet a delivery date, would I have done anything differently?

It's interesting to me to try to put myself in their shoes for a short while and try to understand what circumstances made them make the decisions they did. But even more gratifying to me is seeing the work and reassuring myself that my dovetails don't have to be perfect and my surfaces don't have to be 100% tearout free. After all, dovetails are just a way to hold two boards together. There are much more important features that make a piece a masterpiece.

Oh, and in case the furniture isn't real interesting to you, here's a gratuitous tool picture.

Thanks again to Duane for donating the #4 for the upcoming podcast on tuning and using hand planes. Just thought I'd do a quick post of the square and marking gauge I made for Duane as a thank you gift for his donation. I decided on a matching two tone theme utilizing walnut and maple for the tools. The square also has red oak pegs.

Thanks again Duane! Your tools are on the way.

I can see benefits of presenting the videos both ways. When embeded into the blog, the blog text that is posted and the comments on the podcast are all in the same place. However, with the podcast on its own page, it is easier to go back to previous episodes since the episode list is right there on the right of the video window. Of course you could always use the little icons at the bottom of the video window to view previous episodes as well when they are embeded into the blog post, this just isn't as obvious as having an episode list right there.

So please let me know what you the viewers think by leaving a comment. How do you prefer to see future podcasts presented?

Any other feedback is always welcome as well. Just leave a comment.

As always, thanks for your continued support!

Shannon Rogers' recent blog post about the George Walker seminar from WIA reminded me that I've been meaning to post this blog for a few weeks now. I recently purchased and viewed George's new DVD "Unlocking the Secrets of Traditional Design". After watching the DVD, all I can say is "Yes, finally!" For anyone who designs their own pieces, or wants to step outside of the world of preprinted plans and start designing their own pieces, this DVD is an invaluable tool. It's clear, concise and most of all, simple to understand.

While all of the information presented in the video was not new to me, there was enough in it to make me start rethinking about a design I have in the works. Let's start at the beginning with a brief overview. George starts us out by looking at a magnificent 18th century New England church entryway and the architecture surrounding the door. To the uninitiated, it seems off topic. What does this door have to do with designing furniture? However, George continues on to break down this piece of architecture into simple elements and then explains how traditional furniture designs were based on architecture, and it all begins to come together.

From there, George takes us back to his shop, and begins to talk about how furniture is composed of simple geometric shapes. He demonstrates how even the most complex pieces of antique furniture can be broken down into simple shapes with simple ratios. Most gratifying of all, he does this with a simple pair of dividers and a straight edge. There's no measuring, no dial calipers, no calculators and no complicated formulas. It's traditional design in its simplest and most basic form.

The way in which George demonstrates the different design principles is exactly how I would image it would likely have been done in an 18th century shop. Having rulers that could only measure down to 1/8" to 1/16" or so, and probably not extremely accurately at that, it would make sense that our woodworking forefathers would not have relied on measurements. They simply would have been much too inaccurate. However, as George so skillfully demonstrates in this DVD, with a simple pair of dividers, one can be extremely precise.

George uses a handful of basic ratios in the video, such as 1:2, 2:3, etc. He also touches on some of the ratios used in the classical column orders of architecture and describes how these ratios migh be used to proportion different parts of a piece of furniture. George uses the proportions of the Doric order in his examples, but it is very obvious from his overview of a couple of the other orders how using a different order might change the feel of a piece to make it feel lighter or stronger. While not an all inclusive delve into the orders, it is enough of an intro to make one want to pull out Chippendale's Director and start studying.

One of the things that George does not touch on in his video is the use of the oft debated Golden Ratio. There have been a lot of articles written about the Golden Ratio's use in furniture design and for a log time, many furniture builders, myself included, embraced the idea and ran with it. However, after using the ratio in previous designs, I'm not so convinced that it was a common practice to use it historically, and I think this is why George doesn't mention it in his video.

The fact is, the Golden Ratio isn't something that is simple to proportion when building furniture with a simple pair of dividers. It's simple to do on paper with dividers alone, but the actual implementation of it on a board isn't so simple without making templates because the Golden Ratio isn't based on whole number proportions. However, the simple ratios and column order proportions that George demonstrates in his DVD are easy to use on paper and in practice on a board.

The final thing George does is enlightening, especially to those thinking that his methods would only apply to traditional period furniture. To show that this isn't so, George designs a chest of drawers, in real time. On the left side, he designs the piece in a period style while on the right side, he uses the same proportioning tools to design a contemporary piece. The result proves that timeless design is timeless.

In summary, in answer to the question of whether I would recommend this DVD, I respond a resounding "YES!" While all of the information may not be new to you, there is plenty of information to make you think, presented in a way that a beginner with no design experience can still grasp. It's definately a DVD for all skill levels. Even if you have no intention of designing your own furniture from the ground up, the video will still give you valuable tools and techniques that you can use in your shop. The demonstration of the usefulness of a simple pair of dividers is worth the price of admission in itself.