Lost Art Press

On My Own Campaign

Posted on by Lost Art Press

With the Roubo workbench class and Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool event behind me, I have returned to the solitude of my own shop and laptop so I can get some Lost Art Press work done. At the top of the agenda: finishing the design of Matt Bickford’s “Mouldings in Practice” and building a portable Campaign-style bookcase.

“Mouldings in Practice” is coming along. The first two-thirds of it are designed and being copy-edited. Unless things go off the rails, the book should be on the street in June. No word yet on pricing.


The Campaign bookcase is a folding oak cabinet that is based on an 1845 example that was owned by the Rev. George Goring Cuthbert of Ireland, who lived in India until 1861. Cuthbert’s was made from teak; mine is made from quartered oak, another common wood for Campaign furniture.

I made some small alterations to the dimensions and shelf spacing so it will hold the maximum number of 6” x 9” Lost Art Press books possible when I travel to woodworking schools and shows. I might also add some extra brass brackets to the bookcase – I have quite a box of them now.

And while I’m pleased with my progress on the bookcase, I’m mostly thrilled to be working without the roar of machines or trying to talk to people while I’m sawing, planing or rasping. This morning I cut all the stopped dados for the bookcase. That meant using a sash saw to slice the walls of the dados, a chisel to remove the bulk of the waste and a router plane to flatten the bottom of the dado. The eight dados took about an hour, including the time it took to take photographs for my forthcoming book on Campaign furniture.

As I was working, however, I had a bad thought. Though the bookcase will carry a bunch of 6” x 9” books, it won’t hold all that many copies of “Mouldings in Practice,” which will be 7” x 10.”

— Christopher Schwarz

42 thoughts on “On My Own Campaign”

  1. Sir;
    Not to second guess an expert, but wouldnt it have easier to use the Stanley #71 or equivlant to route the dados instead of using it just for the clean up. Just trying to understand your thinking.
    larry

    1. Hey Larry,

      I’ve not found a router plane that can take as big a bite as a chisel. You have to chop up the waste with a chisel to get it out of there with a router plane. And with a sharp chisel, you can get about 95 percent of it out of there anyway.

      Perhaps others can us how to remove 1/4″ of oak with one swack with a router plane.

      Chris

  2. Sawing down the sides and zipping out most of the waste with a chisel is FAST. Then sweep through with the router plane to tidy things up and make the depths consistent.

    1. Hey Jessamyn,

      It sure does. I’ve only seen a couple extant examples (including the one you posted) of these traveling libraries. Same principle.

  4. As I look at it, that design with small wheels on the bottom and a handle on top would make an EXCELLENT small handtool till. For example, if a fellow was traveling to a handtool class or demonstration, it would work very well to store & bring the necessary chisels, rasps, screwdrivers, block & router planes, sash and dovetail saws, small sharpening kit, etc.

  8. Lucky that the stopped dados end up in the groove. I have a large hooked tooth filed in the end of a carcase saw for when the dado stops in the middle of a board. It’s great for going straight down to start the cut.

    I had never really used a router plane before last summer up in Maine. It was a real revelation.

    1. It wasn’t luck….

      When I need to cut stopped dadoes I usually bore a hole at the terminus and chisel out a pocket where the saw and dado should stop.

      All in all, it’s not a big deal. Though I would always rather cut through-dadoes.

  9. Campaign furniture. Huh. This may be kind of dumb, but somehow the fact that there’d be a class of really interesting furniture devoted to going on campaign/safari never occurred to me, which is too bad because there’s some pretty neat stuff out there. I hope you’ll post a picture of the finished bookcase; I’m intrigued. Also glad I’m not a 19th century porter.

        1. Rob,

          I’ve addressed this point before, but I’m happy to do it again.

          We now call it “campaign furniture” or “military furniture,” though at the time (1790 to 1920), it was known as “patent furniture” or “traveling furniture.” If you follow the manufacturing advertisements of the time, you’ll find that it was extremely popular furniture at home and abroad. These bookcases were used by students going to college. Entire suites of this furniture were used by families who were immigrating (staterooms were empty). Plus there was a great need for compact furniture in England as its population boomed and there was not enough room in the cities for everyone.

          Yes, it was used by officers in the British army and navy. But building it doesn’t promote war any more than building Shaker furniture promotes strict abstinence.

          And finally, many articles of war have become symbols of peacetime. Think: The VW Beetle (Hitler’s project) or the Wyllys Jeep.

          Chris

      2. Rob – not much war, actually. Mostly civil administration in outlying districts. You don’t carry big lumps of furniture around if you might have to pack up and move in a hurry.

      4. Chris,
        I never stated building this style of furniture was a support of war. As you pointed out that is absurd. If I implied that I am sorry. My intention was just to bluntly point out that this style of furniture originated (perhaps I should have used that word before) from traveling militaries. And perhaps further back than the English (Romans maybe)?

        David,
        While perhaps not always warring; civil administration, colonization, occupation or exploration to do not do justice to the fact that people died eveywhere the English went (actually eveywhere any colonizing nation went).
        And yes they did take furniture to war. Prior to the 20th century wars were slow and the militaries expected to be there for sometime. Officers took furniture. Motorized transport changed the nature and speed to war, and probably helped with decline of use of this style of furniture by militaries. But I digress.

  12. Good stuff, Chris! Are all the shelves fixed? Seems like they would need to be for such a bookcase. Could there be a workable way of creating adjustable shelves to finagle you odd sized books?

    1. The original had one adjustable shelf in the middle of each shell. However, the amount of adjustment would not help me. So I’m fixing that shelf.

      Good thought, however.

  13. Are there going to be wheels or set off studs (I’m sure they have a ‘real’ name) on your bookcase to support the weight while opening and closing?

    I’ve used both clam shell cupboard styles in the Marine Corps; the cupboard style is more durable in my experience. Although, none of the stuff we used was made of wood.

  14. Are you making a replica of a piece you own (via Christopher Clarke Antiques), or is there another lucky owner out there? Actually, there may be some serious reproduction going on when you publish your book!

  15. I’m not trying to be critical, but when that (rather attractive) case has a reasonable stock of books in it, you may need some willing assistance to move it.

    Out of interest, do any of the originals that you know of have a panel, perhaps removable, between the two halves to keep the books (or whatever else might be stored in it) on their shelves and not shifting from one half to the other during transport, or falling out when the case is opened after arrival?

    1. David,

      Many of these bookcases had hinged center panels just as you described. The next one I’m building will have a center panel that looks like a Gothic arch.

  16. If you are gonna build another one anyway, just set up the shelf arrangment for the larger size books….. This way you can balance out your set up at ahows, and I wanna say you mentioned purchasing roughly 2,500 board feet of wood for this exploration…… gotta use up that wood somehow… and I have found that two book cases are better than one !

  17. I like this little case. I may have to adjust my longstanding shop policy of “not making book shelves”. Hmmmmm… 12 of these, up scaled a bit and stacked with interlocking hardware would form a wall of shelves that could make the arduous task of moving the library a lot easier.

  18. Chris are you planning to use Double Lap dovtails to joine the case with miters on the edges? Its hard to see what was on the original form the photo did it have secret mitre dovetails?

  19. I think mine would use sliding dovetails (or maybe wedged through tenons) here. Then the shelves would add significant strength to this traveling box. I’ve never liked dados much for shelves or panels in cases; there is no “joinery” there – just end grain – long grain mismatches.

  20. Chris – What do you think the purpose of the shallow small top shelf was on the original?
    Drawing or map storage maybe???????

      1. Pocket books? 🙂 Seriously, that’s an excellent question… nothing would stay put on those shelves when the case is closed unless there was something else designed to fit in that space? Possibly a secretary of some sort? A storage box? That’s the sort of question that just bugs the heck out of you-know-who!

    2. Well, there would have been drawers in the bottom-most compartments. As for the top, there was something there – but surely the clergy wouldn’t have anything to hide!!!

      1. I don’t think there’s a hidden compartment there, but as for clergy not having anything to hide you might want to study up on the history of Catholicism in England. From what I understand, The 12 Days of Christmas is a catechism song… each gift represented a spiritual principle. At one time it was worth your life to be Catholic in England. Check the definition of ‘priest’s hole’.

  21. Chris – Quick observation on this fine piece of work, what keeps the books on their designated shelf/spot? Is there a center board that get’s inserted before it’s closed, or a strap for each shelf? I would think the only remedy would be a full bookshelf so nothing slides around or to the other side when closed. …OR maybe altering the shelf’s height from one side to the other (so the shelf actually pins the apposing book in place by its spine)? What am I missing?

    Brian
    -Seattle, WA

  22. Hey Rascal,
    That’s the problem with hidden compartments. Although I’m sure that the Vicar of Bray could find one! Maybe our Rev. Cuthbert had fitted hassocks made for the top shelf.
    Regarding priest holes, they were a constant ‘can you find the’ on our enforced history lessons during school excursions (in England). I’ve climbed into at least two, and they both would have made me convert if I was of a religious bent!
    cheers,
    Burbidge

    1. Hey Burbridge!
      Thanks for the comment! I had to look up Vicar of Bray and I’m sure I missed all the context, not being British, but it was pretty interesting. Priest holes never sounded like a good place and you’ve confirmed that! I never could understand what all the fuss was about, but then it never was about religion, it was always about temporal power.

      I’m not sure I have an application for these bookshelves, but I sure would like to build one!
      Cheers!
      Rascal

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