Lost Art Press

Author: meghanlostartpress

Downloading from Conscious Mind

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1This is an excerpt from “The Intelligent Hand” by David Binnington Savage. 

Then the stress starts building. This is important. You are a professional; you need to be able to do this creative stuff on a wet Wednesday when the muse is fast asleep in her pretty little bed. The stress is part of turning up the heat to make you work better. We need a little stress now and again. I have given a delivery date to the client. I have told them I will be with them with drawings that do not yet exist. Next week! I must deliver, or I lose all chance of getting the work. I plan for three days of studio work – no phone, no interruptions and no other jobs in that time frame.

My goal, by the end of day one, is to have one set of presentation drawings done and ready to go. That morning, before tea time, is downloading time. I go through a routine – an important routine. (This is mine; you choose your own.) It sets the tone, and it gets my head ready for this special work.

I sharpen five pencils – not six or four, but five nice cedar pencils. I turn off the phone, I make a cup of coffee, I unplug all the digital things that Ping. I put on a playlist of creative music, stuff with no language that I can understand. Opera is good; I don’t speak Italian. A nice cup of coffee, the dog sitting quietly under the desk and I am ready to roll. All this is “Othering” – doing anything other than sitting down to do the damn drawing. But it’s very valuable, as it signals to a part of the head that Special Creative Work is coming, and there is a guy back there – I call him George – who needs waking up. Get Ready to Rock n’ Roll, George!

So, you sit and doodle (well, that term is rather pejorative; this is a kind of drawing that allows the mind to run free). It’s drawing without too much direction. Watch carefully what comes off the end of the pencil. Do not be critical; note it and move on. This is fluid thinking time. Artist Paul Klee famously called it “taking a line for a walk.”

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When I do this, I tend to use a book with a very fine 5mm grid on the page. I get these from a supermarket that imports them from France, where they are used in French schools. The grid helps me to quickly draw in proportion by counting off the squares. It also helps me keep verticals vertical and horizontals …well, you get it. Sometimes, I use a technical .05mm pen instead of a pencil. Pens are great, as they make you draw very deliberately. I almost never use an eraser at this stage.

Writer and comedian John Cleese, when talking about creativity, described how he wrote the scripts for “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” He was surprised he always had more ideas than his fellow writers, but he found he dug deeper past the first idea.

“I would ideally go into a room with no distractions, that is most important, and sit with a pad and paper. Forty minutes would be a good span. The problem, in my case the requirement for next week’s script, would be there. It would sit alongside me, not confronting me, but be there with me in the room.”

The first ideas that pop out of the pencil are the ones from the front of the head. They are the conscious images, the ideas that you have had before and are reheating for this solution. This is old stuff – and it may be fine. Your client likes you for what you have already done, so a version of that may suit the job in hand. Keep drawing, though – you might get past the obvious first idea to another then another. This is good. Remember, this is non-critical and non-celebratory drawing; just dump the stuff on the damn page. Draw fast and free. Fill a page with quick scribbly images, download and move on.

After about a half-hour I start to find myself repeating things. This is when it’s good to go back, review, find the best sketch and take a break. There is no point going on, breaking yourself over this problem. Note when you are done and stop. This kind of work – this downloading – is exhausting, even to the young and strong.

— Meghan B.

Should Drawers Project, or Should They be Recessed Slightly?

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FIG. 1. DRAWER WITH PROJECTING MOULD The reference letters in the various sketches are as follows: DF, drawer front; K, kicker; B, bearer; P, dustboard; T. B., top bearer; R, runner; C, cocked bead; V, veneer.


This is an excerpt from “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Volume II” published by Lost Art Press

One of the perplexing questions which the cabinet maker appears to have never settled definitely is: should drawer fronts stand out slightly in front of the carcase and the bearers, or should they stand back with a slight break? Here are a few notes which may assist readers in deciding the question.

At Fig. 1 the drawer projects beyond the bearers and at the same time forms a rebate or lap around the drawer proper which is more or less dustproof. In cheap work the projecting front is applied, in which case the drawer is through dovetailed at each corner and, when completed and run into position, the 3/8 in. or 1/2 in. front piece is applied and glued in position. If shrinkage occurs in the drawer boxing, the applied piece hides the joint owing to its overlap.

There is, however, likely to be one defect when the drawer is open. Owing to atmospheric changes, and the continual opening and shutting, the polished front edges of the bearers are apt to become marked by the overlapping portion of the drawer front (see arrow).

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FIG. 2. DRAWER RECESSED. The reference letters in the various sketches are as follows: DF, drawer front; K, kicker; B, bearer; P, dustboard; T. B., top bearer; R, runner; C, cocked bead; V, veneer.

At Fig. 2 the drawer front stands in about 3/32 in., and this method is the one most generally used. The usual trouble with this type is that the polisher neglects to fill in, stain and polish the inside edges of the bearers and carcase ends to the same degree of efficiency as the drawer fronts, etc. (see arrow). The result is that the continued use of the drawer quickly wears away the polish on the break and the job appears shabby.

The moulding around the drawer front is worked in a variety of shapes and the drawer front has the appearance of a fielded panel. If the face of this fielded panel happens to be veneered there is very little fear that the edges of the veneer will chip away, because it does not come in contact with the bearers.

If the drawer front has square edges and is not fielded, the veneer is liable to chip at the edges which come in contact with the bearers.

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FIG. 3. DRAWER PROJECTING. The reference letters in the various sketches are as follows: DF, drawer front; K, kicker; B, bearer; P, dustboard; T. B., top bearer; R, runner; C, cocked bead; V, veneer.

Fig. 3 is a very successful method for drawer fronts. Here the drawer front stands 1/16 in. to 1/8 in. forward and the break (see arrow) on the drawer front does not rub against the bearers or the carcase end. The polisher rarely neglects to obtain a good finish on this top edge of the drawer (which usually carries the lock) and when filling in and staining the front of the drawer sufficient material creeps over the ends of the front to ensure a decent finish on the end grain. This appears to be a fairly satisfactory method and the edge of the polished drawer front is not worn away by the continued opening and closing action. The idea, of course, works out the same even if the drawer front is a square edged one; that is, without any moulding around it.

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FIG. 4. THE USE OF THE COCKED BEAD. The reference letters in the various sketches are as follows: DF, drawer front; K, kicker; B, bearer; P, dustboard; T. B., top bearer; R, runner; C, cocked bead; V, veneer.

At Fig. 4 we come to what is probably the oldest and best method of protecting a veneered drawer front. This is known as the cocked bead method and is frequently found on Queen Anne furniture. Around the drawer front a rebate is formed and into this the beads (C) are glued. In some cases they are also pinned. The beads have one rounded edge and are mitred at each corner. The projection when polished is not defaced by friction and the edges of the veneered front do not come in contact with the bearers or the carcase ends during the travel of the drawer.

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FIG. 5. MOULDED BEARERS. The reference letters in the various sketches are as follows: DF, drawer front; K, kicker; B, bearer; P, dustboard; T. B., top bearer; R, runner; C, cocked bead; V, veneer.

A somewhat unusual method is given at Fig. 5. It is costly to produce and calls for very fine craftsmanship. The edges of the bearers and the inside edges of the carcase ends have a mould worked upon them. The bearers are twin-tenoned into the ends (see Fig. 6) and all the moulded edges are mitred together. Thus we have the mouldings worked upon the solid portions of the carcase and bearers instead of working the moulding on to the drawer fronts. The drawer front usually forms a break with the mouldings by an inset of 1/16 in.

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FIG. 6. DETAILS OF FIG. 5

Drawer fronts may be stopped in their required positions by fixing two rectangular pieces about 1/8 in. thick immediately behind the lower edge of the drawer front; or they may be stopped by fixing suitable pieces of wood to engage the back ends of the drawer sides. In either case the worker should arrange the stops so that no shrinkage will take place.

— Meghan B.

Design at the Point of a Tool

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By-HAND-and-Eye
Two Newport, R.I., cabinetmaking families, the Goddards and Townsends, built in a restrained style that reflected their Quaker beliefs and still exudes a vibrancy.


This is an excerpt from “By Hand and Eye” by Geo. R. Walker and Jim Tolpin. 

Afternoon sunlight streamed across the wide pine flooring and up over a small Newport table. I turned my head and paused a moment, taking in the glow of the red mahogany top. With a pencil and a clean strip of pine to act as a story stick, I carefully nudged the small board against the table apron and began recording transition points, marking carefully where each element stopped and started.

This Newport table made by Al Breed is an exact reproduction of one of the true masterpieces of American craft. Originals sell in the seven-figure range, and this was as close as I might hope to get with a sharp set of dividers in my hands (museums tend to frown on that). My aim wasn’t to record the table’s dimensions to make detailed plans. Instead, I searched for a hidden song or harmony woven in the form, hidden in plain sight. I’d often read about the mindset of pre-industrial designers, how they loved to play with proportions and create frozen music in built objects, and I wondered if this table might contain a song. Sound far-fetched? Since antiquity, designers understood that a small handful of simple ratios had a correlation with our musical scale. They spoke a design language built around simple whole-number proportions and applied them to a wide range of designs, from a tiny salt shaker to the entire layout of a city, and everything in between, including furniture.

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Small cabinet shops used simple proportions to create pleasing designs. This sideboard uses the simple ratio of 2:3 to govern the form and organize the smaller details.

With a square, each tick mark became a line on my story stick, transforming it into a map I could explore with dividers. My hands paced the divider points back and forth, adjusting the tool again and again, crisscrossing and retracing my steps. Then it happened. Like taking a pencil rubbing on the carved face of a weathered tombstone, a small series of overlapping notes appeared, running across the apron supporting the top: octave, fifth, fourth, fifth, octave.

Not some grand symphony meant for a cathedral, just a subtle cello or flute piece with a few notes and a quiet rhythm. I’d been “looking” at that table for days but now I was “seeing” it. As I walked around it, the frozen music stood out clearly to my eyes. It was a moment of clarity, like when you spot a familiar landmark and the feeling of being lost vanishes. It also was a moment of connection, a rare glimpse into the artisan age. Connection, after all, is what design is all about: building things that connect and ring true. I want to be careful here and not romanticize this. It’s not about going back in time and idealizing another age or being awestruck by period styles that were once the height of fashion. It’s about drawing from our rich legacy of woodcraft to see what it offers the modern woodworker. That’s the string that pulled Jim Tolpin and me together and got us so excited about what we call “artisan age design.” Both of us marvel at the sheer simplicity of it, how it flows from hand and eye intuitively.

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Something simple hid just beneath the surface. After my dividers smoked it out, I marveled that I hadn’t seen it earlier.

This is a gateway into a design language practiced in small cabinetmaking shops prior to the mid-19th century (though there are hints that it may have survived into the early 20th century). Lessons from that artisan age are still powerful and relevant because they are intuitive to our core. Do you remember when you first learned to sing as a child? Admit it, none of us can. It was so natural it sprang out of the mouth of babes. In the same way, this design language is a way of seeing and building that connects with how we are wired, tapping into roots deeply embedded in our makeup. It relies on proportions found in our own bodies as well as woven throughout the natural world around us. This powerful organic connection from nature is at the core of why these ideas hold sway (even if in the subconscious). We react differently to the song of a meadowlark than to the din from a nearby highway.

Let’s be clear, though: Traditional design is not a list of “Thou shalls” and “Thou shalt nots” etched in a pair of bookmatched mahogany slabs. Instead, it’s a collection of observations about how we relate to our environment. Because it’s based on more than 2,600 years of human experience, some inescapable patterns emerge. We tend to connect to visual compositions that convey a sense of harmony and movement. We also react intuitively to designs that can be easily read by our eye and tell a story. Our eyes avoid, or react with apathy, to designs that give a sense of aimlessness or lack a spark of life.

— Meghan B.

Carving a Braided Pattern

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This finished version of the braid can be further cleaned up with light cuts of the gouge, or left as-is. There’s a wide spectrum of what works with this carving.


This is an excerpt from “Joiner’s Work” by Peter Follansbee.

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The bottom margin, the angled strike of the #7 gouge, the horizontal centerline and the punched mark just to the right of the gouge cut – the foundation for this pattern.

A braided pattern builds on the previous example (of the gouge cut). It’s cut with the same technique, but this time, for those who like measuring stuff, it is marked out in a measured spacing. For the braid, the layout is the key.

Start by striking the bottom margin with a marking gauge. Then use 3/4″ #7 gouge and strike it just as in the first exercise, only now the incised cut is not perpendicular to the margin, but tilts a little to the right. The top of this incised cut shows where to strike the horizontal centerline. Mark that line, then strike a round punch just to the right of the gouge cut. My round punch is an old 5/32″ nail set.

Now mark the height of the top margin, making it the same distance off the horizontal centerline as the bottom margin. It’s simple really. Strike the gouge from the other side of the punched dot, aiming in the other direction. Its tilt angle is fixed by the margin/centerline spacing.

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Now it’s automatic pilot. Position the gouge between the punched mark and the margin and go.

With a compass, pace off the spacing of the punched marks on the centerline. These are either the width of the gouge or just a bit more.

Once they’re stepped off, strike each of these with the punch. Bang, bang, bang. Then, take the gouge and strike all the cuts that go down to the left of the punched marks, then those that go up to the right. It’s very orderly.

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All struck, the design almost could stop right there and look just fine. But keep going.

Fiddle around with your spacing on some scrap. You can do it on paper, but you might as well just start working it on wood. It only takes a few minutes. The amount of tilt to the design is determined by the spacing between the centerline and margins, the size of the gouge(s) and the paced-off punch marks. Too steep looks dull; leaned over too far looks stretched out. You’ll know it when you see it.

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Now it’s starting to look like something. Shadows start to make things look better.

Now go back and remove the chip. This chip is shorter in length than what you just did above. Think fingernail parings, crescent moons, that sort of stuff.

Using the same gouge, extend the arcs from the margin curving down into the neighboring cuts. Repeat this at the top and bottom margin.

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This step begins connecting each element.

Now using the narrow #5 gouge, just take its corner and nick the small area from the margins to the curved cuts. You’re just taking a small chip out here; but it helps. The cut comes from the margin in toward the previous gouge cuts.

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The beginning of hollowing. It’s quite a scoop, and a quick turn for the gouge.

You can enhance this carving by hollowing the braid with a more deeply curved gouge (mine’s an antique, similar to a #8 in the Swiss numbering system), modeling the overall pattern. To do this, you need to be aware of grain direction. Start at the centerline and cut down to the left, and repeat this all down the line. Then turn around and work up and to the right. The gouge takes quite a turn in each cut – essentially 90° in a very short space. Hollowing the braid really makes it come to life, creating more light and shadow interplay; that’s what all this carving is about.

— Meghan B.

The Sliding Square

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The-Woodworker-Vol-1-118


This is an excerpt from “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Volume I” published by Lost Art Press. 

This type of square was produced originally for engineers, but woodworkers have come to realise that it can be very handy to them. Of course the high precision tool needed for engineering is extremely expensive, but a low cost square of sufficient accuracy for woodwork is available, and this article deals with some of its advantages.

It will be seen that the blade of the square is separate from the stock, and is free to slide to give any required amount of projection. It is fixed by means of the small thumb screw. The advantage of this is that it becomes two squares in one. Every practical man knows that, whereas the 12 in. square is necessary for larger work, the 6 in. size is handier for general bench work. Thus, in the ordinary way the square is used with about 6 in. projection as in Fig. 1. When wanted for larger jobs it is merely a matter of sliding it along.

The-Woodworker-Vol-1-119
It can be used equally well for mitres as shown in Fig. 2. For this it has not the same usefulness as the set mitre because it can be used for the acute angle only, not the obtuse one, but it is suitable for the majority of jobs.

Apart from its general bench handiness, however, it can be used for purposes for which the ordinary square would be useless. Suppose you have to work a large rebate. How would you test it to see that it is square? The ordinary square could not be used because the blade projects too far. By giving the blade of the engineer’s square projection slightly less than the rebate width it can be used to test as shown in Fig. 3. In the same way if lines have to be squared across a rebate the square can be used as shown in Fig. 4. The advantage is that the butt of the square rests on the edge of the wood, not the bottom of the rebate. It might be that the rebate is tapered, and in this case the only way of marking a square line would be to work from the edge, not the rebate. This is made clear in Fig. 4 (inset).

The square can be obtained with or without a spirit level. Fig. 5 shows it in use to test a horizontal surface. The blade is either pushed in level or withdrawn entirely. For testing the vertically of a post or whatever it might be the square is held as in Fig. 6, the blade resting against the post. As a still further use, the blade of the square is marked out as a rule.

— Meghan B.