Category: Campaign Furniture

One of the interesting forms I didn’t get to discuss in “Campaign Furniture,” is the portable library writing table. It’s typically a three-piece affair – the desktop lifts off the two pedestals for travel.

The version shown above is from the 1907 Army & Navy Co-Operative Society catalog, though the form appears over and over again in many of the catalogs.

It also appears as a reproduction at times. And this form is the ancestor of the modern campaign desk that is shown on sawhorses at Pottery Barn etc.

Mark Firley at The Furniture Record shows a particularly nice antique version in his blog today. The top surface of the desk tilts, there is a secretary gallery and the drawers in the pedestal units are protected by drawers. Check it out here.

And by the way, free domestic shipping for “Campaign Furniture” ends on Saturday. So if you were waiting to hide the charge on your April statement….

— Christopher Schwarz

“Campaign Furniture” has broken all of our sales records here at Lost Art Press, which has made it difficult for our fulfillment service to keep up (don’t worry, they are only a day or two behind). And we’ve just about run out of signed letterpress bookplates (don’t worry, more are on the way on Tuesday).

We can only hope that our retailers are enjoying the enthusiasm for the book. Many of our retailers have now put the book on their web sites. Here are some links.

Lee Valley Tools of Canada is selling the book for $31.
Tools for Working Wood in Brooklyn is selling the book for $31.
Henry Eckert Fine Tools in Australia is selling the book for $48 AUS.
Classic Hand Tools in Great Britain is taking orders for the book for £28.

— Christopher Schwarz

Many of the campaign-style trunks I’ve examined are joined by through-dovetails at the corners. The trunk I built for “Campaign Furniture” uses a rabbeted joint at the corners that is reinforced with brass screws that have had their heads filed flush after assembly.

The screws are not a common joint, but they were pointed out to me on some pieces by David Silliman of Charleston, S.C., a dealer in furniture from the West Indies.

The trunk shown above, which was sold by Richard Gardner, has some interesting details for you to consider.

1. The sliding till. Many of the trunks I’ve seen have a single till at one end of the chest or nothing at all inside. This one has a till at the end and a sliding till – much like that on a tool chest. I quite like how the till extends above the rim of the lower carcase. A very efficient use of space.

2. The corner joint. I am sure this locking joint has a name. But it is a somewhat atypical machine-made corner joint (at least in this country). The most interesting aspect of the joint is that the maker rabbeted away the corner and added a filler strip to conceal the end grain.

3. Brasses with filed screw heads. I point this out and discuss it in “Campaign Furniture,” but here is another example of screw heads that have been filed flush or mostly flush. This filing removes most of the screw’s slot. It’s a feature that shows up on many infill planes.

So as you plan your trunk, consider adding these details.

— Christopher Schwarz