A few naughty readers have been attempting to build collapsible tables and bookcases similar to ones I’ve been constructing for “Campaign Furniture” and have run into some trouble.
Instead of being a wiener-kabob and saying “wait for the book,” here is some basic but critical information about mechanical furniture: In these simple constructions, the pivot points have to be equidistant.
What does that mean? Take a look at the quick-and-dirty sketch above. In these bookcases, the center pivot point is on the outside of the bookcase. The top pivot point it 7-1/4” above that — right below the top shelf. The lower pivot point is 7-1/4” below that right above the lower shelf.
If the upper and lower points are not equidistant from the center, the bookcase will not fold flat. Also good to know: If the distance between the lower and upper pivot points is greater than the length of one of the shelves, the bookcase will not fully collapse. The two center pivot points will run into one another.
I am almost finished building this bookcase and will post a movie later this week.
The original 19th-century Roorkee chair looks at home on safari. Whereas the mid-century Kaare Klint ‘Safari Chair’ looks right in the home.
As I have been gathering data on original pieces for the forthcoming book “Campaign Furniture,” a critical piece of the puzzle fell into place Saturday when Mark Firley sent me some measurements he took of some original Kaare Klint chairs. Until now, I’ve been relying on auction records, and those measurements were suspect when compared to dimensions I’d struck off of photographs.
Firley, a woodworker and fine American, took good measurements that will help guide the construction of one last chair before the end of the year.
What is surprising – no shocking – is how closely the Klint chairs mimic the original Roorkee of 50 years earlier. They are so similar that it’s almost not fair to call the Safari Chair anything more than a minor evolution from the original.
Here are some details:
The legs of the original were 1-1/2” square and 22-1/2” long. The Klint chair legs are 1-9/16” square and 22” long.
The stretchers of the original were 1” to 1-1/8” in diameter. The Klint chair has stretchers that are 1-1/4” in diameter that are clearly cigar-shaped. I’ve been making my stretchers this shape to add strength in the middle for some time now. So I was pleased to see the Klint chairs were made this way.
The seat height is also similar between the original and the Klint. On the original, the front of the seat was 12” from the floor and the back of the seat is 10-1/2” from the floor. On the Klint, the front stretcher is 12” from the floor and the rear is 9-1/2” from the floor.
The back is virtually identical.
There are some interesting differences. Klint moved the side stretchers down. This gives the chair a sleeker look in my opinion and – engineering-wise – reduces the leverage on the side stretchers.
Klint also removed the handles at the top of the legs, which is probably the most visible difference, but it has little to do with how the chair sits or works.
Firley also supplied some interesting photos of how the seat of the Klint chair works. The underside of the leather seat is lined with a white cloth to prevent the leather from stretching. Modern chairs use a synthetic fabric to stop stretching; I have no clue what Klint used without some analysis.
So if you have been thinking about making some Safari Chairs and thought to yourself: “I can just change the leg turnings a bit and I’ll be almost done,” then you are thinking correctly.
It is not my intention to enter into the details of what are required, in the shape of equipment in India, to place the young officer in a position to proceed to his ultimate destination, as these are points on which he will soon be fully informed on his arrival in India, but I would wish particularly to warn him against burdening himself with a single superfluity, and recommend his limiting his baggage to what may be called “light marching order;” he will find advantage in this hereafter; above all, let him avoid, as he would his worst enemy, any extravagance which, exceeding his means, shall involve him in debt, even to the smallest amount; debt, in any shape, is one of the rocks on which many a man has been shipwrecked at the very outset of his Indian career….
— “Hints to Cadets” by Lt. T. Postans of the Bombay Army (1842, Wm. H. Allen and Co.)
This week I’m building a version of these folding campaign bookshelves for the “Campaign Furniture” book. I made slight changes to the original Victorian design – incorporating some features that I spied in some other folding units.
The result is – I hope – a more stable set of shelves.
I’ve built several sets of backless shelves such as this – they were common during the Arts & Crafts period – and there are lots of little things you can do to make things start stiff and stay stiff. (No blue pill required.)
These shelves are surprisingly small: 24” high, 22-3/8” wide and 9-1/2” deep. So even if my first unit is a failure, It won’t take much wood to build another one.
Since making my first Roorkee chair, which was based on the 19th-century original, I’ve been lucky enough to study some additional antique examples. This has led me to alter the chair’s design in about 20 different ways, from the turnings to the rivets.
While I don’t have room to discuss the evolutionary process and my reasoning (gotta save something for the book), I have promised several readers that I would post the leather patterns that I now use to build these chairs.
Below is a drawing I made of the three major leather components. (If you cannot figure out the armrests or belts, may I recommend golf as a hobby?) As to the sketch, I took enough drafting at Chaffin Junior High from Mr. Hogue to know that it’s not a proper mechanical drawing.
Click on the drawing to enlarge it to full size. Then print that.
Truth is, most early furniture was made using an sketch that was one step above NapkinCAD 1.0 (right Suzanne? I haven’t forgotten the research for a future book on Gillows). So if you can’t make the leather bits from this sketch, might I suggest vertical Jarts as a hobby?
The leather is 8 oz. latigo we buy from a wholesale supplier in Pennsylvania. The straps are regular 7/8 oz. veg tan leather. Solid brass 3/4” buckles from Tandy. All the rivets are No. 9 1/2” two-part solid copper rivets. The 13mm ball studs for the armrests are from McMaster-Carr.
If you are making patterns for your leather, I recommend thin tempered hardboard, which doesn’t take up much space and holds up better against your knife.
OK, gotta go. “Campaign Furniture” ain’t going to write itself.
If the upper and lower points are not equidistant from the center, the bookcase will not fold flat. Also good to know: If the distance between the lower and upper pivot points is greater than the length of one of the shelves, the bookcase will not fully collapse. The two center pivot points will run into one another.
