Lost Art Press

Category: Campaign Furniture

Civil War Seating – You Could do a Book

Posted on by Lost Art Press

00996u

Campaign seating is one of my favorite furniture topics. Roorkee chairs, X-stools, Fenby-patent chairs etc. are all interesting because they are portable, mechanical and (duh) chairs.

Jeff Burks recently turned up a number of fascinating Civil War photographs by James F. Gibson in the Library of Congress that have convinced me that there could be a whole book on Civil War seating. It would sell four copies, and I would buy three of them (thanks in advance mom, for buying the fourth).

Still, take a look at these photos and tell me these wouldn’t be fun to build.

Look at the photo at the top of this entry. This photo is from a series by Gibson of men playing dominoes at a mess table in 1862. First off, love the leather bucket and the tree-trunk table. Now check out the two stools. They are so crude that they are basically dowels. If you get the super hi-res image you can see the grain run-out on the legs and the seat fasteners. These stool were from sawn stock, though the grain is quite straight.

4a39470u

Next is a bunch of stool and X-chairs being used by secret service men. This image is a bit blurry, but you can see a bunch of three-legged stools and some X-chairs, which are being used correctly. (I don’t know how many moderns I’ve seen sitting on these 90° and getting their buttocks rightly pinched.)

The legs to the three-legged stools look somewhat tapered, but that could be perspective.

01008u

This is an awesome photo. Three kinds (maybe four) of seating. On the left is somewhat of a folding director’s armchair with turned and detailed legs. I’ve seen these in British catalogs. There’s a folding sling chair that looks like it might have cowhide on it – another common sight in the Army & Navy Catalogs of the day. A three-legged stool. What could be an X-chair. And another sling chair.

Only the director’s chair looks like it has any finish on it.

Here are more in the series for those that are as obsessive as I am.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.01007/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003000054/PP/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005476/PP/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005949/PP/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003005911/PP/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.00118/

As always, thanks to Jeff Burks for turning up these photos. More pieces like this are in my book “Campaign Furniture,” but you probably knew that already.

 

— Christopher Schwarz

Ball-and-socket Campaign Stool

Posted on by Lost Art Press

johnson_hardware_US32698-1

Jeff Burks turned up an interesting patent for a camp stool that seems genius, and yet I’ve never seen an example in the wild.

Nathaniel Johnson of New York was granted patent 32,698 on July 2, 1861, for using a curious metallic (or wooden) orb as the centerpiece of a folding camp stool. In essence, Johnson calls for using an iron orb that is pierced by three rods as the folding mechanism for the stool.

In and of itself, using a sphere isn’t an improvement. But what Johnson shows is that each of the three legs of the stool has a sympathetic spherical recess. This small detail allows the legs to close tighter without significantly reducing the strength of the legs.

It’s a pretty smart idea.

The challenge, of course, is in implementing it. I’ll grant that a machinist of average intelligence could create the orb with the three threaded posts. But creating the spherical recess in the legs would be a trick with off-the rack tooling. I don’t know of many drill bits that have a spherical cutting surface. Some router bits do. But then you’d have to follow that tricky operation by drilling a perfectly placed hole for the rod of the hardware.

I can visualize a drill bit that would cut the hole and sphere in one go, but that bit doesn’t exist (as far as I know).

So this one gets filed in the “cool, someday” folder.

This has inflamed my lust to build some more campaign stools from the leather and wood scraps in my basement. And to dream of perfect spheres.

— Christopher Schwarz

johnson_overall_US32698-1

Simple Type of Indian Home Cot

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Indian_cot

ONE of our Indian readers sends us particulars for the making of a simple home cot, which we think will be of general interest.

The cot consists of a skeleton framework supported by four legs, the overall height being 18 ins. The length of the cot is 5 ft. 6 ins., the width 3 ft. 6 ins. The mattress is made by weaving a good strong tape mesh as suggested in the top right corner of the plan drawing. The method of jointing the side and end rails of the cot to the legs is somewhat unusual and, if the maker is not familiar with the joint, he is advised to make a rough model of one corner before proceeding with his work. Fig. 1 shows a plan of the cot as seen from above. Fig. 2 is the front elevation, showing on the right a turned leg as suggested by our Indian contributor, whilst on the left we show a square tapered leg having a foot which is suitable for those makers who have no lathe. The wood used for construction of the article is generally teakwood, but there is no reason why such wood as ash, beech or birch should not be used. Fig. 3 gives an end elevation.

The following is a list of the wood required: Four legs, 1 ft. 7 ins. by 3 ins. by 3 ins.; two long bars, 5 ft. 7 ins by 3 ins. by 1-1/2 ins. and two end bars 3 ft. 7 ins. by 3-1/2 ins. by 1-1/2 ins. An arch has been allowed in the length of the bars, but they should finish in width and thickness to the sizes given.

At Fig. 4 we show a sketch of the cross and end bar mortised into the leg, and it will be seen that a turned hardwood peg fits into a suitably provided hole and locks the tenons, which are dry jointed (not glued) in position.

The head of this turned peg forms an ornament or finish at the top of the leg and it should of course fit tightly in position so as to prevent the youngster from pulling it out. Fig. 5 gives a sketch of the end and cross bars in their relative positions when they are apart from the leg. At Fig. 6 is given a sketch of the end bar and cross bar when the cot is fixed in position, but in this illustration the leg is purposely left out of the drawing for a clear representation. Fig. 7 shows the joints of the leg portion when the part of the leg above the line (A, Fig. 4) is sawn off. The hardwood peg is shown at Fig. 8. The above methods of illustrating the joint have been chosen because the interlacing of so many dotted lines in the ordinary sketch makes it next to impossible for a worker who is not familiar with the joint to follow an ordinary drawing.

If beech, birch or ash is used it may be stained either mahogany or walnut colour, after which it may be given a coat of brush polish and when this is hard the work may be wax polished. If the cot is made in teak wood it may be finished as above, but without staining.

We are indebted to Mr. S. V. Ramesad, of Beswada, India, for the above particulars. (600)

— from The Woodworker magazine, May 1925

2nd Printing of ‘Campaign Furniture’ & Other News

Posted on by Lost Art Press

CF_cover_IMG_0506

We’re going back on press for a second printing of “Campaign Furniture” with a few corrections and a slightly different cover. The only significant correction, which was to the Roorkee Chair chapter, is discussed here. I also added a thank you to Greg Miller, who I neglected to include in the first printing.

I’m telling you all this because we have some customers who collect first editions of our books (no, we don’t have any first-edition copies of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” hidden here).

The new cover replaces the image of the chest pull with the title of the book. We’re also switching inks used for the cover stamp. The new ink will be more matte and coppery – less gold.

Also, the third printing of “By Hand & Eye” should be back in stock next week. And the expanded “With the Grain” is right on its heels.

In news on new projects, Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook” is almost completely designed and should be headed to the printer within a couple weeks. As I type this I’m scanning the last of about 500 hand-done drawings for this book. I promise, this book will be worth the wait. The book will be 8-1/2” x 11”, hardbound with a dust jacket and more than 350 pages (perhaps close to 400). No word on pricing, yet.

Designer Wesley Tanner has begun work on designing Don Williams “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley.” It will be ready for Handworks and the exhibit of the cabinet and workbench. Come to Handworks, see the cabinet and get your book signed.

“Roubo on Furniture” is awaiting some final work by the translating team before going to the designer. And our massive book on Charles Hayward will head to the designer as soon as Linda finishes designing Peter Galbert’s book (sorry about the workload, Linda and Wesley).

We have another dozen projects in various stages of completion, but these are the most immediate.

— Christopher Schwarz