I woke up from my nap and realized I forgot to include the shaving horse in the earlier post on the Index of American Design.
This also gives me an excuse to include a few other things you can find in the Index: weather vanes and figureheads (in combination there are over 300). The weather vanes are made of wood and metal and cover the gamut from horses, arrows, big chickens and even one of General Casimir Pulaski. Figureheads include characters from mythology to Ben Franklin. At the time the figureheads were drawn many were already well worn but the master carver’s hand is still present.
And since Chris has been working on staked furniture for his “Anarchist’s Design Book” I’m throwing in some staked benches in the gallery below.
During last night’s entertaining LAP Forum Open House there was a comment about finding Noah’s Ark plans and notes. Well, that’s just silly. However, I did find Bishop John Wilkins’s 1668 proof on how all the animals would fit in the Ark. With the the biblical measurements, the animal load and arrangement figured and a little reverse engineering you can create your own plans.
“…it was divided into three stories, each of 10 or 15 foot high, besides one cubit allowed for the declivity of the roof in the upper story. And, ’tis agreed upon as most probably, that the lower story was assigned to contein all the species of beasts, the middle story for their food, and the upper story, in one part of it, for the birds and their food, and the other part for Noah, his family and utensils.”
The Bishop, a most sincere and helpful man, also made a scientific table to help classify and separate the animals by species and body proportion: Beasts feeding on hay, Beasts feeding on insects, Carnivorous Beasts. If an animal is a “mungrel”, such as a mule, they are left out. Crocodiles, seals, turtles get to fend for themselves as, “…such kind of Animals as can abide in the water to their own devises.”
From the Folger Library.
There you have it. Gather some hearty and handsome timber framers, hand over the cubit conversions to George Walker and Jim Tolpin and you are good to go.
So we’re getting read to host our “open house” here on the blog in about 53 minutes.
And our forum software has gone down. It’s back for now. But we’re not positive that this is going to work. In any case, give it a whirl here. We’ll be there. We might be alone.
Then I’ll send John out for some Dixie cups and string to get this working.
What: Â Chris and John will answer all your questions about woodworking, LAP books and John’s new career as a tee shirt model.
To participate: Â you will need an account in the LAP store to log into the forum. If you have ordered from the store in the last two years you probably have an account. To set up an account: at the top of this page click on HOME in the black bar. On the next page look for the Log in/Create an account section and go from there.
You do not need an account if you only want to read the questions and answers on the forum.
