If I had to guess, I’d say my wife’s favorite projects of mine are the coffins I built for “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” One coffin ended up at Raney Nelson’s place (it’s where he sleeps, I think). One ended up on the wall in our TV room and holds my vinyl records. And the third is in the basement and is trotted out for Halloween.
Lucy, my wife, adores Halloween.
Building a coffin is great fun, whether you are making it for yourself and your final remains (as I did), to use as a liquor cabinet/vinyl record cabinet or yard decoration.
For fun, here’s the chapter on building a kerf-bent coffin from “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” It’s in pdf format. No DRM or any garbage. Just something fun to read and try.
As a furniture maker, visiting museums is important. But what is more important is visiting those same museums again and again. Every year you are a different person, and the same pieces of furniture will look new and different to you every time you visit.
On Sunday I took my 10th or 11th trip to the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Ky., with woodworkers Megan Fitzpatrick and Will Myers. I got to visit a lot of old friends that day at Pleasant Hill, such as the wall-hanging cabinet and Saturday table. But I also made a new friend: a firewood box that I’d never noticed before.
This box represents what I like about Shaker design. It is simple, practical and shows an advanced understanding of geometry. The carcase itself is nailed together, but the parts are arranged so that there are no awkward places where parts overlap or are misaligned – something you see on a lot of vernacular furniture.
For example, the maker was careful to add small fake stiles (with nails) to the bottom of the case to make the drawer inset. As a result of this extra effort and a hundred other details the exterior carcase of the piece appears to be like the carcase of a complex piece of furniture, though it clearly is not.
The profile of the carcase shows the maker had a good grasp of geometry – Roman vs. Grecian. The curve on the side of the carcase is an elliptical arc with a perfectly sized fillet where the curve meets the front of the carcase. It’s like an enormous Grecian ovolo.
The feet on the sides of the carcase echoed this Grecian ovolo without screaming this fact.
And then (while no one was looking) we opened the drawer at the bottom. It had sweet and well-executed dovetails, a nice surprise on a nailed piece.
I hope to build a reproduction of this piece someday, but we’ll first have to get a working fireplace. The last time we lit a fire in our living room it ended with me running half-naked into the snow.
At noon EST on Friday, Oct. 14, we will put the first batch of dividers up for sale on the Crucible Tool website: crucibletool.com. We are now in continuous production and Raney Nelson has the mill humming at a fast clip.
If the first batch sells out quickly, don’t fret. We plan on keeping production moving as quickly as possible to meet demand and will offer another batch the following week.
The dividers are $120, which includes domestic shipping. I’m afraid we don’t have the ability to ship internationally. We are working on first opening up sales to Canada in the coming weeks, then we’ll take a look at the rest of the world. Shipping these holdfasts overseas might not make sense.
This week I’ll post some video that shows how we make the dividers, from roughing out the stock to final assembly.
Two massive tables bookending the first half of the 16th century and that is where the similarities end. One has seen hard use and is scarred, the other is fun and frivolous. One mirrors the poor choices made by the estate and the other is a celebration of wealth and multiple marriages.
Oak refectory table from Little Moreton House, Cheshire, England. Photo from The National Trust.
The Brute
The top of the table is original and was listed in the estate inventory of 1597. However, the frame is an 18th or 19th century replacement. The National Trust description of the frame is, “a round arcade with bosses below the spandrels. The top is mounted on three supports with a single stretcher running lengthways (appearing to be a later addition). The top of the frame has six pendant bosses at regular intervals carved with Ionic capitals.”
Little Moreton House is a half-timbered Tudor gem and has the distinction of being one of the most crooked houses in England. The house was in the same family for 450 years with additions made by successive generations. An ill-considered addition of an upper-story gallery put too much weight on the lower stories causing bending and warping. The table top did not fare much better, starting with the wood selection.
My consultation with a well-known “person of knowledge” associated with this blog revealed two things: the top board includes pith, a knot or both. The long crack indicates a “boxed heart” where some of the pith is part of the board. The radial crack seen in the foreground could be from a knot.
Repairs on the table top. National Trust photo.
This table top lived a hard life with at least two repairs. Although the National Trust did not provide dimensions (there is an effort underway to provide more information on the thousands of pieces in their registry) I estimate the length to be 8 to 10 feet. In the language of the day this table top would be, “that whyche ys nedefoulle and nesesary.”
The Angel
At the same time Bess of Hardwick was to marry George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, her son and daughter from a previous marriage were also marrying the children of Shrewsbury. She ordered a table to include the arms of Hardwick, Shrewsbury and Cavendish (the previous husband from whence her two children came) and designs for entertainments. By the way, it was 1568 and this was Bess’ fourth marriage.
Eglantine table. Photo by The National Trust.
This is the Aeglentyne, or Eglantine Table. The National Trust description: “Oak table with inlaid walnut rectangular top. Four conical legs, tapered from top, also inlaid, as is frieze and stretchers with moulded edges. Legs have carved capitals with egg and dart moulding above a gadrooned ring. Plinth foot is squared. Inside of stretchers painted strapwork pattern. Outside diamond and oval pattern. Frieze inlay has metopes and drops with roundels between. Top inlaid with musical instruments, etc.”
Aeglentyne is an old name for the sweet briar rose (Rosa eglanteria), is mentioned in many poems of the 16th century and is included in a short rhyme in a cartouche at the center of the table.
“The redolent smle/of aeglentyne./We stagges exauet/to the Deveyne.” The cartouche is surrounded with animals from heraldry and the joined arms of the three families involved in the three weddings. The remainder of the table has glorious inlays of flowers, musical instruments, sheet music, board games and playing cards.
Overview of the table. National Trust photo.
Among the musical instruments there at least five stringed instruments, maybe a sackbut, possibly a cornemuse and two or three pages of music. This table can accomodate them all as it is 90 cm high, 302 cm long and 129 cm wide (35.4″ h, 9’11” l, 50.8″ w).
Playing cards are arranged as though the players just stepped away from the table. There is also a choice of three board games.
After the Earl of Shewsbury died Bess Harwick began building Hardwick Hall to replace the rundown Old Hall. The Aeglentyne table stands today in Hardwick Hall, a noted Elizabethan estate. In the inventory of 1601 it is believed the table was listed only as, “an inlayde table in the window.”
In these two tables we see one well used, but ravaged by poor wood selection and an awful frame replacement. This could very well be a piece that through time was removed from use by the family to use “below stairs.” On the other hand, the Aeglentyne table is an example of refined and careful wood selection, and an expression of pure vanity and indulgence for a women increasing her (and her children’s) wealth through another marriage.
The process of glueing up is one of the most important in woodwork, and requires the attention of all craftsmen who strive to endow their work with the vital qualities of endurance and stability. Often the best methods are the easiest to use; they save labour, and result in a cleaner finish to a job.
PREPARATION OF GLUE Quality in glue depends upon its purity; therefore it is advisable to pay a good price. The best Scotch glue is pale in colour, and is usually in thin cakes. It is is prepared by soaking in water overnight so that it absorbs the correct amount of moisture to make it of the right consistency when hot.
It is, of course, heated in the glue pot with proper water container, and is ready for use when a skin forms on the top of the liquid. If a little powdered alum is stirred in during the heating the glue will be rendered waterproof, or, at any rate, resistant to damp. Never heat glue over a naked flame. It only burns it and causes it to deteriorate.
APPLICATION The butt or rubbed joint is usually one of the first to be prepared and glued up in most jobs. For this joint the glue MUST be thin, that is, will run from the brush in an unbroken stream, but not thin enough to splash, or break up, as it falls. Certainly it must be hot, and be kept hot while being used, preferably in a warm atmosphere.
We all know how this joint is made; it has been described so many times, but many workers, both amateur and professional, find that it sometimes comes apart after a short time, the parting generally commencing and “running in” from the ends of tops, etc.
A butt joint that is completely and permanently successful is obtained by the writer in the following simple manner: The edges of the boards to be joined are first shot straight and true, as usual. Next, they are planed a trifle hollow, usually about 1∕32 of an inch, each edge, or sufficient to make the ends of the boards pinch together tightly when the joint is cramped up. These hollow edges are lightly toothed and are warmed before being glued and rubbed together.
FIG. 1. GLUEING UP RUBBED JOINTS
When being assembled they are placed across two trestles or similar supports.They are quickly cramped together, the number of cramps varying according to the length of the joint.
The advantage of this method is that the greatest pinch or holding power occurs at the ends of the joints, where fracture generally begins.
FIG. 2. APPLYING GLUE TO DOVETAILS
GLUEING DOVETAILS Drawers and other dovetailed joints can be cleanly assembled by brushing the glue on the inside corner of the tails or drawer side, at the same time forcing glue into the small openings where the pins fit (Fig. 2). Glue is transferred to the base of the pins by quickly rubbing the glued end grain of the drawer side across the width, at the back of the drawer front, care being taken to avoid smearing glue below the gauge line. (Fig. 3).
The drawer side is lightly tapped into position with a light hammer, and a joint is obtained with the absolute minimum of surplus glue adhering to the inside corners of the drawer.
FIG. 3. HOW PINS CAN BE GLUED WITHOUT MAKING MUCH MESS
VARIOUS JOINTS With mortise and tenon joints the best procedure is to apply a little glue to all four sides inside the mortise, at the same time allowing a little to adhere to the edge to join up to the shoulders of the tenon, thus effecting a clean joint.
To ensure a permanent dowelled joint, it is best to countersink the holes, and tooth or roughen the dowels before they are cut into short lengths from the whole stick. After cutting to length, a saw cut is made along the length of each to allow surplus glue to escape. After inserting a little glue into the holes on one side of the joint, using for the purpose a foot of dowel rod sharpened at the end, the dowel pegs are driven in.
Mitres and similar small butted faces should be warmed before glueing, and are then rubbed together. If pins are to be used these can be driven in after the glue has set. Glue-blocks should always be rubbed on, and if previously warmed so much the better.
With all joints the aim should be to use sufficient glue to make the joint, with only a very small surplus to be afterwards cleaned off: there is no need to smother it with the glue. Remember that only the glue in the joint is used, the surplus is wasted.
As a final word, always wipe off surplus glue before it sets. Keep a clean swab and can of clean hot water for the purpose. Do not use the water in the glue pot. It is usually dirty and will probably discolour the wood.
