Discussions on the forum this week have covered everything from dried hide glue clean-up to a wife’s innocent offer to frame the ATC letterpress poster at IKEA. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.
Heavy Timber Roubo Knockoff Jarrett Seiple has 6×8 timbers and wants to build a bench. The thread has gone on to discuss the pros and cons of building a bench with beams. Want to weigh in or see what people’s thoughts are?
Stacked Cupboard Marselle Bredemeyer is looking for advice on building a cupboard but isn’t sure how to connect the top and bottom pieces. It has been suggested to dowel the two together but cold feet have set in due to inexperience with the method. Recommendations are being requested for what you would do with the provided sketch.
Nicholson Workbench Legs Ed is building a Nicholson bench and is ready to add the legs. Since he knows his top has a bit of a twist to it, he is wondering if he can make sure the legs are parallel to the ground instead of squaring them to the underside of the top. Thoughts?
Staked Furniture in GoT Anyone else notice the staked bench in “Game of Thrones?”
On Friday morning i finished my first comprehensive edit of Ants Viires’s “Woodworking in Estonia,” the next book we’ll be publishing.
In many ways, “Woodworking in Estonia” is unlike any other book we’ve published during the last decade. It’s an ethnographic study of the wood culture of a Northern European country from the 10th to the 20th centuries. There is no direct “how-to” information in the book. It has thousands of footnotes in Russian and Estonian. And few Americans can point to Estonia on a map. Here, let me help remedy that.
But at the same time, it’s a lot like every book we’ve published. It is an account of what has been lost. If you are willing to dig into this book, the rewards are substantial. It is a comprehensive overview of the flourishing, plateau and decay of a wood-based culture. It is told without romanticism. No politics. And it has hundreds of beautiful hand illustrations and photographs of things that I want to build. (I never knew I wanted to build a sled before!)
Today I started my second comprehensive edit of the text. This job should take a week – as opposed to the three months I spent on the first edit. Then it will have a quick (I hope) copy edit and will be off to the printer in June.
I know that some of you out there will be bemused by the book. Some of you will buy it only to support us (thanks!). But some of you will dive in, you’ll weather the odd-sounding place-names and technical jargon, and you will see incredible beer mugs. Fascinating workbenches. Rakes. Spinning wheels. Latvian chairs. Hollow vessels made from tree trunks. Boards fastened with bird feathers. And on and on.
It’s an important book for green woodworking and woodworking in general. And we are proud to be bringing it to you with the full support of the Viires family (more on that in a future post).
Stay tuned for more information on this book in June.
As a favor to the Early American Industries Association (EAIA), we’re opening the Lost Art Press storefront in Covington, Ky., this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The EAIA is holding its annual meeting this week at the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Ky. I wish I could be there, but I have books to edit (more on our progress this weekend). On Sunday, members will be driving home, and so we are opening the storefront for the curious.
If you are also curious, you are welcome to stop by as well. I’m working on a Danish Modern chest of drawers in some incredible curly oak and will have that on the bench – not to mention all our books, T-shirts, posters, stickers and a few leftover tins of Katy’s soft wax.
The storefront is at 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41017.
If you are looking for a reason to tempt your spouse to make the trip, dangle Otto’s brunch before them. The Benedict Otto’s with a side of goetta is something I dream about. Get there early – it fills up. If you get closed out there, try the brunch across the street at Main Bite. Or at Keystone a few blocks away.
Eastern white pine is also referred to as Northern, soft, balsam or Weymouth pine. The name Pinus refers to the pine family, while strobus means cone. The tree’s natural range is from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Wisconsin and Iowa, and east to the Appalachians down to Georgia. Ordinarily it reaches heights of 80′-100′ (24-30 m). Old king’s broad arrow pines, used for masts in the royal navy, sometimes grew to more than 200′ (60 m). White pines can reach 400 years of age.
Pines, like most conifers, grow a straight central trunk. The branches of white pine grow almost horizontally, usually in groups of five. The pine shoot borer, an increasing pest in pine-growing areas, kills the leader, forces one of the branches to take over as leader and results in deformed or multiple trunks. Pine needles are 2″-5″ (5-12.5 cm) long, grow in bundles of five, and are surrounded by a papery sheath at the base which drops off after the first season. White pine cones are 4″-8″ (10-20 cm) long, fairly thin, quite flexible and take two years to mature. The bark forms gray scaly ridges.
Eastern White Pine Bark
Sapwood of white pine is pale yellow-white. Heartwood is cream to light reddish-brown when freshly sawn, turning to a warm reddish-brown on exposure to air and light. Old, clear heartwood is often referred to as pumpkin pine. The wood contains a fair amount of pitch. It is generally straight, even grained and light, with a density of 25 lb/ft3 (.39 g/cc) at 12 percent MC. It is a real workhorse in most shops, used for jigs, braces and mock-ups. As a pattern wood it has no equal. Quartersawn white pine is the most well behaved of all the native woods. Pine’s ease of sanding, chiseling and planing makes it an ideal secondary wood. When used as such, it fills the entire interior of a chest or cabinet with a clean, woody odor. It is also used as a primary wood. Most of New England’s painted antiques are constructed of white pine. Shellac over the knots prevents the pitch from bleeding through. Perhaps it appears at its best when left raw, or oiled to age naturally.
In this last post on misericords there are carpenters, benches, axe men, one holdfast, one really old misericord, a measured drawing (!) and rabbets rabbits.
One of the fascinating things about misericords is how the craftsman chose to position his subject on these tricky pie-shaped hunks of wood. In the example at the top the viewer is looking into a small shop created under the bracket. By placing the carpenter behind the bench the details of the bench can clearly be seen.
Late 16th c., Church of St.-Andre, Besse-et-Saint Anastaise, France.
This older misericord with more wear and tear was done by a lesser-skilled hand. Although the carver has given dimension to the bench it is awkwardly angled outward and the carpenter’s head has been twisted almost 180 degrees (ouch).
Late 16th c., Church of St.-Andre, Besse -et-Saint Anastaise, France.
From the same church and by the same carver here’s another odd angle but a much happier carpenter.
Early 16th c., Abbey Church, Noyers, France.
The same idea as the previous two misericords but with a loss of perspective and dimension for the bench. Despite the varying levels of skill in the carvers there was still an effort to show details of the bench, to show the carpenter actually working, and however awkward, to show their faces to the viewer.
16th c., Chirch of St.-Germain, Ormes, France.
Seen from two slightly different angles the carver attempted a bird’s- eye view.
16th c., Church of St.-Germain, Soisy-et-sous-Montmorency, France. Restoration was done in the 1980s.
Although portions are missing the carver provided a dimensional bench and good body position with wonderful detail. The vanishing-point perspective of the floor adds nice depth to the scene.
Bas-relief on a choir stall 1449-1465, restoration (or recreation) 1862-1872. North side of Cathedral of Saint-Claude, Jura, France.
The bas-relief in the Cathedral of Saint-Claude is the only carving showing a holdfast and with a 15th century date it was important to get more information on its history and the original artist. Without the holdfast this example would have been included in the blog post depicting misericord carvers.
Jehan de Vitry of Geneva worked on the choir stalls of Saint-Claude for 15 years, finishing them in 1465. The choir stalls were massive with two sections, each 15 meters long, and backed by a series of tall panels carved in bas-relief. As churches were expanded, or as happened during the Reformation cleared out, a common fate for choir stalls was rearrangement, relocation to another church, or sold for profit. In 1768 the choir stalls of Saint-Claude were cut down, rearranged and covered in ochre paint.
After 400 years heavy restoration was needed, especially for the misericords. From 1869-1875 restoration was done and another rearrangement. The choir stalls were put on the north and south sides of the choir and nave. This rearrangement resulted in some “excess” pieces that were sold off to collectors. Some of those pieces now reside in the Louvre and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Enlargement of the Saint-Claude carpenter with holdfast.
One of the sculptors involved in the 19th century restoration was Alexis Girardet and although the records are not clear it is thought he carved the carpenter with the bench and holdfast. I could not confirm if he reproduced a damaged carving or if this is his own design. I suspect it is his own design because if you look closely at the front left edge of the workbench you will see the initials A. G. To my eye there are some style differences compared to the other bas-reliefs on the inside “walls” of the stalls and no other works had the carver’s initials. So, no 15th century holdfast. Bummer.
But on a brighter note we know when the trees were cut down for the original 15th century construction of the choir stalls. A dendrology study done in the 1980s revealed the trees were cut down in the autumn of 1445 or the winter of 1446.
The troubles for the choir stalls at Saint-Claude continued. On September 26, 1983 there was a fire and the 22 choir stalls on the south side were destroyed. As Saint-Claude is considered a French national monument, photographs on record before the fire were used by an atelier commissioned to recreate the south-side choir stalls.
You may have seen this drawing used in presentations on carpenter’s guilds or with an description from the 19th century: “Carpenter’s apprentice working on a trial piece.” The original is a 15th century misericord from Rouen, France.
1457-1470, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Rouen, France.
There are photos of this misericord with a conservation-style repair to the bracket (I don’t know which is the more recent photo). Two other Rouen misericords are carvers and they have similar body positions which I am now calling “Downward Carpenter.”
One of the oldest, if not the oldest, misericords in Great Britain is in St. Mary the Virgin Church in Hemingbrough. It is dated around 1200, the Early English period.
Top: Last and oldest misericord, dated 1200. Bottom left: measured drawing of choir stall. Bottom right: last remaining choir stalls (back row). St. Mary the Virgin Church, Hemingbrough, England.
The open-work of the Hemingbrough misericord is quite different from most misericords. It is easy to see how this early example would be more prone to damage and given the age, more susceptible to theft.
How much is a “used” misericord worth these days?
Misericord from an auction site.
This misericord is dated around 1450 and is of either English or Flemish origin. Although it is very worn and damaged the auction estimate was $2000 to $4000 (USD) and it sold for close to $8500.
In the gallery in one more (partial) workbench, the axe men and a few other bits.
–Suzanne Ellison
16th c., Church of Saint-Armand-sur-Ornain, France. Restored in 1984.
15th c., St Ouen Church, Routot, France.
Noah’s Ark, 1470, St. David’s Cathedral, Wales.
A calendar misericord, “February”, 15th c., St. Mary Church, Ripple, Great Britain.
15th c., St. Mary’s Priory, Old Malton, Great Britain.
Chasing a log or a sausage, 1520, Beverley Minster, Great Britain.
Example of an “erased” misericord.
Axe, 1499-1501, Church of St.-Etienne, Moudon, Switzerland.
Griffin chasing rabbits. 1489-1494, Ripon Minster, England. Charles Dodgson lived in Ripon and some think he may have gotten his idea for the White Rabbit in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” from this misericord.
