As we all know, three-legged chairs and backstools are inherently unstable. It’s really quite remarkable that they haven’t been outlawed in such progressive countries as Switzerland.
But, as you can see above in this photo from the Swiss National Museum, the three-legged chairs are not roped off. In fact, people are encouraged to sit in them.
These shots were taken by Mark Firley of The Furniture Record during a visit to the museum. He turned up a lot of very interesting furniture on this trip, and I am certain he’ll blog about it. So bookmark his blog.
I was amused when I first saw these photos – these Swiss examples look quite similar to the backstools I built over the summer for “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” The major difference is the way the backs are attached to the spindles. The maker notched the spindles and used screws or nails to attach the back.
Oh, and there are two fewer spindles.
I quite like the design and might incorporate some of those back details into my next chair.
We think we have licked most of the basic technical glitches for the Lost Art Press forum. We have high hopes that this will be a good way for us to interact with readers and help you get answers to your questions about our books and the techniques in them.
So John and I would like to invite you to stop by an “open house” on our forum from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 6. During those two hours, John and I will be online to answer any questions you have about our upcoming titles, woodworking techniques, tools, beer or cuddling (FYI, we’re not cuddlers).
To ask questions in the forum, you’ll need to have an account in our store. If you have purchased anything from us in the last two years, you probably have an account. If you don’t have an account, you can create one here.
You don’t need an account to read the forum. Some of you are already using the forum and have found it’s a good way to exchange information with other readers who are not wankers.
At the end of August we learned about the auction of the manuscript of John Widdifield (1673-1720) an early joiner in Philadelphia. The manuscript includes measurements and prices for furniture, sketches for a spice box (above), a writing desk and a chest-on frame. There are also instructions for sharpening tools and recipes and tips for staining and varnishing. Some of Widdifield’s descendants added to the manuscripts.
The sales estimate for the September 17 auction was $15,000-$25,000 and after very brisk bidding sold for $75,000, including the buyer’s premium. The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Winterthur Museum partnered in bidding in an effort to keep the manuscript in the Philadelphia area, but they were outbid by a private collector.
The good news: Widdifield’s manucript will be published in the Chipstone Foundation journal AmericanFurniture and will also be posted online. Chipstone will work with the digital content group at the University of Wisconsin in Madison to put the entire manuscript online, searchable by keyword and available to researchers at no cost.
As Chris has written several times in this blog these kinds of manuscripts are rare. It is even rarer to have this type of document published in a relatively short period of time after acquisition.
So, a great big thank you to the private collector who chose to share this important document. I could kiss you!
I know, we all know about hammers. When I earned cash dismantling exhibitions at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London in 1978 the deal was this: We meet at this pub on Sunday night at 9 p.m., each of us with a nice big 16 oz claw hammer. Two hours bashing apart exhibition stands, and by 11 p.m. we were back in the pub for last orders and with cash in hand.
“Most important tool in the workshop,” my mentor Alan Peters would say, whacking a builder’s lump hammer onto the bench. The so and so did it hard enough to make me jump. Alan used this tool to aid assembly of almost all carcase work. He was precise in how he used it, but he would drive home dovetailed sides where the glue was getting stiff with mighty whacks.
He told me once he had to assemble a small casket built to house the ashes of a client’s late husband. The client arrived. They carefully poured the ashes into the carcase, three sides had been assembled. The secret mitre dovetailed last side was glued and WHACKED down.
“Stop, Stop, please don’t hit him,” cried the distressed client. Alan carried on. Two more good whacks and it was all down and quiet resumed.
There is not much to a hammer. Weight, a nice, well-formed head and a handle of good length. “Well balanced” we say. Always hold your hammer low down on the handle; don’t strangle the damn thing. Use the length to give you accuracy and weight of the blow. It’s about rhythm and eyeballing the stoke.
We have a group nice hammers to chuck in the chest. My own hammer drawer is full of the damn things of all sizes, shapes and nationalities. Dead-weight hammers, nylon, soft-faced tappers and the good old Warringtons.
I used to not properly fit steel hoops to my Japanese chisels. I was a prat (some say I am still a prat, but they can b….. off). Now I do it properly and can whack the living daylight out of them. These are my favourite hammers; they are Japanese and bought on eBay. Though I did like a nice American hammer that Chris had when he was with us this summer.
“Although Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus and a leading advocate of the modern movement, gave full credit to the influence that Ruskin, Morris and the British Arts and Crafts Movement had on his own development, this acknowledgement was not generally shared. For many years whilst the Modern Movement reigned supreme and concrete machines for living and working were filling our cities, Morris and the handcraftsmen were rather ridiculed as being sentimental and irrelevant, or worse, in some circles, as being detrimental to progress.”
— Alan Peters, “Cabinetmaking: The Professional Approach, Second Edition” (Linden, 2009)
