James Wilson, who has the honor of being the maker of the first pair of terrestrial and celestial globes ever made in America, was a native of Londonderry, N.H. He was born in 1763. He early felt a strong love of knowledge, and gave proof of talents of the right stamp for acquiring it, but felt constrained by circumstances to devote himself to the laborious occupation of a farmer.
Up to the age of thirty-three he pursued that employment in the place of his nativity; not, however, without reading, observation, and reflection. His inclination and genius turned his thoughts and studies especially to geography and astronomy, with the means of their illustration. (more…)
The full-size plans for “Chairmaker’s Notebook” are now available in both printed form and as a pdf. The electronic version is ideal for international customers or those who would rather have the plans printed out at a reprographics firm and get them rolled instead of folded.
Rolling the printed plans and shipping them is simply impossible for us, I’m afraid.
The pdf version is $20 and – like the printed plans – produces a 36” x 48” sheet. This is a fairly standard size that most reprographics companies can handle.
If you live in the United States you can have Staples print them for you and roll them. Check out this page. This is how we proofed the plans. You can upload the file to Staples and they will output it the same day. They will even deliver it to you.
With the recent discussion of shop light and window direction, I thought it would be interesting to post a short excerpt from A.J. Roubo on shop light. While I don’t recall Roubo discussing the direction the windows should face, he does detail how to bring diffuse light into the interior.
Ever since translating this section 10 years ago, I’ve wanted to make some muslin diffuser panels to try them out.
— Christopher Schwarz
“The front counter of the shop should be of a height equal to that of the benches so that in the case of works of an extraordinary length you can pass the wood over them while working and rest them there.
“There should be as many entrances as necessary for the width of the building, which should be closed with doors that should open the complete height to facilitate the entry of the wood. They should be covered with light muslin fabric so that when in use you can enjoy daylight in the interior of the shop.
“The upper part of the counter should also be closed up with frames covered in fabric, which are pulled open during the day and are held to the floor by wooden crossbars [hardware fittings] which hold them there.
“At the top of the front of the shop should be placed a porch roof of about 18 thumbs or 2 feet overhang, which serves to prevent water from entering and ruining your work and tools.”
— from the forthcoming “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Furniture”
O teak!
You delight of clients’ wives,
refuge of architects,
and the dot over the “i” of honoraria.
You fiendishly indestructible and shitty brown.
You are so Asiatic Company-like and so noble
that you cannot even stand being painted in a vibrant color,
so full of virtues that you can only be shown nude
as God, in a moment of genius, created you,
sexless, boring, as costly as virtue itself.
Neither a knot nor a crack on you can make little girls and boys
think that not everything is the same at both ends.
Together with stainless steel and reinforced concrete
you stand as the trinity of the times.
Banks, corporations, and savings and loans worship you.
You are the symbol of all manner of consolidated semi-education,
the discrete advertisement for the suitable height of our tax bracket
and the corresponding excellence of our neighborhood.
Once you were an honorable maritime material,
intended to withstand storm and salt water.
Now you have been raised to the pedestal of taste.
Now even bank customers,
who themselves must pay the price,
fall on their knees before the totem pole of teak.
*
Humble and touching pine,
which can rot in decent fashion,
which must not show its dirty hue at any price,
which modestly wears the painter’s color –
Let us be old fashioned together and out of touch with the times.
Our chance will come again, sooner or later.
— Poul Henningsen (1894-1967), Danish author, architect and critic, written Oct. 28, 1953
“New, new, new, just for the sake of newness, for the sake of the sales’ curve, in order to make people throw away the old things before they have served their time. Not so long ago we looked for a better form, now we only have to find a new one.”
— Poul Henningsen (1894-1967), Danish author, architect and critic
