Lost Art Press

An Interesting Joint on a Trunk

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Many of the campaign-style trunks I’ve examined are joined by through-dovetails at the corners. The trunk I built for “Campaign Furniture” uses a rabbeted joint at the corners that is reinforced with brass screws that have had their heads filed flush after assembly.

The screws are not a common joint, but they were pointed out to me on some pieces by David Silliman of Charleston, S.C., a dealer in furniture from the West Indies.

The trunk shown above, which was sold by Richard Gardner, has some interesting details for you to consider.

1. The sliding till. Many of the trunks I’ve seen have a single till at one end of the chest or nothing at all inside. This one has a till at the end and a sliding till – much like that on a tool chest. I quite like how the till extends above the rim of the lower carcase. A very efficient use of space.

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2. The corner joint. I am sure this locking joint has a name. But it is a somewhat atypical machine-made corner joint (at least in this country). The most interesting aspect of the joint is that the maker rabbeted away the corner and added a filler strip to conceal the end grain.

3. Brasses with filed screw heads. I point this out and discuss it in “Campaign Furniture,” but here is another example of screw heads that have been filed flush or mostly flush. This filing removes most of the screw’s slot. It’s a feature that shows up on many infill planes.

So as you plan your trunk, consider adding these details.

— Christopher Schwarz

Correction on the Roorkee Chair in ‘Campaign Furniture’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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One of the dimensions on page 161 of “Campaign Furniture” is incorrect. The height of the front stretcher of the Roorkee chair should be 12-1/2” from the floor, not 13-1/2”.

You can download a high-resolution pdf of the corrected page via this link. If you own the pdf of the book, you can make the correction in the text yourself (one of the beauties of having a file that is free of DRM).

Apologies for the error.

— Christopher Schwarz

Care and Skill Among Wood Workers

Posted on by fitz

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It is curious amid the day’s duties and continual bustle of woodworker’s life to watch, note and compare the different degrees of skill manifested by the various hands engaged at their machines. I say “degrees of skill,” because no two men possess and are gifted with the same inborn ability.

Casually looking at the mortiser hand, I was led to observe that his work lacked smoothness of motion. He lifted the pieces up with a jerk, shoved them on the fence with a rush, and threw them down with an air of “d— this work, anyway.”

Stepping over to his elbow I asked him ”was anything the matter, or was he not feeling well?” Really he seemed to be venting some spite on the harmless material which was passing through his hands, and judging from the way it was getting bruised and broken, he was succeeding nicely.
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How I Made the Jump

Posted on by fitz

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Having served three years at my trade as a carpenter, five years as a floor mill millwright and machine wood-worker, I made up my mind that I could do business on my own hook. I first started by doing small repair jobs, reshingling roofs, building porches, and small house additions. On this kind of work (which I did at the regular price charged by the local contractor for my own wage, and furnished a man at a profit of 25¢ per day and a small per cent on some materials furnished) I worked along for a year, and then took a contract to build an ordinary eight-room house, furnishing all the materials and labor.

I had always kept track of the cost of the labor and materials for making frames and placing materials, noting the time that it took me to do all these things. I based my estimate for the house contract on this knowledge; and on this contract I made wages for myself and a small profit. By keeping careful account of the cost of labor and material, and comparing the cost of each item with my estimate of same, I was able to tell where some were high and some low.
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This Chair Will get Me Some ‘Strange’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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The most gratifying class I teach has got to be the one on Roorkee chairs.

To be certain, there is the normal amount of “explaining how to make things out of wood” in the class. But in addition to that, we get to explore:

• Cutting and riveting leather.
• Stripping and installing steel hardware.
• Mixing shellac without a digital scale or math degree.
• HVLP spraying.
• Applying wax finishes.
• Make a three-legged stool.
• Dirty Irish songs.

Thanks to the simplicity – and genius – of these chairs, the pace of this class allows for crazy stuff. Sing a shanty. Demonstrate how to hand-stitch leather. Argue about wood species. Drink 3 liters of beer and talk about the state of woodworking.

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Today we wrapped up a four-day class on building Roorkee chairs, and the students were able to complete building all of their chairs, including finishing them with shellac and wax. They completed all of the leatherwork. And they all built three-legged stools that were not on the lesson plan. (Thank you William Ng for allowing us to do all this crazy stuff and supplying us with tools, parts and awesome doughnuts.)

But the best moment (for me) came when one of the students sat in the chair he had just completed minutes ago and said the following words:

“This,” he said, “is going to get me some strange with the wife.”

Yup, I know that’s a little rude, but until someone says it about the class you just ran, shut up.

— Christopher Schwarz