It is a melancholly Proſpect to view the Royal Foreſts; almoſt all diſmantled; in many ſcarce a Stick left: There is indeed one Advantage, Tyrannical Monarchs may for the future hunt in Safety, where there is not a ſingle Tree to glance an Arrow at them. The Diminution in the Article of Timber Trees, within leſs than this half Century, is no leſs peculiar than deplorable.
To ſee thoſe encreaſing Funds for future Shipping totally ſunk, and no Care taken to raiſe others, muſt ſenſibly affect every Engliſh Heart, who knows that his Nation’s Safety conſiſts in her Wooden Walls: With ſome of which our honeſt Timber-Merchants, even in this Time of Scarcity, have ſupplied our Enemies; and which may perhaps embolden the French to make an Attempt upon the Land where their Veſſels grew. (more…)
An Account of the Manner of bending Planks in His Majeſty’s Yards at Deptford, &c. by a Sand-heat, invented by Captain Cumberland. By Robert Cay, Eſq;
The place, where the Planks lie to be ſoftened in the Stove, is between two Brick-Walls; of ſuch a length, height, and diſtance from each other, as ſuffice to admit the largeſt, or to hold a good number of the ſmaller Sort: the bottom is of thick Iron Plates, ſupported by ſtrong Bars; under the middle of which, are two Fire-places, whoſe Flews carry the Flame towards the Ends.
The Planks are laid in Sand; the loweſt about ſix or eight Inches above the Iron-Plates, they are well cover’d with the Sand, and Boards laid over all, to keep in the Heat. The Sand is moiſtened with warm Water, (for which purpoſe they have a Cauldron adjoyning to the Stove) and if the Timber be large, and intended to be very much bent, ſo that it muſt lie long in the Stove, they water the Sand again, once in 8 or 10 Hours. (more…)
Now that I have completed the first and most intense step of editing and annotating the raw transliteration manuscript for “To Make as Perfectly As Possible: Roubo on Furniture Making,” aka R2, my attentions will turn to and eventually be dedicated solely to the full pedal-to-the-metal effort to bring VIRTUOSO to fruition.
This does not mean our labors on R2 are done; far from it. Instead it means that my time with it will be episodic but perhaps even more intense periodically than the last half-year of my nearly all-Roubo-all-the-time life as Michele, Philippe and I revise and reconcile each other’s modifications to the work. In addition, I need to integrate the observations and suggestions from my readers Bob, Mike and Martin on things that need to be clarified or augmented.
But, the first draft is complete and sitting in the 3″-thick file folder next to my chair, awaiting only my entering of the last sections into the computer for sending off into the ether. About two-thirds is already there, with the remaining third flowing in several sections at a time almost every day.
This process will continue behind the curtain for months through the Lost Art Press editing, Wesley’s design and our galley-proof-review process some time next autumn, when we will once again wash our hands of the project in order to consign it to you and to move on ourselves.
In the meantime, beginning next week I will be stomping down on the gas for the Studley manuscript, weaving the many threads already extant with ones yet to be spun out of my notebook and Narayan’s photo gallery then deposited onto the screen, crafting a volume we hope will achieve some interest in the market.
This will be an exciting and somewhat disorienting time, as I will be ratcheting way back on the energies necessary for R2 to refocus and allow myself a pretty complete dedication to this new franchise. If I find myself crafting impossible syntax into 300-word sentences I will know that the reorientation is not yet complete. All of this is occurring against the backdrop of a time when Lost Art Press seems to be going into hyperdrive with excellent and desirable new volumes in the coming few dozen months.
This new endeavor includes many exciting opportunities, twists and turns, and I will certainly apprise you of them as they emerge.
The paper is to be very plain, sufficiently brief, and is intended to lead to practical results; but whether such intention succeeds will, as usual, depend on the obedience and sympathy of those to whom it is addressed.
I was asked the other day to make a set of shelves to hold a few books, and while engaged in the work I determined to jot down a few notes upon those pitfalls which would beset an amateur not quite up to the mark who might undertake a similar job. To an onlooker nothing can be more simple and apparently easy than to cut out and put together a plain set of shelves, especially if they are to be nailed together; yet not a few make a terrible mess of it. (more…)
The last project for the “Campaign Furniture” book isn’t really a piece of campaign furniture. It’s a fairly close reproduction of a Kaare Klint “Safari Chair” in mostly black. Black leather, black-dyed mahogany and silver hardware. I left the strapping in its natural vegetable-tanned color for a little relief from the black.
Today I installed all the leather and strapping to the chair. Ty Black, my former shop assistant, was nice enough to stitch the arms and part of the back for me. Thanks Ty.
I included the chair in the book because the Safari Chair is one of the important links between the Victorians and modernism. It’s also a link between my book having typos and having fewer typos. I’m trading this chair for some editing on the book.
