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Part Two: Planting and Nurturing the Seeds of 'To Make As Perfectly As Possible'

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Part Two: Philippe LaFargue entered my studio as a post-graduate intern from Ecole Boulle. Since intern abuse is not in my blood (I know, it makes me a bad fit for Washington, D.C.) I refrained from having him do anything more than translate the Table of Contents of “L’Art du Menuisier” and tell me about some of the sections on marquetry.

The Seed that Pop planted, Philippe nurtured.

Fast forward to 2009. My old friend and colleague Michele Pagan, a textiles conservator, had begun working with me to develop some innovative upholstery conservation techniques the year before. On our way back from the lunch room one day she stopped to talk to another colleague and the conversation revolved around some translation Michele was doing of a French dye treatise. Suddenly a very bright light went on in my head.

I was starting to work on a monograph about historic finishing and wanted to know about some odd tools represented in Roubo plate 296. Could she help explain what they were used for?

After looking at the plate in the gigantic volume, she said, “Sure.” She did, and the rest is history.

The Seed that Pop Schindler planted and Philippe nurtured was brought to fruition by Michele’s translation.

Last fall we pitched a wild idea to Chris Schwarz and he graciously agreed to partner with us in bringing Roubo to the modern cabinetmaker. Rather than translating, annotating and interpreting the whole of “L’Art du Menuisier,” we decided to focus on, well, the parts that interested me. Some time late next year we will present the first of the Lost Art Press volumes, which will contain the following sections (you can refer to original page numbers):

“To Make As Perfectly As Possible: Roubo on Marquetry”

An Essay on Appreciating and Measuring the Value of Hand Work p1242 -1254

Conclusion of the Art of Carpentry p1255-1264

The different woods appropriate for veneering pp766-814
Section I: Description of “Wood from India” and its qualities, relative to cabinetry;
Section II: French woods appropriate for cabinetry
Section III: Different dye compositions appropriate for tinting wood and the manner of using them
Section IV: Thinning of wood for veneer-making
  Description of tools of veneering
Section V: Appropriate carcass construction for veneering, their manner of construction

Simple Veneering: general instructions pp. 815-865
Section I: Various Kinds of Compositions
  a. Manner of cutting and adjusting straight pieces and tools for same
  b. Manner of cutting and adjusting curved pieces and tools for same
Section II: Manner of gluing parquetry veneer
  a. Finishing of veneer and different types of polish

Ornate Veneering, called mosaic or painted wood pp. 866-897
Section I: Principal rules of perspective absolutely necessary for cabinet makers
Section II: Manner of cutting, shadowing and mounting wooden ornaments
  a. Manner of engraving and finishing wooden ornaments
Section III: Representing flowers, fruits, landscape and figures in wood

About the 3rd type of veneering in general (aka Boullework-DCW) pp. 982-1031
Section I: Description of different materials for construction of the 3rd type of veneering
Section II: The skills one uses in the 3rd type of veneering
Section III: How to work the different materials used in marquetry, such as tortoise shell, ivory, horn etc
Section IV: How to construct marquetry and how to finish it

Some time in 2013 we hope to present the second offering, which will (tentatively) contain these portions:

“To Make As Perfectly As Possible: Roubo on Furniture Making”

Proper wood for furniture making pp. 22-39

Different ways of assembling wood pp. 45-48

Proper tools for furniture makers: different types, forms and uses pp. 49-89

Drafting and gluing pp. 273-291
Section I: how to take measurements
Section II: About wood glues

Furniture-Making in general pp. 600-633

Chair making pp. 634 – 664

Making case furniture pp. 743-765

Tools and machines for furniture making pp. 898-981

This project is indeed a labor of love for us, and we render our deepest thanks to the cohort of friends and colleagues who are helping to make it happen. I hope you will find useful what we make of it. Let’s hope we finish it before it finishes us!

— Don Williams

Coming in 2011: Andre Roubo's 'L'Art du Menusier'

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“To Make As Perfectly As Possible” by Donald C. Williams and Michele P. Pagan

Andre Roubo’s 1769 “L’Art du Menusier” is one of the most important Western works on woodworking. Roubo, a learned man and a Master Cabinetmaker, chronicled the craft and its tools from the unique perspective of a practicing menusier (woodworker). Yet until now his five-volume masterwork has never been translated into English.

Lost Art Press is pleased to announce that we will publish the first of two volumes of Roubo in 2011 (the second in 2013) that have been translated into English and annotated by a special three-person team that possesses unique knowledge of the history of woodworking and the language, history, craft and skills of 18th-century France. Our title for these volumes, “To Make as Perfectly as Possible,” is taken from a phrase Roubo used repeatedly in his exhortations to excellence.

As a result, these two volumes – one on marquetry and the other on furniture making – will be more than a simple transliteration of the text. These books aim to capture the spirit and intent of Roubo, explain the processes in language that a modern woodworker can understand and (in some cases) fill in the gaps of knowledge that Roubo assumed his readers would have.

Work on this project is well underway. And after reading more than 80 pages of the team’s initial work, I can tell you that it is mind-blowing and is easily the most important publishing project I have ever been involved in.

The Team and its Work

The translation process begins with Michele P. Pagan, a Washington, D.C.,-based textiles conservator with more than 20 years experience in preservation of historic materials. Ms. Pagan has previously translated conservation and other historical and technical materials privately for colleagues.

Pagan translates Roubo as verbatim as possible, making no alterations to the original syntax unless that renders it incomprehensible. This is the best way to capture both the information and the flavor of the original.

Then the text goes to Donald C. Williams, an internationally recognized furniture conservator, educator, writer and scholar who has been employed for more than two decades by the nation’s largest cultural institution in Washington, D.C. He is the co-author of the highly successful “Saving Stuff” (Fireside: Simon & Schuster, 2005), and is an expert furniture-maker, marqueter and finisher (his specialty is shellac).

Williams edits the text, reconfiguring it as much as necessary to make it readable to an artisan of the 21st century. He is not rewriting Roubo, but merely modifying it enough to make it comprehensible and read smoothly. He also inserts explanations of some of Roubo’s processes. Readers of this blog may be most familiar with his writings on historic finishes (especially shellac) and historical tool marks.

After a couple rounds of editing, the manuscript then goes to his colleague Philippe Lafargue who trained as a traditional chair maker at the Ecole Boulle in Paris. He is well-versed in the arcane jargon of ancient French cabinetmaking, which is fortunate since some of the phrases Roubo used are simply untranslatable otherwise. Lafargue reviews the result from the perspective of a native Frenchman and historical craftsman to make sure the new English version would meet with Roubo’s approval.

In addition to this, Williams is constructing tools and exercises contained in Roubo, combining photos with new essays on the making and using of the tools, and explaining processes that Roubo glosses over.

The Result Lost Art Press will publish two large-format hardbound volumes (the exact size has not been established), on acid-free paper with Smyth-sewn signatures. Like all Lost Art Press books, these will be produced entirely in the United States, from production to printing to binding. We have not yet determined the price.

The volumes will feature replicas of the artful original plates, plus the translated text with details of the plates inserted into the text at the appropriate place.

As this project advances we will keep you posted here on this blog. I’ve already received two extensive chapters for review and am practically sick that I cannot tell you everything I’ve learned so far. But I guarantee this: It will be worth the wait.

When we first spoke of this project, Williams stated the team’s goal as, “… to let the reader practically experience the sounds of the saws and fragrance of the wood shavings and glue pot in the shops where Roubo worked.”

They have succeeded.

— Christopher Schwarz

Leather-bound 'Joiner and Cabinet Maker' Now Available

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We now have 26 leather-bound copies of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” available for sale that will be individually lettered, signed by both Joel Moskowitz and myself and include the DVD in a sleeve that can be affixed to the book.

The leather-bound edition is $165 plus $8.50 for priority mail shipping anywhere in the United States. (Foreign orders will cost more for shipping. Contact Sharon at sharon@lostartpress.com for a quote.)

This edition is quite special. I picked up the 26 copies on Wednesday from the bindery, which is located in the basement of the Ohio Book Store, a Cincinnati institution since 1940. The two brothers who work there, Jim and Michael Fallon, have been binding books using traditional methods and materials for more than 20 years. (Their father owns Ohio Book Store.)

When I picked up the books Michael gave us a tour of the bindery and the processes he used to take our unbound copies of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” and add marbled end sheets, stout boards, a hand-aged leather cover and the gold lettering on the cover and spine.

The process uses many 19th- and early 20th-century machines (one machine was clearly once attached to a line shaft), plus many traditional tools and materials, such as hide glue and simple knives, and modern ones, such as PVA.

The 26 unbound editions had to be trimmed slightly to tidy up the edges, some of which were damaged in shipment. The books were trimmed with the guillotine. Then the books were taken to the rounder machine to have the spines rounded. This curved shape on the spine is a traditional touch and is done by pressing the spine against bar that squeezes the book, allowing the operator to shape the book to the desired shape.

A second machine squeezes the spine again to create a lip for the boards. Then the leather is trimmed to size and thickness (a tricky process that involves skilled handwork at the corners). Then the book is assembled and pressed overnight.

The foil lettering is added to the spine and cover by first creating a stamp using a Ludlow machine, which casts the stamp from lead – much like an old Linotype machine. The slug is then chucked into an arbor press. The press first debosses the leather (which simply creates an impression). Then the foil is inserted and the book is stamped again.

The work the Fallons do is very nice – I looked at a lot of their volumes before selecting them to bind these copies of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.” And if you have binding needs of your own, I highly recommend them. The prices are reasonable – I shopped around – they are fast, easy to work with and do jobs for people all over the country.

For those of you who can afford a leather-bound edition of this book, I can promise you that you will be impressed by the craftsmanship – you’ll find that the same care that we put into writing the book is also in the binding job.

— Christopher Schwarz

Patience, Efficiency, Perfection

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I’m a fairly good instructor, but there are some things I just cannot teach.

When I work with a student who keeps saying: “That’s good enough” as they put a project together, I despair. When they say: “This is just a classroom experience,” I freak out (inside).

The way I look at woodworking is that we get only one chance to get things right. Not close enough. Right. With most things in life I’m an “I’m OK, you’re OK” kind of person, but not with woodworking. Either it’s sharp or it’s dull. Either the joint is tight or it’s trash. Either the toolmarks are gone or they aren’t.

How can you teach that? I point out problems, gaps, toolmarks, but either they can see it or they cannot at that point in their lives. (Be assured that I think that sometimes people have to be ready to receive the message. And people change.)

So today, my daughter Katy and I started building a version of the Packing Box from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.” This was Katy’s idea. She volunteered to build a box for her third-grade class that would hold the class’s craft supplies. And she picked out the Packing Box as the ideal form (with hinges, a hasp and chains).

So today we trekked to my office to pick over the pine in the racks and get a good start.

I decided to introduce her to the machines today, including the jointer and planer. She wasn’t going to operate them, but she was going to understand how they worked. So we picked our wood, cut it to rough length and started milling it on the machines. I pushed. She caught.

Immediately chips started flying in my face. The dust collector was clogged.

So we stopped what we were doing and flushed the sucker out. I took the 55-gallon bin out to the dumpster. When I returned, Katy had swept up the entire area and deposited things in the garbage. It was at that moment I knew this was going to be a good day.

We milled all her stock, and she would settle for nothing less than correct. She adjusted the rip fence on the table saw to exactly 5″ (I did the ripping). When we milled the joints for the top and bottom panel, she could spy every gap and send me back to the jointer to fix the error.

When the panels went together, she adjusted all four boards in the glue-up. They were as flush as a veteran cabinetmaker’s. I didn’t even have to tell her what to do. She pushed the boards around until they were dead flush.

She pre-drilled, glued and nailed the entire carcase together by herself. I was only there to hold the boards. She became frustrated when one of the 16 cut nails split the end grain a bit.

“We have to start over,” she said.

“No, I’ll show you how to fix it,” I replied.

She wanted it done right. She didn’t want to cut corners. She wanted to do it herself. I can’t teach that. After four hours of hard work (she was drifting off to sleep over dinner), she asked: “Can we attach the bottom tonight?” I told her it would be better to wait 24 hours for the glue to cure. She replied: “I can clean the shop.”

I’m sorry to gloat here about my daughter, but this day was the best Christmas present I got.

— Christopher Schwarz

Footwork and Casework

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One of the interesting things about the “Joiner and Cabinet Maker” are the construction details you can find in almost every sentence. I’ve read the book at least six times now, and every time I dip into the text I unearth something I hadn’t seen before.

It’s not because the book is Pynchon-esque in its density. It was, after all, written for the crafty 19th-century adolescent. Instead, it’s because I’m a little different every time I read it.

For example, I’m quite enamored with the feet on the Chest of Drawers in the book. The author is open-ended about the method for creating the ogee curves on the feet, saying only that you should take your time to get them looking nice.

Then the feet are mitered at the corners and we’ll pick up the story from there:

“To strengthen the mitre, which is glued and sprigged together, a strip of wood an inch square is glued all down in the inside corner, and sprigged also to the sides. It is better to leave this corner piece a little longer than the sides, to pro­ject perhaps a quarter of an inch below them, so that if the floor on which the chest is to stand be a little uneven, a small piece may be cut off one leg or other, as may be required. They are fastened by glue and sprigs; or, which is better, by screws through the thinnest part of the sides into the chest bottom, and by a couple of sprigs driven in slanting through the upper part of the corner piece. The legs should be placed with the two faces flush with the faces of the chest at the corner. They may be farther strength­ened by two blocks of wood to each; an inch square, and as long as there is room for, glued into the corner, and sprigged both to the leg and the chest. These blocks are shewn in fig. 9. It is not usual to put in so many sprigs in making and fastening on the legs; but then they soon come off, and have to be glued and sprigged at last, with the chance of having been broken first. So Thomas thinks it best to make a good strong job of them at once.”

For me, this is interesting stuff. The people who taught me about antique furniture and the like always insisted that these glue blocks were held in only with a hide-glue rub joint. If there were nails or screws in the glue blocks, then they were added later by the owner or a ham-handed “restorer.”

Yet here we have evidence that some of the nailed glue blocks might be original. So thanks Thomas. This is another lesson I’ve learned from a 14-year old. And it’s a bit more useful than the last lesson I got from a young teen-ager (which was that my blue jeans legs should drag the floor if I wanted to be “cool”).

— Christopher Schwarz