On November 14 &15 I’ll be back at the Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe in York, Pennsylvania to teach the first of two classes devoted to the design, structure, and carving of a basket of flowers cartouche of the type seen on mid-18th century high chests and double-chests made in Philadelphia. Less than a dozen original … Continue reading “A Tisket A Tasket”
Woodworking
Gadrooning Redux
Recently I was searching for information and images of round corner card tables and came across this recent blog post. http://bringbackthehandtools.blogspot.com/2014/03/gadrooning.html I had never seen the blog before but immediately recognized the cropped image of a seat rail. It is an armchair in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Several additional images can … Continue reading Gadrooning Redux
Dressing Table Restoration Part 4, Legs
The surviving rear leg on the dressing table was used as a model for shaping and carving two new front legs and one new rear leg. While only the sides of the rear legs had carving on the knees, the carving on the front legs wrapped around the knee completing the bilateral design. The matching … Continue reading Dressing Table Restoration Part 4, Legs
Dressing Table Restoration, Part 3, Corners
With the modern legs removed, the tenons of the front rail and sides are revealed. There are four separate tenons on the side board, the bottom tenon flush with the bottom of the side and the top tenon (the top tenon is cropped out of this photo) begins a half an inch below the top. … Continue reading Dressing Table Restoration, Part 3, Corners
“Mahogany Drawers With fret & Dentels”
The high chest with the paper label of Thomas Tufft in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has not been web published to date but is on display in the American Art galleries in the museum. The carved fronds that would have spiraled off the volutes of the scroll mouldings are missing and … Continue reading “Mahogany Drawers With fret & Dentels”
In Proportion to the Trouble 