Templates have been in use for a very long time, probably as long as people have been making things, simply because they are the best way to transfer shapes with repeatable accuracy. Wheelwrights used them to lay out curved wheel parts (felloes), coopers for shaping tapered barrel staves, and carpenters for anything from fancy stair trim to porch brackets. Even centuries ago, furniture makers used patterns as I do today: for laying out the shapely curves of a pleasing table leg or case foot, for chair legs, the serpentine curve of a tabletop, and more. An indication of how much patterns were relied upon – and just one of many examples – is in the unique shape of cabriole legs,...
The spring-pole lathe operates on a very simple principle. A cord is tied to the tip of a sapling fastened overhead, which connects to a treadle on the floor after wrapping around the workpiece. As the treadle is depressed, the work rotates toward the turner to engage cutting, also pulling the sapling down into tension. When the treadle is released, the sapling snaps the treadle back up into position, ready for another cut. This back-and-forth pumping enables the turner to cut 50 percent of the time. Although it’s not as efficient as a continuous-motion lathe, I wouldn’t call this work slow. It’s hard to do any hot-dogging with foot power, but a steady rhythm does get the job done. One...
When we take an idea and fashion it out of wood we endeavor to make the intangible tangible. More importantly, we try to make it useful. Shaker craftsmen held that “any thing may, with strict propriety, be called perfect, which perfectly answers the purpose for which it was designed.” Perfection, then, lies somewhere in the relationship between a thing and its purpose, between the idea and the end result. We can point to it even if it cannot be precisely defined. Perfection is suggested by the paint that is chipped away from the table leg by the feet of those who have eaten dinner there. –Jim McConnell, excerpt from “On Perfection: Both Practical & Practiced,” in The First Three Issues...
How can we begin to make sense of 18th-century ornament? To begin with, we must experience it. Yes, that sounds strange, but in order to gain real insight into these lines, figures, and shapes, we need to go beyond careful observation and recreate them through drawing. As soon as you put pencil to paper, a whole world of detail, previously unnoticed, reveals itself. Consequently, the same happens once you go from drawing to carving or to careful observation of original objects – the transition from two to three dimensions and from paper to wood is equally revealing. It’s not necessary to draw entire pieces from pattern books. In fact, it’s best not to at first. For more than a decade,...
Nearly all measurement systems (old and new) are rooted in the measurements of the body, known as anthropometric measures. The cause is obvious – when a craftsperson needed to carry a measurement from one piece to another, or remember a length for later use, comparison to a body part was the most accessible means of doing so. There are a few exceptions I know of to this fact. For one, the origins of the meter lie in the decimal-obsessed attempt to arrive at a measure based on the Earth’s dimensions. Cartographers and mathematicians arrived at the meter, which was roughly one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, measured along the meridian that passed through Paris....
At looong last, The First Three Issues, our hardbound republication of Issues 1-3 has arrived from the printer, and holy smokes is it gorgeous. This thing is hefty… heftier than we even envisioned. And in a totally glorious way. The title and wax seal on the dustjacket are embossed (raised) and glossy and pop right off the cover photograph. But Mike C swears the die stamp on the cloth is even more beautiful. In my mind, it’s a toss-up. Either way, this thing is impressive. The book is nearly 500 pages in length and flipping through it is quite an experience. I have to confess that it overwhelmed me to see all that we were able to publish in...
Back in June, our massive hardbound republication of Issues One through Three went to the printer. The files were promptly approved, and the book went to the press without hitch. But behind the scenes of book manufacturing is always a complicated matter. There’s back and forth with our printer and the press team. We sometimes get pulled into their discussions about the optimal way to make our books, but most of the technical discussions are handled for us. On our end, for the most part, things feel pretty seamless. Then, in normal times, the books arrive at our storage facility six to eight weeks later via freight truck. These are not normal times. If you read the Lost Art Press...
Roman workbenches belong to a class of furniture that historian Victor Chinnery called “staked” or “with stake feet.” Essentially it is a platform of thick wood with legs driven into the plank, like tent stakes. The staked feet make construction a cinch (bore holes, drive in the legs and wedge them). But what is more interesting to a workbench nerd such as myself is the benchtop itself. First off, it’s low. The benchtop is right below your kneecap. There are no vises, but there is a series of holes bored into it. The pattern of holes seems random at first, but after working with these benches for several months the holes began to make sense. Some of the holes restrained...
In many respects the “conservation ideal” is contained in the Code of Ethics for the American Institute for Conservation, an organization formed to promote the knowledge and practices of the profession. Quoting from the code: “Conservation of historic and artistic works is a pursuit requiring extensive training and special aptitudes. It places in the hands of the conservator cultural holdings which are of great value and historical significance. To be worthy of this special trust requires a high sense of moral responsibility. Whether in private practice or on the staff of an institution or regional center, the conservator has obligations not only to the historic and artistic works with which he is entrusted, but also to their owners or custodians,...
Would you say hand tools are slower than power tools? That is totally dependent upon the “programming” of the operator. A person using hand tools can produce a piece of furniture just as fast, if not faster, than a person using power tools provided that the wielder of the hand tools thinks the appropriate way. There is virtually no need to four-square boards for the hand-tool woodworker; we just make a reference edge and face before making the other side look “good enough.” We don’t have to make test cut after test cut to set up a router table; we grab a molding plane with the shape coded in and go to town. If your try plane is appropriately sharp...
