Taunton's
Complete Illustrated Guide to Period Furniture Details
by
Lonnie Bird
Softcover
235 x 275mm
138pp
Published by The Taunton Press, Connecticut, USA.
R.R.P.$34.90
ISBN 1-56158-590-4
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 121
Often it’s the details that make or break a reproduction piece of period furniture, but the manufacture of ornate mouldings, cabriole legs, scrolls, rosettes and similar items is rarely covered in modern woodworking books. Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Period Furniture Details endeavours to fill this void.
The book specifically covers detailing found on 18th Century American period furniture, but the techniques can be adapted to English and European designs. In any case, as the author points out, the publication is a guide only, as there are far too many variations to be covered in even a series of books.
Most of the original details were made with handtools. In Period Furniture Details a variety of options are given where applicable. The tools required vary from handtools such as a home-made scratch-stock and a No.55 Universal Plane to machines such as shapers, router tables and home-made jigs for portable routers.
The first section covers ogee, cove, beaded, crown and dentil mouldings, made with hand tools or with the table saw and router table. Mouldings can be shaped from thick stock, formed on thin stock and set at an angle to create the desired effect or laminated from smaller sections.
Tapered, turned, offset turned and cabriole legs are described in the next section. These require a bandsaw and/or lathe. In some cases hand shaping is required to achieve the final design.
Topics relating to table tops include forming an ellipse, a variety of edges including a scalloped top, forming a dished top which has a raised perimeter and making the ruled joint commonly found in drop-leaf designs. The router is the main tool used for this work.
Most feet are carved though in some instances the bandsaw can be used for initial shaping to speed up the process. The book describes the making of pad, ball and claw, triffid, bracket and ogee feet.
Octagonal section bedposts are formed either on the shaper/router table or with handtools. The end of the octagonal taper will require some cleaning up and a traditional treatment is the carving of the 'lamb's tongue' detail.
The section on chairs deals with elements of traditional chair construction. These include splats, arm and post detail, chamfering and rounding curved chair legs, carving a volute and a shell, the chair shoe (the strip of wood on top of the back seat rail that accepts the bottom of the splat) and the side rail joints.
The last and biggest section is titled Casework and covers a wide variety of items including template shaped details; carved goosenecks, rosettes and flame finials; fluted and reeded legs, base and capital mouldings, and lipped doors.
In addition to text written in an easy-to-read style, the book is heavily illustrated with clear colour photographs showing most of the contruction steps involved. Line drawings are also included where appropriate.
If you have any interest in period furniture and wondered 'how did they?' or 'how could I?', then Period Furniture Details is an essential reference book for your library and your workshop.
About the author: Lonnie Bird was a long-time contributing editor to American Woodworker and frequently contributes to Fine Woodworking. For many years, Bird ran a university woodworking program. He lives in Dandridge, Tennessee, where he makes 18th-century furniture and operates a woodworking school.
Photos: Colour
Units of Measurement: Imperial
Contents
Introduction
Section
1: Moldings
Ogees
Coves
Beads
Crown Moldings
Dentil Moldings
Section
2: Legs
Tapers
Knee Blocks
Cabriole Leg
Section
3: Tabletops
Scalloped Top
Dished Top
Rule Joints
Section
4: Feet
Pad Foot
Trifid Foot
Ball and Claw Foot
Flat Base
Ogee
Feet
Section
5: Bedposts
Bedposts
Section
6: Chairs
Splats
Arm and Post
Chair Legs
Chair Shoe
Side Rails
Section
7: Casework
Dovetails
Template Shaped Components
Gooseneck Molding
Arched
Molding
Rosettes
Finials
Doors
Flutes and Reeds
Base and Capital
Molding
Candle-Slide
Index