Comments on: Do You See What I See?

By: Milford

Milford — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:23:04 +0000

Old southern cabinetmakers weren’t the only ones to nail drawer bottoms on – old Japanese tansu-makers did the same, except that they used wooden pegs as nails, probably “drilling” holes for them with one of the long square-tipped gimlets that is spun between the user’s palms, which can be found on the Hida Tool website (hidatool.com) in the Bamboo section. And no, the pegs weren’t bamboo as many assume, because that would spell disaster for the blade of a plane used to trim the drawer bottom smooth. Find more in the Heinekens’ book Tansu if interested. The pegs weren’t always a permanent fastening, though, because it’s not uncommon to find ones now in which small nails have been added.

By: johnMTO

johnMTO — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:15:56 +0000

This book makes me think of a visit to Mount Vernon three years ago. While checking out the furniture, it became clear that my folks had three reproductions ( probably from the 50′s) of pieces in Mount Vernon. I’m lucky to still have these and plan to restore them soon. Only minor cosmetics and a few straight forward repairs are needed.

I’ve looked for some time for a book that might be dedicated to the furniture in Mount Vernon. Any suggestions?

It seems every other aspect of George Washington’s life and possessions is thoroughly covered, almost to a fault.

Thanks
John O

By: Robert W. Lang

Robert W. Lang — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:53:49 +0000

And American history in general has been written from a New England/Philadelphia point of view. In the time period we’re looking at (before 1820 +/-)if you were 100-150 miles from the coast in Massachusetts or Pennsylvania you were likely to be alone and in the wilderness. 100-150 miles inland in North Carolina or Virginia was more populous and civilized.

Bob Lang

By: Justin Tyson

Justin Tyson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:41:48 +0000

I can’t wait for this book. Furniture books and magazines have focused on New England and Shaker furniture for so long, it’s easy to forget that southerners also needed objects to sit down on, and eat at, and to store clothing in.

By: woodgeek

woodgeek — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:02:49 +0000

Looking forward to reading this book.

And, I had a thought on nailing drawer bottoms from below. Based on how we’ve been “taught” to do things it doesn’t seem right. But getting past dogmatic narrow-mindedness, it’s easy to see why it would work. I’m assuming that the carpenter used cut nails and we know how well cut nails hold in wood. And, nails also allow wood a little room to move with seasonal expansion where a glued joint might want to split the drawer bottom. If that drawer bottom is still attached after 200 years, I’d say it’s a valid technique. It’s also much faster than cutting grooves in the drawer sides or fashioning drawer slips. = )

regards,
Dave

By: Bowyerboy

Bowyerboy — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:27:06 +0000

That is a book I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on. You guys hurry up every chance you get.

I think that as hobbyist we tend to look at the life of former cabinet makers with rose tinted glasses. Something along the line of “boy wouldn’t it be great to spend all day every day in the shop” thought process. We forget that time was money to them then as it is now. I’m sure sometimes they had to just get product out the door. Also, our ancestors weren’t dummies. (Well, not ALL of them anyway.) They might have known that their so called tricks and shortcuts would hold up just fine.