Some Recently Completed Pieces

19th Century English Cherry Dressing Table

I have developed a bit of a backlog of photos of completed work over the past couple of months. In an effort to catch up I am showcasing some of the more interesting pieces that have come through the shop recently. Below I will describe the pieces and the work we did to them.

1. English Lath Back Windsor Chair

 This was one of my favorite chairs to ever come through the shop. It is a Lath Back Windsor made from various woods including beech and elm. It was made sometime in the middle of the 19th century. 

These chairs are great, they have great form and are very comfortable. This one had loosened up so I glued the loose joinery. The wear on the chair was wonderful, especially on the arms, so we simply cleaned and waxed the finish.

2. Four Ladderback Chairs
 
These chairs are pretty run of the mill, and were probably made around 50 years ago. I chose these to showcase the great job my caner did on the rush seats! Beyond the seats, I glued the loose joinery, and cleaned and waxed the finish.

3. Parquet Table with Draw Leaves
I have written about draw leaf table before on this blog. All of the examples that come through the shop seem to be from the early part of the 20th century. This one was made form European walnut and beech. It had a French country style, and was probably made in France or possibly another country on the European continent. This table was in pretty rough shape, so we removed the finish and refinished it with a French Polish finish.
  

 4. Walnut Breadboard End Table 
This table came from Switzerland and was made from old boards of European walnut. That being said, it was made fairly recently. I liked this table a lot because it reminded me of the first dining table I made, which was also of walnut. The finish was in bad shape, so we refinished this with a French Polish finish.
 

 5. English Cherry Dressing Table
This was a sweet little table, made from European cherry in the early part of the 19th century. Despite the cabinetmakers attempts to use good straight grained wood, the back legs had warped severely! Because it was stable and there is no real way to fix this, I left them as is. This piece was refinished with a French Polish finish.

6. Walnut Drop Leaf Table
This table had some beautiful walnut veneer, as seen in the photo below. It was made in the 1930s and I refinished it with a French Polish and found a new walnut knob for the drawer.

7. Reproduction John Shaw Four Drawer Chest
This chest was a lovely reproduction of  a chest made by John Shaw (1745- 1829), a cabinet maker from Annapolis, Maryland. The reproduction was made by Biggs Furniture of Richmond, Virginia. The chest, like the original, had beautiful crotch mahogany on the drawer fronts. Quite a lovely piece, reproduction or not!

8. Mahogany Display Stand
 
This stand had a lot of work put into it. The top was edged with inlayed banding, some of which was missing and we had to recreate. We also glued the loose joinery, replaced some of the glass, covered the bottom with felt, and refinished the entire case.
  

 

 

I am sure I have more photos like these so I will probably be putting together another post soon of pieces that were recently restored.

American Empire Chest of Drawers (ca. 1830)

The Completed Chest

I have written a fair amount about American Empire period furniture on this blog. This furniture was produced from around 1830 to around 1860. The use of thin veneers of crotch mahogany over a substrate of a cheaper domestic wood, in this case pine, allowed for an inexpensive means of mass produced furniture with fantastic results. In the case of this chest, every surface was veneered, including the sides and top. Where it mattered most, like the top and drawer fronts, sequenced pieces of fancy crotch veneer were used in a bookmatched pattern to display the dramatic grain of mahogany.

This piece was made using a mixture of machinery, like circular saws, and hand work, like hand cut dovetails. To me, one of the most interesting aspects of this period is seeing the introduction of mass production techniques and what the craftsmen could accomplish with the use of machines and what was still necessary to do by hand. As the 19th century progressed, more of  these procedures were accomplished with the use of machines, culminating in the machine made dovetail (ca. 1900). During the American Empire period, most of the work was still done by hand.

The chest was in pretty rough shape. The finish had darkened and deteriorated to the point that it became necessary to remove the finish and put a new French Polish on it. The case and drawers also needed work, both on structural and cosmetic levels. Below are a few photos of the piece with the finish removed.

In this photo, you can see the second long drawer down is in askew. This is due to the missing interior runners that would work as guides and support for the drawer. Also note the missing escutcheons on the two center long drawers.

 The top of the case as well as the top of the glove drawers were veneered with bookmatched crotch mahogany, like the drawers. The top of the case had developed a significant crack along the grain. The glove box top had warped severely as well

 

The case sides, veneered with straight grain mahogany, were also cracked.

 This photo shows the stretcher between the ogee drawer and the lower long drawer removed. The glue had failed and re-gluing this tightened up the case quite a bit. The following photo shows the stretcher being glued.

 

 

 These next two photos show the top of the glove drawers  being glued and straightened. Jesse, who did this repair, came up with some clever clamping!

 

 The crack in the top (seen in the next photo) was patched by means of wedges that were inserted and then, once the glue was dried, carved down flush with the surface of the top. The entire repair was later touched up.

       

The existing interior runners were significantly worn, so they were removed. The wear flattened with a hand plane (as seen in the next photo) and the runners were put back in place. The missing interior runners mentioned above were made using old pine stock and fit to the case.

These next two photos show the drawers in case while finish was being applied. Note the brass escutcheons in the drawers. Two were missing and replaced.

The remaining photos show the completed chest. Jesse took some interesting photos of the case with a filter on, making the piece appear darker. I included these because they show the dramatic grain of the crotch mahogany.

Plastic Injection Molded Chair (2014)

The Completed Chair

The Plastic Chair. It is everywhere. Gracing the lawns of America. Trainspotters in Sandy Hook, Maryland keep their soot covered chairs close to the tracks. Every Metro stop in Potomac, Maryland has a plastic courtesy chair probably placed by a good Samaritan. New, old, clean, dirty, broken, whole, they are everywhere.

Tracing the history of this ubiquitous piece of furniture in the minds of some goes back to the mid 20th century. Going back further two distinct ideas were formed that later coalesced. The first was the formed chair.

This innovation can be seen as far back as the mid 19th century, in the furniture of John Henry Belter of New York, NY. Belter created the backs for his chairs by laminating veneers of Rosewood over a shaped form. after the glue had set, the laminations retained the form. Belter would also turn the orientation of the laminations to give the backs strength, In essence creating the first plywood (although out of much fancier woods than used today.)

Below is an example of the formed back of a Belter chair:

Here is a link to a Belter chair I worked on a few years ago:

http://johnmarkpower.blogspot.com/2012/10/john-henry-belter-rosalie-pattern.html

The other idea that ultimately lead to the plastic chair is the chair that can easily be mass produced. One of the first prominent attempts at this was the chair made by Michael Thonet. His bentwood chair relied on steam bending components over a form to create the lines and structure of the chair. Every part of this chair was shaped over a form to create the shape that has become Iconic. Below is an example of Thonet's Design.

On to the 20th Century, Charles Eames worked with laminations of Rosewood and Walnut to create what is now known as the Eames chair, taking a page from the earlier work of Belter. Also, Eames and other designers were working with plastics to create a chair that could be comfortable and mass produced. An example of Eames plastic chair is seen below.

 This Example, by Eero Saarinen, shows a plastic chair throughout. This was probably reinforced with metal in the wine stem base.

 The Danish designer, Verner Panton created this chair using only plastic and the process of injection molded chair.

 In July of 2004, Mariana Gosnell wrote a fascinating article for the Smithsonian Magazine on the plastic chair entitled Everybody Take A Seat. In it she traces the work of Eames, Saarinen, and Panton as they worked towards the idea of the plastic chair that we have today. 

For a glimpse of just how easy it is to create this chair watch this video on the chair making process:

The chair that came to my shop had its original Forest Green color and shape that was oddly reminiscent of the helmet of Darth Vader. It was quite dirty from being outside, and needed a good cleaning. Here is a photo of the chair as it came to my shop.

      

The chair was very loose and needed to be tightened. Because of its shape, several different clamps needed to be used.

After the clamps were removed, The chair was cleaned with a little water, and was ready for delivery. Below are a few photos of the restored chair in all of its glory.

In researching this article, I found the following photo on Facebook. This one goes out to all the Bostonian readers of the blog:

I hope you have enjoyed this post about the plastic chair and all of its various influences and the next time you sit in yours, think upon the many hands and minds that worked towards that fine piece of furniture.

Happy April Fools Day from all of us at John Mark Power Antiques Restoration!