Popular Woodworking 2007-02 № 160, страница 15

Arts & Mysteries

The Soul and Basis of Our Art

How to design furniture like an 18th-century cabinetmaker.

I design my own furniture here at my workbench with a pair of dividers. I like designing this way, but I really don't like having to clear my workbench to do it. This year's articles will detail the construction of a standing desk for my shop. I'll make this desk entirely by hand using 18th-century techniques.

I realize the way I work wood is a bit out of the ordinary. It's also true that the way I write magazine articles is out of the ordinary. Unlike typical articles, the ""Arts & Mysteries" column has year-long themes.

This year I intend to explore a simple hand-tool project in never-before-seen depth. Frankly, I've been frustrated by the "Build a Chippendale Highboy in three pages" articles. So I thought it would be helpful if you could peer into my shop as I construct something entirely by hand. For it is my understanding that very few of you have experience building projects entirely by hand, but that almost all of you use hand tools to some degree.

I've long suspected that there's a difference between using hand tools for some things and using hand tools for everything. What I see are woodworkers fitting their hand tools into factory-like paradigm s. They seek j igs for their hand saws and measure their planes' shavings with micrometers. I'm not interested in passing judgment or trying to convince anyone that my way is better. Rather, I'm keenly interested in the exploring the difference in the work styles to learn what techniques or methods are the chief contributors to success.

In the article that follows, the first in the series, I'll explain how I design furniture. I don't work from fully dimensioned project plans. Like almost everything else I do, the way I design is linked to the methods I use to

work wood. I hope you enjoy this article, and the others in this series.

Designing Furniture for Hand Tools

I design my own furniture because I don't want my woodworking limited by the avail-

by Adam Cherubini

In addition to woodworking, Adam enjoys drawing and painting. He studied art at the Fleischer Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Vis it his b log at artsandmys teries.com.

ability of someone else's measured drawings. I've spent half my life designing and drafting professionally. But I don't use these skills to design furniture. Frankly, I don't think I could achieve the dimensional accuracy required to build something "to the print." In addition, I think it's easy to get lost in the pursuit of achieving perfect dimensions and lose sight of the beautiful artwork that is period furniture. So instead, I work to proportions. I suspect this is the way most cabinetmakers actually operated in the 18th century.

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Popular Woodworking February 2007