Popular Woodworking 2007-04 № 161, страница 19

used a fore or jack plane for roughing, a long try plane for flattening and a smooth plane to achieve the finished surface. Anglo-American woodworkers in the 18th century did not use anything resembling a scrub plane. By the end of the century, finish carpenters called joiners used several long planes.

Technique

We know very little about the specific stock preparation techniques of the 18th century. We have two documentary sources written just before and just after the century: Joseph Moxon's "Mechanick Exercises" (1678) and Peter Nicholson's "The Mechanic's Companion" (1831). The techniques discussed are similar and would sound familiar to you. Anglo-American workmen probably started with j ack or fore planes, followed with longer trying planes, then finished the surface with smoothing planes. They used winding sticks to detect twist in the faces of boards. They straightened edges with their long planes.

Stock

Eighteenth-century craftsmen purchased lumber much as commercial shops do today,

When I'm working wide stock for a carcase side, I don't worry if the stock is cupped or twisted a little. I can usually straighten the stock with the dovetails. If I tried to plane out a cup, I'd lose a lot of thickness and the cup would come back.

The basic tools for 18th-century stock preparation include these three planes: the try plane (left), jack or fore plane (middle) and the smoother (right). Eighteenth-century craftsmen undoubtedly valued planes that took coarse shavings. Modern plane makers have focused on making tools for smoothing regardless of their length or configuration. This is approach is detrimental for basic hand-tool stock prep.

buying an entire tree's worth at a time. Pitsaw operations in the 18th-century were able to produce lumber in the same thicknesses and in roughly the same surface qualities as modern rough-sawn lumber. Craftsmen had no need to plane 2"-thick boards down to ³/4".

Surface Quality

Extant surfaces vary from undressed, rough-sawn surfaces, to quite nicely smoothed surfaces. I've maintained that exterior surfaces were always fairer than interiors. Effort was placed where it had the most impact on the style-conscious public. But recent examinations are causing me to reconsider. Centuries of refinishing have caused exteriors to be smoother now than they were originally. Also, interiors of early Philadelphia mahog-

Williamsburg's housewrights, who include journeyman carpenter Ted Boscana, can quickly produce dimensional lumber with pitsaws. The surfaces produced with these saws are surprisingly comparable to those from modern band saw mills.

any pieces are surprisingly fair. It could be that both exterior and interior surfaces were given the exact same attention. But the John Townsend (of Goddard and Townsend fame) pieces I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last year clearly showed very rough interiors, backs and undersides. These pieces were made for very wealthy customers. Furniture with rough interiors does not necessarily correspond to second-quality furniture, nor second-quality shops. Judging from period furniture alone, it appears the effort expended on any given piece of wood varied

This is one of the legs for my desk. It will have mortises at the top and bottom so this stock cannot be twisted. The twist or wind must be removed. Winding sticks help me find where the board is twisted. Any two sticks will do. This is the next step in facing this leg stock.

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