Popular Woodworking 2009-08 № 177, страница 15

Arts & Mysteries

shallow slep on the outside of the rails in preparation for a small moulding that will decorate the top edge of the rails. The cross section ofthe moulding is delicate and elliptical, as is typical of this period-

Decorative Carving

1 finished the loweredges ofthe seat rails with some decorative scroll work. 1 freehanded the shape on one side rail Lhen traced it onto the other. On I he period chair I'm usingas inspiration, only the front rail's scrollwork was carved. This low-relief work, maybe only Vis' deep, didn't really set me back as much as I originally thought it might. The carvingisn't actually proud of the outer face ofthe rail. It just lookslike it is. The ground is "pillowed" rather than a consistent flat surface. It's an illusion and an effective one in my opinion.

The tops or the legs were ca rved to m atch the moulding at the top ofthe seat rails and also to match the rabbet for the seat. Mahogany is a very easy wood to work, so this job was fairly simple. 1 sawed as much as I could ofthe rabbet and simply chopped the wood away using a sharp chisel. The rounded inside cornerof the rabbet, which is telegraphed to the outer moulding and in turn lo Lhe front ofthe leg, may have served an important function

If the slip seat had sharp corners, the upholstery would wear quickly there. Though I doubt the upholstery could have rivaled the cost of the original chair, it prob-ablycould have gottencloserthanone might think. An expensive imported silkdamask may have been chosen to adorn a chair like this. Reducing wear on the topcloth would have been anappreciated design feature.

Cleanup ahead. Guiding a hollow plane with my fingers allowed me to get close to lhe shape I wanted. This is a quick process, taking less than a minute. But the finished moulding (see the opening photo) will need lo get cleaned up with a gouge or scraper. Looking a t period chairs hasn't convinced me this isn't exactly how this moulding was cut. The moulding', change shape in a way that tells me they weren't merely the result of a plane.

Traditional Cross-grain Approach

With the chair dry fit together, I turned my attention to the knee returns, I labeled them "knee blocks'ina previous articleand while there is no hard and fast convention, knee block can also refer the to the reinforcing glue blocks behind the knees (a.k.a. glue blocks). Forthe most part, the knee returns on Philadelphia chairs have their grain oriented vertically, parallel to the leg. This is also usually true of lower chests on "highboys" (high chests) and "lowboys" (dressing tables) with cabriole legs from this period. Because the siock must be as thick as the leg stock, and in this case wider (a full 3"), these blocks are sometimes comprised of a couple laminations. And just because I know someone's going to ask: Yes, some

times the laminat ions that m ake up t he knee blocks have grain running at right angles. Yes, t here's no way to account for cross-grain movement and there doesn't seem to have been any attempt made. Yes, every incarnation of these are known to have suffered somedamage. They pop loose fromtheside rails when the railsshrinkup.The laminated bLocks delaminaie. It'sa tricky design wiLh no clear-cut solution. What I'm showing is a typical approach.

The Challenge of Carved Knees

The kneesofthischair will be richly carved, as you sawin the last issue. Those carvings will extend lo the knee blocks that, if you recall, were attached to the leg in the last article.

This is an issue with which I'm really struggling. The reasons we showed that leg with the knee returns attached are: 1) lt'seasiertocarve the knee with the leg off the chair and the knee returns attached. 2) There's no evidence of gouge misses on the seat rails ofthe originals.

The carvings at the tops of the knee returns come very close to the rails. We're spec ul ati ng t hat t hey must have h i l the seat rails once in awhile, yet no such marks are evident. Overcuts, gouge marks, rasp marks and othertool inarksare evident elsewhere Why not here? Iflhe chairs were relinished (they almost always are), why didn't the

imperfect is OK. The tops ofthe legs were carved to match the moulding and the rabbet. With the rabbet finished, I've reassembled my chair to finish the fillet or step before shaping t tie curved moulding. This is all just chisel work; it's not difficult or time consuming. None of my work is perfect, but the originals aren't either. None of us will get better at this sort of stuff unless we try it.

Proud illusion. C-scrolls decorated the front seat rail ofthe chair I'm copying. By fairing the surrounding "ground" into the stabbed-in upper edge of the scroll, period chairmakers created the illusion that the C-scrolls were proud ofthe surface ofthe rail. They were not.

20 m Popular Wood working August 2009