Medieval and Renaissance Furniture

by Daniel Diehl

  If you have a radial arm saw, remove some of the excess material from the face of the panel, as shown in the draw- ing of the preliminary grooves. Using a table saw necessitates turning the panel on its face; take extra care not to cut too deep or too close to the finished surface. The original implements were chisels and gouges. If you use tradition- al tools, be careful not to cut too close to the finished lines, either on the panel’s face or in the depth of the folds. Remove a few centimeters of wood with each pass; do not take a large bite.

  3. Shaping the Panel. When the bulk of excess wood has been removed, you can begin to give the folds their final shape. First be certain that the surface that will form the top of the low-lying ribs (that is, the very center of the three valleys that run the length of the panel is smooth and even). Plane this area with a sharp, narrow chisel, a miniature molding plane, or sandpaper. The tops of the four raised ribs should already be flat and level because they are the original surface of the board.

  Next, redraw the ribs that run down the center of the low-lying areas of the panel. To delineate the edges of the ribs in the low-lying areas and on the surface of the panel, follow the instructions for establishing an outline in the section on relief carving above (page 5). The ribs will stand out in clear, sharp relief from the surrounding areas.

  With a U-shaped gouge or large, round file, shape the concave hollows in the panel. Use the file if you are unsure of your ability to control a gouge. Be careful not to remove too much wood; you still have to shape the convex curves on either side of the ribs. Work the convex curves of the design with a carving knife, a shallow U-shaped gouge held upside down, or a small triangular file that fits into the tight recesses next to the low-lying ribs. After all these areas have been worked, lightly sand the panel surface. Be careful not to soften the carving’s crisp lines. Some knife marks can show; they still appear on original pieces after centuries of wear.

  4. Carving the Ends. This job is relatively easy because these panels have no undercuts or complicated back folds. Sketch in the shapes of the top and bottom ends of the panels, using the templates as reference. The panel is no longer a flat surface, so you cannot simply trace the template onto it. Again following the instructions above for establishing an outline (see page 5), establish the edges of the panel ends. When you have cut the ends free to about half the designated depth, begin to remove the waste wood at the ends of the panel with a sharp chisel, taking care not to cut into the delicate ends of the ribs. Repeat the procedure until you have revealed the panel’s full depth. Use a carving knife to clean up any rough spots around the edges, and smooth the background with a sharp chisel and sandpaper with a sharp chisel and sandpaper.

  Finishes

  Much of the furniture produced during the Middle Ages was ornately painted in bright colors with designs and figures. Oiled, waxed, and even varnished furniture did exist, though it depended on the nature of the piece, its intended purpose or use, and the quality of the wood from which it was made. A finished surface was achieved by smoothing with sharkskin—a natural and very effective form of sandpaper—or scraping with the edge of a flat metal fragment. For most projects, scraping the surface of the wood with a cabinet scraper was sufficient; only when the finest, smoothest finishes were necessary was sharkskin employed. Although sharkskin is not available today, sandpaper is a perfectly acceptable substitute.

  Most wood used today has been mill planed and needs only limited sanding or scraping. But if you have obtained rough wood, you may want to use a cabinet scraper. These come in a variety of sizes and shapes and are available from fine woodworking stores and online. The most basic cabinet scraper is a flat, rectangular piece of metal about 3 by 5 inches. The working edge of the scraper needs to be honed so that it is perfectly flat, smooth, and at a 90-degree angle to the sides. To sharpen a new scraper, clamp it to a table with the edge of the scraper a fraction of an inch beyond the edge of the table. Run a whetstone along the edge of the scraper, keeping the stone perpendicular to the edge. Properly sharpened, the edge should be nearly as sharp as a knife.

  To use, hold the scraper in one hand and place the sharpened edge near one end of the piece of wood to be smoothed. Hold the scraper at a 15- to 20-degree angle to the surface of the wood, with the sharp edge of the scraper pointed away from your hand. With long, smooth, even strokes, pull the scraper toward you, moving the blade with (in the same direction as) the grain. Apply enough pressure to the scraper that it bends slightly in the middle. As with a wood plane, the scraper will need to be resharpened occasionally.

  Clear Finishes

  Centuries of use have softened the surface tones of surviving medieval furniture. To counter the effects of natural oils and dirt transferred to the surface of the wood from human hands, cleaning was occasionally done with a rag soaked in olive oil. Repeated applications of oil invested the wood with natural moisture, prevented it from cracking and splitting, and acted as a natural adhesive for tiny bits of dust. Alternating layers of oil and dust gathered in corners and crevices but were worn off the main areas. The patina of centuries-old furniture is difficult to re-create artificially.

  Being true to the original will give the most authentic-looking finish. Using repeated applications of olive oil, tung oil, or boiled linseed oil, coat the wood lightly until it repels the oil, then buff to a low luster with a soft cloth. For a more penetrating finish, mix four parts of one of these oils to one part spirits of gum turpentine. (Mineral spirits or artificial paint thinner will dry out the wood.) A slightly warmed (not boiled) mixture penetrates best. Prudence dictates the use of an electric stove, not gas or other open flame. Apply a second coat of boiled linseed oil to cover the penetrating coat.

  Darkening the natural color of the wood will make it look older. To do so, add a little wood stain or painttinting color to the plain oil or oil-andturpentine mixture. Be careful; only a few drops will significantly change the color of a pint of finishing oil. Test tinted oil on a piece of scrap wood before applying it to finished furniture.

  To prevent the wood from drying out, periodically apply additional coats of oil. Apply oil every three or four months during the first two years. Once or twice a year thereafter will suffice. Forced-air heating dries out furniture faster than hot-water (radiator) heat. Polish your furniture occasionally with a furniture polish containing lemon oil, which will help the polish soak into the wood. For oil-finished wood, avoid a polish listing wax on the label. To deepen the antique look, use the traditional formula of Old English brand furniture oil. The dark brown tint of Old English Scratch Cover will dramatically darken the wood over successive applications, enriching the finish.

  To stain newly created medieval oak furniture, try this fairly authentic period recipe (recommended for use on oak only, because the stain reacts with the tannic acid present in the wood). Submerge well-rusted iron in equal parts of water and vinegar. Real iron will perform better than modern steel. In one to two months, the vinegar- and-water solution will absorb the pigmentation from the rusted iron. After several months, remove the iron from the solution and filter the liquid through a fine cloth to remove any rust sediment. Staining with the filtered liquid produces a finish that varies from near black to a mellow silvery brown. The exact color of the finish depends on the strength of the liquid and the amount of acid in the oak. Test the stain on scrap wood before applying it to finished work, but don’t worry about color differences; in furniture that has survived for centuries, the surface tones vary from board to board. When the stain has dried, apply a natural oil finish as described above.

  Painted Finishes

  The articles of furniture in this book have a natural wood finish, but many medieval pieces were originally painted, the edges and carvings often picked out in colors that contrasted to the body of the piece. If you are considering painting your medieval furniture, first paint discarded pieces to see if you like the effect. If you decide to proceed, a medieval paint recipe follows. Before the invention of oil-based
paint in the late fifteenth century, egg tempera was the most common medium for painting wood, metal, paper, leather, and cloth. It would be suitable for use on any project in this book that needs painting.

  Artists in the Middle Ages used extremely poisonous ingredients—white lead, copper sulfate, and many other dangerous pigments. Inexpensive powdered pigments of the type used in preschool are safe substitutes. They may not produce a paint with a perfect consistency, but close examination of period paint and manuscript illuminations shows how historically correct a little variation in texture and tone can be.

  To prime an area for egg tempera, lay in a ground coat of gesso, a waterbased primer sold in most art supply stores. Apply the brush strokes evenly in the same direction, especially if a large area is being gessoed. Fresh eggs, pure ground pigments (available in art supply stores), and distilled water constitute modern egg tempera. Egg yolk binds the pigment to the gesso ground. To extract pure yolk, separate an egg and ease the yolk into your palm. Gently roll the yolk repeatedly from one hand to the other. As you cup the yolk in one hand, wipe the excess white from the other palm. The drying yolk will toughen after eight to ten transfers. Gingerly pinch the thickened yolk sac as it rests in one hand, and suspend it over a spotless shallow bowl. Free the yolk to spill into the bowl by piercing the yolk sac. Discard the sac.

  Blend pure ground pigment into the egg yolk mix to create the desired color. Pulverize the pigment into the egg with a mortar and pestle or by grinding with the back of a spoon against the side of the mixing bowl. Thin the paint with a few drops of water if it becomes too thick to work easily. Water also clarifies the colors. Using denatured alcohol in place of water hastens the drying and helps preserve the paint. Egg tempera treated with alcohol must be stored in the refrigerator and will still have a shelf life of only five or six days. A dried egg yolk glaze is nearly as hard as many modern varnishes and needs no varnish if it is sheltered from the weather.

  Working with egg tempera takes practice. Painting an entire piece of furniture or perhaps a wall hanging can be taxing, but it is the correct period approach to the job. If you want an easier modern alternative, try regular interior oil or latex paint to embellish furniture or artist’s oil paint or latex paint to decorate a wall hanging. Choose a commercial paint with a flat finish; flattening agents are available to kill the natural sheen of oil paints.

  Metalworking

  Hinges, banding straps, locks, lock plates, forged nails, and several styles of pulls and handles constitute the hardware used for the projects in this book. Broad introductory metalworking instructions are provided in this chapter; the procedure for fabricating these articles does not vary from project to project. Guidelines for any nonstandard work are given in the individual chapters. If you feel you lack the skills or equipment to do the metalworking, you can purchase premade period hardware (see the Sources section on page 321) or engage a local blacksmith or ironmonger to fashion metal findings for your medieval furniture. However, the metalworking involved is not too complicated and does not require any particularly specialized tools, and you will gain a sense of pride from having crafted every component of your finished piece.

  Tools

  In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most cabinet hardware was created by a smith working with forge and anvil. Reproduction of hardware by the original methods is ideal, but most of us lack a forge. For some items, you can reproduce the same look with tools that replicate some of the smith’s methods in your own shop; other items are made with modern equipment.

  The metalwork in this book requires only a few simple tools. A band saw with a metal cutting blade is ideal, although a jigsaw or reciprocal (saber) saw with metal cutting blade will do—or even a simple hacksaw in some instances. A heavy vise and two shaping hammers—ball peen rather than claw—are also needed. One of the shaping hammers should have a 10- to 12-ounce head and the other a 16- to 18-ounce head. For finishing the metal, it’s best to have flat, round, and triangular steel files, each in two different grades—for coarse work and for finishing—and in medium and small sizes. At the very least, you need small, finegrade files to get into tight corners.

  You probably don’t have access to a real forge (or you would already know how to do metalwork and would not be reading this chapter); therefore, you need a welding torch to heat the metal for shaping. Of the two suitable types of welding torches, the better is a combination oxyacetylene torch. It simplifies metalworking because it quickly provides great amounts of heat. Acceptable but less efficient is a singletank acetylene gas torch, which will take a much longer time to heat the metal to the point of malleability. The ubiquitous handheld propane torch can be used in a pinch, but it may not provide sufficient heat for some of the metalworking tasks. A pair of welder’s gloves and goggles will shield your hands and eyes from the searing metal.

  A mandrel is needed to curve the heated metal into decorative shapes. You can easily make a mandrel consisting of two round metal pins, each 1⁄8 inch in diameter and 2 inches in length, inserted into a metal base, from stainless or cold-rolled steel. Cut a steel base that is 1 inch thick and 4 or 5 inches in length to a width that will conform to the jaws of your vise (at least 1 inch wide). Drill three ½-inch holes in the mounting block. The first two holes should be spaced ¼ inch apart, and hole three should be ½ inch from hole two. These holes hold the metal pins, which should fit firmly but remain free enough that they can be relocated when necessary.

  Materials

  The metal used in these plans is usually of a type called flat stock, sold in straps or sheets that are wider than they are thick. Other kinds of metal are round stock, which is a round bar of steel, and square stock, which is a square steel bar. The various sizes of the assorted types of metal stock necessary for the projects are commercially available. The materials list in each chapter details the amounts and dimensions of the metal stock necessary to manufacture the hardware for the particular piece of furniture.

  Forging Metal

  If you are new to forging metal, make several trial pieces before you attempt any of the finished hardware. Start by bending a piece of flat stock 1¼ inches wide and 1⁄8 inch thick into a 90-degree angle. Many of the hinges and bands on the projects in this book need this stock-size piece of metal. Shaping a right angle is a simple procedure that you have to perform every time a hinge or a band laps around a corner on an article of furniture.

  Bending Right Angles

  Insert a segment of flat stock, at least 1 foot in length, vertically into the jaws of the vise, with 2 or 3 inches of stock protruding below the jaws. To avoid a crooked bend, the stock must be at right angles (90 degrees) to the top of the vise. Heat the 2 inches of stock immediately above the jaws in preparation for bending. As you move the tip of the flame around on the area being heated, do not hold it on one spot or the stock may melt at the point of contact with the fire. A pinkred glow indicates that the metal is ready to be formed. It is helpful if one person heats the metal while another does the actual forging. Preserving the metal’s heat allows it to be shaped more effectively.

  To form the right angle, hammer where the heated stock meets the vise’s jaws while gently pulling the stock’s free end toward the forging surface (the top of the vise) with a pair of pliers or vise grips. To clarify this, imagine that the metal is as flexible as a long, thin piece of wood. If you clamp one end of a thin piece of wood in a vise, you can easily flex the opposite end. You do essentially the same thing with a piece of metal by heating it in order to make it flexible. Strike the surface of the newly formed angle two or three times directly at the angle of the bend where it lies against the vise. The resultant sharp corner fits snugly against the wood’s edge. Practice will yield worthy results.

  Using the Mandrel

  The mandrel is used to shape the loops on each half of the hinge where they are joined together with a pin and to forge decorative curls on hinges and their associated straps and bands. A good practice exercise is to heat 1 or 2 inches a
t the end of a section of flat stock and insert the end between two closely set mandrel pins. While steadily applying heat, gently tug on the tip of the bar and lightly strike the hot metal with a forging hammer. Slowly pull the metal into loops of any size. The hotter the metal, the more malleable it is. Practice forming loops that fit snugly around the mandrel pin, the exact dimensions for accepting hinge pins.

  Hinges

  Strap hinges, some of them essential to the banding that holds the furniture together, anchor many of the chest lids. Most are made of 1⁄8-inch-thick flat stock. Some of the projects use butt hinges, while others use flat hinges. These hinge styles differ slightly in the shape of the spine, but they are identical in the arrangement of tangs on the hinge stock and their basic construction.

  The two halves of the hinge are usually joined together with three interlocking loops—one on the hinge’s shorter end and two on the long end. Joined together with a pin, this section of the hinge is called the spine. Use a band saw or other saw to cut out the metal fingers (tangs) that are used to shape the loops, as shown in the drawings on page 11. Mold the loops on the mandrel after removing the burrs from the sawn edges. To ensure that the hinge operates properly, follow any variations in the particular project’s directions concerning the length of the tangs and position of the loops.

  Hinge Pins

  To fashion the hinge pins, use a section of round stock that fits snugly, but not tightly, into the holes in the hinge spine. Cut the pin about 1 inch longer than the hinge’s width. Clamp the pin vertically in a vise so that only about 1⁄8 inch of metal projects above the vise’s surface. Heat the pin’s tip. Strike the hot end of the pin with the flat end of the forging hammer until it balloons slightly, like a mushroom cap. Round the edges with the ball end of the hammer. After the pin has cooled, insert it into the hinge. Trim the pin, if necessary, so that slightly less than ¼ inch extends beyond the hinge’s end. Invert the assembled hinge on a forging area so that the unflared end of the pin faces upward. Heat the exposed end of the pin and carefully flare it with the forging hammer; beating too tightly against the hinge might cause it to bind.