Medieval and Renaissance Furniture

by Daniel Diehl

  Carving

  Also execute the carving before assembly. This way, should a carving disaster occur, you can simply replace one board rather than dismantle an entire unit. Begin by carving the decorative edging. Cut a series of incised, scooped-out areas into the lid and the top of the box, as well as along the side edges of the front. Individually, these areas are the size and shape of a quarter section of a pea or small berry. The carvings vary in size and spacing; if yours are not perfectly symmetrical, don’t be concerned—it is the overall effect that counts. The finished carvings resemble a string of beads surrounding the box. The size, shape, and spacing of these beads appear in the front carving detail. Although these beads can be cut with a roundended carving gouge, the easiest way to shape them is with a round file, known as a rat-tail file. Simply abrade the edge of the board to the appropriate width and depth, then lightly sand the edges of the beading.

  Enlarge the front carving detail and monogram and date carving illustrations on a copier to create a template that can be transferred directly onto the wooden panel. These simple flat carvings are an ideal project for beginning carvers. To indicate the area to be carved away, follow the instructions for establishing an outline on page 4. Then remove the entire hatched area of the design to a depth of 3/16 inch. There are several approaches to removing the excess wood. Certainly the easiest is to use a Dremel tool with a router attachment. The proper historical technique, however, is to use small chisels to remove the excess wood. If you use chisels, cut neither too deep nor too fast; the sharp edge of a chisel can easily cut through the fine bands of wood that border the areas you are removing. Regardless of your approach, clean up the edges and corners of the design with a fine chisel or carving knife. If you used a Dremel tool, remove any tool marks from the surface of the wood with a small chisel. Lightly sand all the sharp edges of the carvings.

  Case Assembly

  With the carving finished, you are ready to assemble the case. Set the sides and front and back panels together on a level surface, with the front and back panels overlapping the ends of the side panels. Square the corners, holding them in position, if possible, with corner clamps. Fasten the case together with small-headed, forged nails, using four nails along each edge of the front panel and five nails on each edge of the back panel. After drilling pilot holes for each nail, hammer the chest together. Two random-width boards, running the length of the chest, make the bottom of the case. Nail both these boards and the top board into place. Note that the bottom boards extend ½ inch beyond the sides of the case but are flush with the front and rear. The top board extends beyond the sides, 1½ inches on one side and 1¼ inches on the other, and ½ inch beyond the back of the case.

  Runners

  Cut the runners that support the writing slope on a slight angle so that the bottoms are slightly narrower than the top. Using a plane or table saw, bevel the edge of the long side of each runner to approximately a 30-degree angle, to conform with the dimensions shown in the drawings. Do not bevel the front and back edges. After drilling pilot holes, attach each runner to the bottom of the case with six 1-inch-long forged nails. Drive the nails through the runners and into the bottom of the case. Countersink the heads of the nails so that they are flush with the bottom of the runners; otherwise, they may scratch the table on which the writing slope is set. The ends of the nails will protrude about ¼ inch into the interior of the case. Bend them over, flush with the surface of the bottom boards.

  Hinges

  The brass hinges currently holding the lid in place are clearly replacements, possibly from as late as the nineteenth century. The scars on the lid do not provide outlines of the originals; we recommend using hinges similar to the existing ones. For a more period look, however, opt for hinges of a similar shape made from iron or steel rather than brass. To fabricate iron hinges, follow the instructions on page 10. Keep the hinges small and delicate, in accord with the overall look of the writing slope.

  Lock Plate and Hasp

  Cut the lock plate from a sheet of 1/16-inch flat stock, and nail it to the chest with four large-headed forged nails. Crimp the nails over on the inside of the case. Cut and shape the hasp from 1/16-inch sheet metal or flat stock, according to the forging instructions on page 12. The catch on the back of the hasp fits into the rectangular slot in the lock plate. The catch should be formed from a piece of flat stock 1/16 inch thick, 1¼ inches long, and ¼ inch wide. Heat and forge the corners of the catch, and weld the finished catch to the hasp’s rear face. File away any excess weld. As is usually the case with locks of this age, the locking mechanism has disappeared.

  Lid Attachment

  Fasten the lid to the case with your choice of hinges. Locate the position of the hasp so that the catch will align with the catch hole in the lock plate. Cut a small notch in the front edge of the lid at the appropriate location, and attach the hasp with three small forged nails, bending any protruding nail ends flat against the undersurface of the lid.

  Finish

  Lightly sand the entire writing slope and finish with a dark oak stain and a coat of boiled linseed oil. A smooth writing surface is essential, because this piece is intended to be used as a desk. You may elect to coat the entire piece with paste wood filler, which will even out the hollows in the oak grain, prior to staining and oiling. Read and follow the instructions on the container carefully. If used properly, paste wood filler gives oak a finish as smooth as pine; if used improperly or carelessly, it creates a mess. If you decide to use a paste filler, apply it before you attach any hardware to the chest. Note: Paste wood filler is not as common as it was some years ago; you may have trouble finding it. If your paint dealer is unable to obtain it for you, try a good woodworker’s store.

  PROJECT 30

  Jacobean Bookcase

  Jacobean Bookcase, English, seventeenth century. Oak, 59½ x 51½ x 13¼ inches. Private collection. Photo by Mark P. Donnelly.

  Until the end of the Middle Ages, bookcases were virtually unknown outside monasteries and universities because almost no private individual could afford more than a handful of handwritten books. But with the invention of the printing press and movable type, books became plentiful and therefore affordable. This bookcase was probably built in England sometime between 1640 and 1660 and displays the latest developments in Renaissance construction. More structurally complex than its purely medieval ancestors, this piece displays a combination of medieval and modern woodworking techniques. Because a bookcase is more adaptable to use in the modern world than many of the earlier pieces in this book, this item has remained in private hands throughout its 350-year life.

  Centuries of usage resulted in structural changes and adaptations that pose interesting, if unanswerable, questions. Scars in the wood show that the original doorknobs were replaced several times and nineteenth-century locksets were installed in their place. Similarly, the hinges are nineteenth-century replacements. Most curious are the upper two shelves. It seems clear that while these shelves are far newer than the rest of the bookcase, there must have been shelves in similar locations or the piece would not have functioned as a bookcase or anything else. So why were the shelves replaced? Whatever the answer, this wonderfully decorative bookcase is a fine and rare survivor of an age of true craftsmanship.

  Construction Notes

  While it appears that the most challenging aspect of this bookcase would be the extraordinarily elaborate carvings that decorate many of its visible elements, many structural elements are equally challenging, if not nearly as time-consuming. The back panel contains numerous mortise joints, and the doors contain mortise joints made complex by the use of integral moldings. Although there are no aspects of this cabinet that do not appear in other pieces of furniture in this book, study the plans carefully before you begin construction and refer to them frequently as you progress. Given the number and complexity of the carvings and the sophisticated structure of the back panel, this project could easily consume an entire autumn and winter of the bu
ilder’s spare time.

  Materials

  This bookcase is constructed entirely of oak. With only a few exceptions, the material width and thickness are the same as modern mill dimensions, so you should be able to save considerable money by avoiding custom millwork.

  Carving

  We suggest that you begin by executing all the carved pieces. This will allow you to move the pieces around as much as necessary while carving them and avoid making a mistake on a piece that is already attached to the finished cabinet. For your convenience, here is a list of all the pieces with carved work: three door panels, two front divider stiles, two front side stiles, four back panel stiles, and five back panels.

  All the carving on this piece is executed with spoon-shaped carving gouges in a variety of sizes. Follow the instructions for gouge carving on page 4. Do not try to smooth away all evidence of gouge marks; the carvings on the bookcase are richly textured with gouge marks, adding to the visual texture of the piece. All the carvings on this bookcase are bowl shaped, with very shallow outer edges, where the carved area meets the height of the surface of the board, and the deeper areas blending gently into the shallower ones. The carvings on the door and upper rail of the back panel, and the back panels themselves, are never more than 1/8 inch deep. The fish scale pattern on the front side stiles and door divider stiles are slightly deeper at their deepest point, about 3/16 inch, where each row of fish scales abuts the row above. In the illustration of the fish scale pattern, a darker, crescent-shaped line inside each fish scale indicates a light, incised line probably originally carved with a straight carving knife.

  Feet

  Cut the two pieces for the feet to the length indicated on the materials list, and lay out the shape of the foot, including the cutout area along the bottom edge, as shown in the foot detail and side of the bookcase drawings. Then lay out the mortise into which the side panel will be inserted as shown in the skirt molding and side panel attachment detail and foot–side panel–floor construction detail. The mortise begins 23/8 inches behind the cutout area behind the decorative ball on the front of the foot. The finished mortise should be ½ inch wide, 1 inch deep, and 10¼ inches long.

  Side Panels

  As indicated on the materials list, the side panels are 11¼ inches wide, but it is nearly impossible to obtain a single board this width. The easy solution is to have two boards joined together, or join them yourself following the instructions on page 2. On the bottom of each panel, cut a tenon 1 inch deep and ½ inch wide as shown in the foot–side panel–floor construction detail. The ends of the mortise are cut back ½ inch from the front and rear edges of the side panel board. Note that this mortise is not in the center of the side panel but is located on its inner face. Next, lay out the rabbet channels that will receive the three shelves. The locations of these rabbets are indicated by the distance between the shelves as shown in both the main front illustration of the bookcase and the section A drawing. A cross section of the rabbets’ ¼ inch depth is shown in the shelf side construction detail. The rabbets run across the entire width of the side panels.

  Cabinet Floor

  The floor of the cabinet that runs across the bottom of the bookcase is constructed of two boards. See the materials list for their length and width and the section A drawing for their relative position. If you wish, you may peg the boards together to make a single, stronger bottom for the cabinet, but there is no evidence that they are joined together on the original piece; in fact, time has warped the boards in slightly different directions, indicating that they were installed as individual pieces.

  BACK PANEL

  The overall construction of the large back panel is clearly shown in the illustration of the back, and the panel is shown in detail in several drawings, including the back panel assembly rear view, end view, and stile, and the back panel cross section. Note that the bottom board on the back of the bookcase, best seen in the illustration of the back, is not an integral part of the back panel assembly; it was obviously attached to the side panels before setting the back panel assembly in place, in order to hold the sides in place and provide a resting place for the main back panel assembly.

  Begin by cutting open-ended mortises at the top and bottom of the left and right end stiles of the back assembly. These mortises, shown clearly in the back panel assembly end view drawing, are open on three sides and are located slightly off-center, the front tongue of each mortise being only ¼ inch wide while the rear tongue is 3/16 inch wide. The mortises should be 21/8 inches deep. When cutting the mortises, make sure the narrow tongue is on the same side of the board at both the top and bottom. Next, cut a running mortise along the entire length of the inside edge of each end stile. These mortises should be ½ inch deep and 5/16 inch wide, and off-center in the same manner as the open mortise on each end of each stile; that is, they should be located ¼ inch behind the front face of the stile and 3/16 inch in front of the back face.

  Now cut the back panel upper and lower rails, which are identical in length, width, and thickness, as indicated on the materials list. The back panel upper rail is decorated on the front face as shown in the back panel upper rail and back panel upper rail horizontal cross section drawings. If you choose to cut the incised designs rather than have a mill do the work, most of this decoration can be executed with a table-mounted router and table saw. The only hand work necessary is removing the diamond-shaped wedges with a ½-inch-wide chisel. If you lay out the location of the diamonds carefully and hold a sharp chisel at a 45-degree angle, a few taps with a mallet should produce neatly cut diamond shapes. If the spacing is not perfect, don’t worry; it varies on the original piece too.

  Next, cut a tenon on each end of each rail. The tenons should be 2½ inches long and ¼ inch thick. They should be located off-center, sitting 3/16 inch back from the back face and ¼ inch back from the front face, so that they fit flush with the corresponding mortises in the right and left end stiles. Then cut a rabbet channel along the entire length of one edge of each rail. These mortises, like those in the end stiles, should be ½ inch deep and 5/16 inch thick, and off-center in the same manner as the open mortise on each end of each stile; that is, they should be located ¼ inch behind the front face of the stile and 3/16 inch in front of the back face. Make sure to place the rabbet on the upper rail so that the decorative work will face the front of the cabinet when the back panel is assembled.

  Locate the positions of the tenons on the back panel divider stiles on the upper and lower rails. To make certain that their positions correspond perfectly, it is best to clamp the upper and lower rails together and mark the positions of the divider stiles on both pieces at once. As shown in the back panel assembly rear view and stile drawings, the tenons on the ends of the stiles are located inside the rabbet channel along the edge of the upper and lower rails. The only difference is that the mortise for the stiles will have to be 1 inch in depth rather than the ½ inch depth of the rabbet. Using a ¼-inch drill bit, rough out the extra ½-inch depth of the mortise, then smooth the sides and ends with a small chisel.

  On the top and bottom ends of the four back panel divider stiles, cut tenons that are 5/16 inch thick and located off-center, ¼ inch behind the front face and 3/16 inch from the back of the stile. Make sure the tenon is placed so that the decorative carving on the top of the front face of the stiles will face the front of the finished back panel assembly. Rabbet a channel along the entire length of both edges of the stiles, positioned to correspond with the location of the tenon.

  When all the framing pieces of the back panel assembly have been cut and fit together with a light tap of a mallet or a firm push with the palm of your hand, work the edges of the five back panels down to fit snugly into the rabbet channels of the framework. All wood should be removed from the back faces of these panels, leaving the sides with the carving work undisturbed. As the back panel cross section drawing shows, the edges of the finished panels should be 5/16 inch thick so that they fit snugly into the rabbet channel
s of the frame. The panels of the original bookcase were planed by hand, but you may opt to cut the edges to the appropriate 5/16-inch width on a table saw, and then carefully remove the remaining shim of wood and work the shoulder to a gentle angle with a sharp chisel.

  Dry-fit the pieces of the back panel together to make sure they all fit snugly but not too tight. Then disassemble the pieces and, if you desire, run small beads of glue into the rabbets and mortises before fitting the pieces back together. (Gluing is purely optional; the original piece shows no evidence of glue.) Making sure the back panel assembly is in square, drill ¼-inch diameter holes in the positions indicated in the back panel assembly rear view. Lightly tap 1-inch lengths of dowel into the holes, leaving the extra ¼ inch standing above the back of the panel assembly. Cut the dowels flush and sand them smooth when the glue is dry.

  Assembling the Case

  Round off the front edge of the three shelf boards as shown in the shelf-side construction detail. Standing one of the side panels on its rear edge, set the ends of the shelves into the rabbets in the side panel so that they are flush with the back edge and extend about 5/8 inch beyond the front edge of the panel. Place the remaining side panel in position on the opposite ends of the shelves. Mark the locations of the 1¼-by-5/8-inch notches that need to be cut from the front edges of the shelves to accommodate the front side stiles, as well as the two 2-by-5/8-inch notches that will receive the top ends of the front divider stiles, as shown in the drawing of the front view of the bookcase. Cut all four of these notches, then glue, drill, and peg the shelves into place onto the side panels as shown in the shelf-side construction detail. The peg hole should extend to a depth of 1 inch: ½ inch through the side panel and ½ inch into the shelf. We recommend that the entire unit be lying on its back while it is assembled.