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Thread: A tambour I made years ago

  1. #1
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    A tambour I made years ago

    As perhaps a response to the "Oh Common(come on) George" request by Derek months ago,here is another piece I have photographed just yesterday. This was the first thing I ever made for my favorite customer,back in 1986. There are several dozen things I made for her,but I'd have to visit her house in another state to get pictures.

    At that time,she wanted everything to look like new,and she may have cleaned off the intentional aging I had put on this tambour,so it would look the same as the original. I can't be sure where it went in all these years.Now,it looks pretty new. Over the years,she started wanting things perfectly aged,but it was too late for this piece!

    Roy Underhill made one of these on his show. He may have copied the same antique in the Williamsburg collection. I think there are a few originals floating around like this one.

    The original,and the copy are mixed hardwoods. The column is maple,along with the small wooden screw and the ball in the joint,and the legs. The round base is beech. I even oriented the grain so it would warp the same direction the original did,but,being made of dry wood,mine never has warped.

    The bow is beech,or hickory. I can't recall,and forgot to look. We took these pictures yesterday outside the Geddy House in Williamsburg,when I was delivering the thread spools.

    The diamond shaped nut on the bottom is threaded onto a wooden thread. The whole unit could be knocked down compactly for transport,I suppose,or storage.

    She had looked everywhere for someone to make thin piece,but could find no one who could make the ball and socket joint. It really wasn't hard to make,either.

    The brown hoop running around the top is a leather belt. The wooden hoop is inside it,but it is wrapped in cloth so as to not dirty the cloth that would be the work piece. The belt clamps the workpiece while it is being worked on.

    I might should also post this in the turning section.
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    Last edited by george wilson; 11-07-2011 at 12:52 PM.

  2. #2
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    I was about to post a question asking what kind of sound it makes - I was thinking tambour as in drum and from the side view it almost looks like it has a drum skin over the top. Then I searched the term and realized it's a sewing apparatus. Anyway, the turning is cool, but what I really like is the ball and socket joint. How did you make the socket? Is the stem two pieces or is it kerfed, or something else? From looking at it I can't quite wrap my brain around how you made it.

  3. #3
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    The sewing device is named after the drum. Roy made a little rotating cutter stuck in a piece of wood to cut his. I made a quick and dirty bent chisel to hollow out the hole. No biggie. The slit expands enough to pop the ball in.

    Not sure what stem you refer to,but nothing was glued up on the whole piece of work,so I guess no is the answer.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post

    Not sure what stem you refer to,but nothing was glued up on the whole piece of work,so I guess no is the answer.
    I was talking about the expanding slit - so that answered my question - thanks George. I always enjoy seeing your work.

  5. #5
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    Roy's is sitting in his school. Neat stuff, George. Many thanks.

  6. #6
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    You can watch Roy Underhill's take on it online at the PBS web site; there are two episodes in the 2007-2008 season.

  7. #7
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    I had always thought that this tambour was a one-off piece. The turnings seemed rather arbitrary. But,I guess it isn't.

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