Looking for plans Newport Low Boy

[Roger Kriz]

Hi, I'm interested in building a Newport style Lowboy and am looking to find some measured drawings or plans to work from. I have lots of photo's but just can't seem to locate anything with the detail I'm looking for. Any help here with finding some detailed plans or drawings would be appreciated. I plan to do the ball & claw feet on this one and a carved Newport Shell.

Thanks in advance for any guidance,

Roger in NJ

[John T Barker]

I don't remember a Newport lowboy with ball and claw feet but my memory is poor so I'm sure there are some. Why not? Don't forget to copy those pierced talons...they are great. I don't remember anyone that published plans ona piece like that though but a visit to www.sapfm.org should be helpful. If they don't know of plans they certainly could give you good guidance on obtaining them. One method would be to approach a cabinetmaker who has done such a piece or can and paying for some drawings/guidance. I'll tell you what I did when building a Chester County tall case clock years back. I grabbed every article on clocks that showed construction of clocks and then I put a scale rule on good photos of clocks that fit my customer's desire. With the books out there on period furniture (Master Craftsmen of Newport) you should be able to get some good shots of the lowboy as well as guidance on construction methods. Newport is also only a day trip away for you and if memory serves there is furniture on display for you to get a close up look at. The Met in NY should have some Newport pieces (it helps to see a bunch to get the flavor) and possibly Winterthur. All well within a days ride for you.

A fellow I used to work with here in Chester County could probably work with you for a fee and his skill level is far above the level necessary to make such a piece from making drawings to the final finish. His name is Charles Bender and he advertises in Fine Woodworking for giving instruction in fine furniture making. His shop is in Pottstown and instruction has become a big part of his career from the looks of his website www.acanthus.com. If he can not do it there are more people like him that can, I'm sure.

Good luck and I hope you have some great mahogany for a piece like that.

[Roger Kriz]

Thanks John, and yes I do have some nice mahogany. I work with a friend in Kansas. He's a very fine cabinetmaker and has made many Newport pieces. But he's in Kansas, and until I go back out there to finish my Phila. tall case cherry clock, I'm here in sunny New Jersey. I'm at the starting stage and just last week milled the blanks for the legs. I'm OK with shaping the cabriole leg but my issue now is with the length of the front piece so I know where to begin shaping the leg. I've made turned foot cabriole legs before but these will be my first B&C. I've seen photo's of Newport pieces w/ B&C legs. Often they only have 2 with the B&C. I'll see how long it takes me to make 2 to see if I feel up to making 2 more. Do you have any of the Gottshall books ???? If you do could you tell me if any of them have working drawings of a low boy ???? I have one of Jeffrey Greene's books and it has a good work up on the B&C feet and some nice photo's of the low boy too but nothing with enough detail for me to work from.

Thanks for your input.
Roger in NJ

[John T Barker]

Thanks John, and yes I do have some nice mahogany. I work with a friend in Kansas. He's a very fine cabinetmaker and has made many Newport pieces. But he's in Kansas, and until I go back out there to finish my Phila. tall case cherry clock, I'm here in sunny New Jersey. I'm at the starting stage and just last week milled the blanks for the legs. I'm OK with shaping the cabriole leg but my issue now is with the length of the front piece so I know where to begin shaping the leg. I've made turned foot cabriole legs before but these will be my first B&C. I've seen photo's of Newport pieces w/ B&C legs. Often they only have 2 with the B&C. I'll see how long it takes me to make 2 to see if I feel up to making 2 more. Do you have any of the Gottshall books ???? If you do could you tell me if any of them have working drawings of a low boy ???? I have one of Jeffrey Greene's books and it has a good work up on the B&C feet and some nice photo's of the low boy too but nothing with enough detail for me to work from.

Thanks for your input.
Roger in NJ

Funny, I thought I had a Gottshall book but I have one similar but not his. They look helpful...I remember thumbing through them in a tool store in north Jersey that had a tremendous number of crafts books for sale (unfortunately now closed.) A quick lookon Amazon shows they are pretty cheap if you don't mind used books. I should think they would be easy to find in a local library too. If you are looking for the height of the knee on a lowboy leg you can determine this with a scale rule and a decent photo of the piece (easiest if you know the height of the piece.)
I'll post a scan of the lowboy drawing I have as soon as I remember how. It's a Philly piece but perhaps it will help.

[Roger Kriz]

Thanks John, that would be great if you can manage that. I checked on Amazon for Gottshall books but have no idea if any have a piece close enough to the one I want to build. I did find some nice photo's on a website for the Univ. of Wisc. I guess they have a nice collection. I may be able to work from that. I do have the Jeffery Greene book " American Furniture of the 18th Century". On the cover is a piece of a similar style. It's different in that it has 3 drawers on the lower tier with the carved shell in the middle one. I don't think it's a Newport piece though. The one I like has one full width drawer, perhaps 3" deep and 2 smaller drawers, a little deeper, flanking the carved shell in the front apron of the cabinet. The top is a basic rectangle and not sculpted like that in the Greene book. I would get a Gottshall book if I could browse them and find one that would help. I did check our local library and they are no help.

So, thanks for any help you can provide. But I'm still working on it.

Roger in NJ

[John T Barker]

cropped lowboy.jpgHere's a couple of things I found. I hope they help.

newport lowboy.jpg

[John T Barker]

Sorry I'm not better with computers. I threw in the Philly lowboy to give that leg dimension...not that you need to go by that, right? Try putting an architects rule on the lowboy pic, that should give you the knee height you are looking for. Good luck. Btw, where did you get the mahogany? Is it ribbon striped?

[Roger Kriz]

Hi John. Not sure what you mean by ribbon striped ???? If you mean striped with heartwood / sapwood I would say no. I have been using some Cherry that had a mix and was conspicuously striped. I got my Mahagany through a friend of my daughter that works at a big supplier in Baltimore. I don't recall the price but I thought it was pretty fairly priced when I got it in October. For the legs I had asked for 12/4 planning to mill them to a nice 2 7/8" but the only thing he had was some 16/4. I amost cried as I milled all that wood away. But it is nice wood. I will try and do something with that drawing you posted. Thanks. The photo is closer to what I'm planning to make. An interesting feature mentioned in that photo writeup is that it has removable rear legs. Had never seen that before and would be curious just how they did that. I don't think I'll try that though.

Thanks for your help.

Roger

[John T Barker]

Roger-

Ribbon stripe is one of the figured varieties found in mahogany. It llooks like dark stripes...ribbons...going parallel to the grain. There are a number of figure types one finds in some of the hardwoods sold. I'll see if I can find a picture of it. You shouldn't be going all the way out to Baltimore for wood unless they are giving it away. Go to Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford, Pa. (you passed fairly close to it as you made your way down to Md) they have a ton of fantastic wood. You know I didn't read that far into the caption. Sliding dovetailed? But why?
Please tell me you sawed the extra inch of wood off those legs.

John

[John T Barker]

Typically a shop like Goddard/Townsend"s would choose figured wood for a nice piece. A lowboy would probably have a top made of crotch wood or ribbon.

maho.jpg

[Roger Kriz]

Uhhhh, Sorry John, I wish I could tell you that.
I didn't go all the way to Baltimore "JUST" for the wood. My daughter lives in Balt. and was moving so we went down to help her out. Her friend works at the lumber company and he brought the wood into town for me. I don't recall the exact price per BF, but I thought it was fair and he did select some nice boards. I have some good yards near home too. And they have some nice stuff but their prices are up there. All in all I think I got nice wood for a fair price.

I was reading a description of a piece somewhere and they mentioned the sliding dovetail for the top. That's where that came from.

[John T Barker]

Uhhhh, Sorry John, I wish I could tell you that.
I didn't go all the way to Baltimore "JUST" for the wood. My daughter lives in Balt. and was moving so we went down to help her out. Her friend works at the lumber company and he brought the wood into town for me. I don't recall the exact price per BF, but I thought it was fair and he did select some nice boards. I have some good yards near home too. And they have some nice stuff but their prices are up there. All in all I think I got nice wood for a fair price.

That sounds like a good trip and a good deal. Well done. When I can I try to dress a piece up with a nicely figured top or drawer fronts. I reproduced a walnut chest of drawers years ago and searched out a single board top of claro walnut for it. Of course now it is covered by a T.V. and some video game of my daughter's.

I was reading a description of a piece somewhere and they mentioned the sliding dovetail for the top. That's where that came from.

I should have thought of that. New England was known for using sliding dovetails in places not seen in some of the other colonies. I remember the fellow I worked closest with while learning the trade and he made a Newport block front chest with three shells. The sides were dovetailed to the top. So those legs just look like they can be removed because the wood has shrunk and the glue crystallized. Good research!

[Roger Kriz]

My friend in Kansas is a very fine cabinetmaker. He builds almost exculsively furniture in the Newport style of Townsend / Goddard. He's building a multi shell dropfront desk with bookcase for a guy in Kansas City. I just can't imagine handing over a piece after putting that much work into it. It's like giving away a member of the family. I don't care how much he pays for it. My project will be on hold for awhile. We're getting ready to head south for awhile next week. Be back when the weather is a bit milder. I'll have to talk with him about the sliding dovetail for the top. I'd have to see it to grasp the concept. Not sure if they used them on pieces like the dressing tables and low boys.

[John T Barker]

My friend in Kansas is a very fine cabinetmaker. He builds almost exculsively furniture in the Newport style of Townsend / Goddard. He's building a multi shell dropfront desk with bookcase for a guy in Kansas City. I just can't imagine handing over a piece after putting that much work into it. It's like giving away a member of the family. I don't care how much he pays for it. My project will be on hold for awhile. We're getting ready to head south for awhile next week. Be back when the weather is a bit milder. I'll have to talk with him about the sliding dovetail for the top. I'd have to see it to grasp the concept. Not sure if they used them on pieces like the dressing tables and low boys.

I don't know if I mentioned it but I worked for Irion Company Furnituremakers for 6 years back in my 30's. They were a top notch repro shop in Pa. west of Philly. Their top guy was Chris Arato and I was lucky to work close to him and help him on a few pieces (as an "apprentice.") He did a Newport low chest with three shells and
and a 9 shell secretary that sounds like the one you are describing your friend doing. It took quite some time but I think the $20,000+ was incentive to part with it (20+ year old price.)

The dovetail you noticed mentioned in the caption would be cut in the side...the male portion. A dovetail groove would be in the leg. It has advantages over mortise and tenon since the expansion and contraction of the side would be restricted in m&t. A dovetail can be cut and then glued only at the bottom...hopefully built in the summer when the board is the widest. It holds nice and tight by the nature of the joint's shape, of course. In the chest the vertical sides have the male dovetails while the top has a grooved dovetail cut in from the back and stopped so as not to visible from the front. Are you familiar with a dovetail plane and dovetail saw (not that kind?) Now I'm wondering if the lowboy used one to join the legs and another to secure the top. I'm trying to remember if sliding dovetails are done with the grain???

John

[John T Barker]

Here's the plane and the joint and the saw.

dovetail plane.jpg
dovetail saw.jpgThe saw needs two hands...obviously.

sliding dovetail.jpg