Interesting Article in FWW on 18th Century woodworking

[Andy Hutyera]

I ran across this blog article from FWW and thought it might be of interest to folks here. It is by a woodworker who works in the Williamsburg cabinet shop and does woodworking at home in his own shop.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/2017/...&mid=118020455

[Stew Denton]

Andy,

Thanks, very interesting read.

The comment about shop lighting was interesting. He mentioned that natural lighting in the shop is wonderful, when good, but when cloudy or in December, it is not so good. I do woodworking to save money, and I enjoy it, but these guys were using these tools to earn a living.

They had to be productive to earn a living, you went to work in the shop when the light was poor, when it was damp and cold, when it was very hot and humid, and they used simpler tools well.

Thanks,

Stew

[John C Cox]

It really makes you appreciate what you have.

It should also remind us that the average quality of factory made things is astronomical today compared to what it was then. The unifomity and quality of the joinery and finishing is impressive..

The reality is that while we romanticize about things back then - average work was done my average people. I have a few of Grandma's old furniture things from the 1920's. Everything is loose and wobbly. The joinery is nowhere near as good...

When you think about it - people had their finery that they only used with guests and their normal stuff that got thrown out when it broke or got too beat up.

Oh.... And yes - I can live without the bugs and the humidity control problems causing everything to crack or go all wobbly...

[george wilson]

I was in a wing out over the creek,of that building for 16 years. I used to dread dark days. As it was,we had the very best natural lighting in town. Long,rather narrow shop. 3 big windows down each side. My workbench up against one of them. Actually,all 3 work benches were up against windows.

[Stew Denton]

George,

What about temperatures inside, etc.? Given the construction methods back in those days, did a wood stove keep you reasonably warm in the winter? The pictures I have seen of old construction make them look very hard to keep warm.

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[george wilson]

The cabinet Shop did have modern heating and cooling. Especially for the sake of antiques inside the buildings. Plus,when you get 30 people inside a relatively small room in Summer heat,it can get very hot. We had several guests pass out over the years I was there. The basement was like being in a submarine. Dozens of pipes every where. The ma
intenance men did not know how that thing worked!! Really, they didn't. Those early methods
s of humidity control were very complex.

When I got the future Tool Maker's shop, which was behind the scenes, it also had an early attempt at humidity control called "April Air". They didn't understand that outfit either.

The museum was started in 1927.and there was plenty of OLD technology underground, and in various buildings. I was always cutting new valve seats for real old valves, for which the maintenance men had no suitable modern replacements. And,they were not allowed to go home until the repairs had been made if the heating/cooling was to a tourist occupied room. I always dropped everything and fixed their valves so the poor guy could go home!!! It wasn't my job,but I was the only one who could run lathes,milling machines,etc..

Some pencil pusher in the warehouse first threw out all the old motor bearings. One Saturday a panicked maintenance man burst into my shop. He was lucky I was there on my day off. I had a reputation for knowing where EVERYTHING in the museum was kept! The main air conditioning motors for the administration building had shut down. Their bearings were shot. He knew that all the old bearings had been thrown out. I told him I didn't think so, as I'd seen them on a bench in the warehouse the day before. We had to call security to let us into the place. Fortunately the bearings were still there. The maintenance man scooped up the 1940's looking bronze bearings he needed, and was happy. I say it would have been a good lesson if that building had been allowed to swelter for 2 weeks while new motors were ordered. They were large, special motors. Looked like 20 H.P.,or so.

Some time later,they threw out several boxes of bronze valves. Thousands of dollars worth,I guess. I knew that some day those would be needed, but were then gone. The pencil pushers operated under the theory that if certain things were not used in a certain length of time,they could be considered obsolete,and tossed. They also tossed a whole bunch of NOS electric motors. I had a mind to let them (The valves) be kept in my shop,but I had a space problem much worse than the huge warehouse. In fact I never saw that they DID have a space problem!!

NOW,in the 18th. C.,cabinet makers used,in France,a large fireplace. Called the "Suborne"(sp?) They would warm parts before the fire before gluing them on. This helped the glue to penetrate as opposed to trying to glue cold wood. Especially in Winter. When we made the harpsichord movie,I used that same technique when we were ready to glue the thin spruce soundboard into the instrument. This is a part that is very easily cracked if it gets into an extra dry place,or in the very dry Winters. I measured the width of the soundboard and carefully heated it until it was 1/16" LESS in width. Then,it was quickly glued down. In these many years since 1974,it has not cracked. We get VERY low humidity here when the weather is cold. At least we do in heated buildings.