Hidden Treasures

M

msummers

Member
Hello all just got out of the Shop and read a book "Hidden Treasures searching for masterpieces of American Furniture”. Its fun reading about other  ways of looking at what we do I cant buy real piece  but I can make differancence by keeping  my shop and handing down the hand work form that time  to the next so the art of old wood is not lost. I thought of Period Surfaces and Markings, So UPS just drop off “American Furniture of the 18th Century" looks like part two has all and most of what I was looking for!  My wife is happy to see me reading me too. I like saw dust, wood chips most of all. But I should be done reading this book in two to three week with side notes; are there more books with Methods and Materials out there?
I’m very hooked on APFM really bad...... eat drink think
Might to start up the forge and make a chisel for carving shells.

Also looking for silver hardware?

 
Jeff Greene's 18th Century furniture book is a favorite of mine. In fact, I worked up drawings from the card table detailed in the back and built my own.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/furnituremaker

I scour antique stores for other volumes on furniture. Franklin Gottshall's "How to Design and Construct Period Furniture" is wonderful if a bit dry at first. He goes into great detail on the "rules" of proportion and design. Anything you find by Wallace Nutting is also a great find.

As for hidden treasures, if you ever find yourself in Savannah, GA, I highly recommend a trip to the Girl Scout Museum. It is the former home of the founder, Juliette Gordon Lowe, and contains a really wonderful collection of furniture.

Now this furniture is NOT all handcrafted originals. Most of it was manufactured between the Civil War and the turn of the century. What I found most intriguing was the fact that although it was made largely by machine power, this was before the designs were adapted to match machine capability.

Big auction houses send their appraisers there to examine the furniture as it represents one of the finest collections of furniture that would be commonly found in nice homes of the period.

Ralph
 
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