Lowboy corner column

[mbholden]

I am planning to build the Philadelphia lowboy from the Dewitt-Wallace Museum.
Took lots of pictures, measurments, drew up all the carving, etc.

However - I am at a loss for how to inset the corner columns.

The quarter column is easy, the cabriole leg is easy, how do I marry the two?

An additional puzzler is that there appear to rectangular filler blocks both above and below the column.
Could the corner posts be separate from the legs? If so, how are they connected?
However, the shot taken of the bottom, seems to indicate the leg and corner post are one piece.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Tom M]

I believe it is done as follows.  The cabriole leg and the verticle post (with inset quarter column) are one piece.  The region for the quarter column is chopped out to make an "L" shaped cross-section.  The quarter rounded ends to the fluted column are one cut from a turned piece.  The fluted column is glued with paper between the layers and turned round.  Flutes are then formed on the column either by carving or with a small round (possibly modified).  The column is split and quarters fit into the leg.  The flutes are then stopped carved into the turned end pieces.

I've never done this, but I remember seeing an in-process lowboy a friend was making in a class by Gene Landon.

 

[mbholden]

Tom,
Thanks for the idea.
As I said, the column is not the issue, its the "hole" in the leg to receive it, that I dont know how was done.

Chopping a full 17 inches in a flat straight line by hand seems to be a major accomplishment. Frankly, I am more leary of trying that than the carving below. There is no place to hide on a straight line! - and there are 4 of them!

If that is the consensus of how it is best done  then, I will "screw my courage to the sticking place" as the bard would have it, and "if twere done, twere best done quickly"

Hopefully someone will have some alternative to the chisel and mallet - please?

Mike

 

[chobbs66]

Mike,

There are many with more experience than I have, but I cut the top and bottom with a hand saw, and excavated most with a router, and cleaned up to the lines with a chisel and scraped smooth.  It was pretty quick.

Cal

 

[HSteier]

The straight line issue is handled by deeply incising the borders of the recess with a cutting gauge and then carefully cutting to the line with a wide chisel. You first hog out most of the waste with a router or by hand. Have lines to cut to slightly inside of the gauged lines, maybe 1/32". Then chisel to the deeply incised line. Since the quarter column usually comes to the edge of the recess you can usually undercut a little to insure a tight fit.

Howard Steier

 

[mbholden]

Cal, and Howard,

Thank you both for your responses.

I was hoping for some bit of magic, but elbow grease it will be.

I really like the idea of a good scribe line, and was thinking of clamping a block along the line and using that to help maintain the straightness of surface.

I also see that once I am down the side by a half inch or so, that the surface will no longer show, and it is just clearance for the column.

Thanks again for the assistance,
Mike

 

[HSteier]

Two points.
Don't us a block as a guide. The line is too long to get it perfectly straight. Try the incised line method on a piece of scrap. It's easy, just tedious.
Chop your mortises for the side panels and front rails while the leg post is square. Then make the quarter column recess before you shape the leg. Fill the mortises with shims when you cut the quarter column resess so that you don't blow out the mortises. Do this whole operation on a piece of scrap first to find the glitches. There is no aspect of it that is diifficult.

Howard Steier

 

[Sam Yerardi]

mbholden,

I would use the scribed line with the cutting guage as suggested but instead of using a chisel I would use a small dovetail saw that I have removed the set from.  Seat it in the groove created and slowly saw down. You may have to clean the corners up a bit but I believe this should work as I have tried it on raised panels already in place that wanted a little deeper definition on.