Medieval fir-niture

Most of the surviving medieval furniture in central Europe has been made from oak. This does not mean that all medieval furniture consists of oak; oak is just a wood type that can withstand the test of time easily. Most of the medieval furniture from the Alpine and Scandinavian regions on the other hand is made from softwood like pine and fir - these are the common wood types from these areas. In northern Italy, walnut is a common wood found in medieval furniture. There have been surviving examples of medieval furniture made from softwood, like some chests in the convent of Isenhagen in Germany. 

A 15th centrury archive cupboard from Hagenau, France made from fir wood.

This year we found another example in the Historic Museum in Hagenau, France. It is a small fifteenth century archive cupboard made of fir wood that used to belong to the Saint George church in this city. The cupboard is painted with black motives on the front and sides. Most interestingly, the centraL motive appears to be a medieval turned chair! 

The side of the Hagenau cupboard. Boards continue on to the floor.

The central motive is a medieval turned chair.

Most boards are nailed, but the top of the cupboard is fastened with dovetails. It is unclear how many shelves the cupboard had, as no nails indicating them are recognisable from the outside. The cupboard has 2 doors.

The top board is fastened with dovetails.

The bottom front board is nailed. The black motives continue from the doors to the bottom board.

A thin rail reinforces the boards of the doors. The hinges are placed over these rails. The cupboard has two similar looking primitive sliding locks.  The bottom lock was placed too low, and some parts of the thin rail had to be cut out to accomodate the decoration (and fastening nails) of the lock. Some of the wood near the upper lock has been gone; this enables us to see the the bolt hole for the sliding bar of the lock.

The top sliding lock.

The corresponding bolt in the other door for the sliding bar can easily be seen.

The lower lock, with the cut out pieces of the supporting rail.

The medieval toolchest: the plane (part 7): another ship-like form plane

Recently I could borrow the book 'Antique woodworking tools' by David Russell, a photobook lavishly illustrated with all kinds of antique tools from his collection (but mainly, too modern Norris planes to be interesting for this blog). A few medieval woodworking tools were depicted, among them an early medieval plane I had not seen before.

The 'Russell' plane, dating between 250-400 AD. Probable origin Scandinavia. Photo scanned from the book 'Antique woodworking tools', ISBN 978-1898565055. 

The problem with archeological find at collectors is that the finding location is obscure. The same here: probable origin Scandinavia. The origin is likely based on the finds of similar looking planes from bogs in Denmark (see the plane part 5). This one however is much larger in size. Its length is 50.1 cm (the sole measures 45.7 cm), and the gap for the blade is 3.2 cm. The angle for the blade stands at 50 degrees. The sole of the plane is flat. The iron was secured with a wedge (of which a part remains) against the iron pin.

Compared to the Vimose and Nydam planes (I do not have the actual sizes of the Nydam plane, but a replica was shown along a ruler of 10 inch) this plane is about double their size.  Also the function is different, as the Vimose planes are moulding planes with a hollow sole, contrary to the flat sole of this plane. 

A medieval pump drill

The 'Russell' pump drill dating from the 15th century or earlier. Photo scanned from the book 'Antique woodworking tools', ISBN 978-1898565055. 

The book also contained a pump drill of medieval origin. These kind of drills were used for woodworking, but also for boneworking (see the Libro the Juegos of Alphonso X the wise) and surgery (trepanning). This drill measures 58,2 cm by 54.6 cm and has a granite flying wheel. The shaft is adze cut and passes through a carved crosspiece before it is fitted into the flywheel. A (modern) thong passes through the V-shaped notch in the end of the shaft and is knotted though each end of the cross-piece. The thong is would round the shaft and pressing down the crosspiece starts the motion. The flywheel action rewinds the thong, and pumping continues the motion.

Tresoor of castle Hernen Part 9: The crown

This blogpost continues the story of the making of the dressoir or tresoor for Castle Hernen and concerns the top or crown of the tresoor. We were presented with new challenges with regards to the construction. For our tressor, we wanted to have a similar look and feel like the crown of the tresoor at chateau Langeais, however, photos from the outside do not provide much information of how this look is actually achieved. Demolishing a medieval dressoir would likely solve this, but of course nobody would allow us to do that - we also would be very reluctant to such a thing. 

Left: The top view of the Langeais tresoor. The top consists of three joined boards, whereby the top planks are integrated in the side decoration of the crown. Right: The side view of the crown with the decoration. Wooden pins are visible that fix the crown to the frame of the tresoor.

Our crown has a slightly different construction, as the top boards fit inside the decorative rails (For thee langeais tresoor the top boards are part of the decoration). The decorative parts of our crown consist of 5 pieces with a decorative profile and one flat one without decoration. The latter is at the backside of the tresoor. All these six parts have a rabbet on top on which the top boards rest, and a rabbet below to fir over the frame of the tresoor. First, some square oak stock was prepared, after which the rabbets were made with a router table. The rabbits had a similar depth, but a different height. Thus, we only needed to adjust the height of the router, while the guiding rails could stay at the same place.

The back rail had no decoration, and only the two rabbets.

Next the decorative profile needed to be created. This was more challenging as also stability of the oak stock when moving it across the router bit had to be taken into account. It is important to consider which part of the profile has to be routed first. We used a round bit as well as a V-bit for routing the profile, and finished it by hand using a scraper.

Left: The first rounds of routing have been finished. Right: the middle part has been rounded with a scraper.

The small decorative groove in the (round) middle was made with a V-bit. The stock was securely fixed between 2 guiding rails on the router table.

The finished profile of the crown.

We borrowed a crosscut saw to make exact 45 degree cuts. A fake multiplex frame was made onto which the parts of the crown could be temporarily fixed with screws. The holes made for the screw were later used for wooden pins to fix it to the real frame of the tresoor. 

Left: The fake multiplex frame. Right: the size of each part of the crown was measured and tried on the real tresoor as well.

Testing the pieces on the tresoor frame.

The fake frame with all the front parts screwed and clamped with diamond shaped pressing blocks (left), and with the back rail and a middle supporting rail added (right). 

We used two doublesided dovetails to fix the crown parts of the 45 degree angles together. At the backrail a normal single dovetail joint was used. An additional rail was added in the middle to stabilize the crown and support the top boards. This was fixed with dovetail joint on the one side and a mortise joint at the other side. 

(Left) A paper dovetail was used to mark the place for joining. (Right) The plan for the two doublesided dovetails. Due to the 22.5 degree angle of the joint, the doublesided dovetails also have different angles. Also the second dovetail is much smaller.

The angle ready for cutting. Some wooden blocks and an underboard were used to clamp the crown pieces and stabilize them for cutting with a chisel.

The fixed crown pieces from the side. The dovetail marking can be seen on the top.

A thin strip of oak was used to make the doublesided dovetails. These were sawn out and then cleaned up with a chisel. The doublesided dovetails were glued with hideglue to the crown.

The strip with the small dovetails (4 + one spare).

(Left) Sawing the doublesided dovetails. (Right) The 'raw' small dovetails.

Fitting the doublesided dovetail in the joint.

The crown with a mdf top board on the tresoor.

Next, the top boards needed to be added. The top consisted of three boards that were connceted to each other with a tongue and groove joint. The boards are not fixed and provide an alternative way to open the tresoor (for instance if the key is lost). If necessary they can be fixed with some pins. 

The top with a mock mdf top.

Two of the three oak top boards are ready.


The complete top boards of the crown.

The crown was fixed to the tresoor with pins using the same the holes (inside the frame of the crown) that were used for the screws earlier. On the outside of the crown, some extra pins were added to fix it vertically . 

The finished crown of the tresoor.

Tresoor of Castle Hernen Part 8 : Fitting the tresoor together

This post continues the story of the creation of the tresoor of castle Hernen and concerns fitting the main parts of the tresoor together. Until this post, all parts of the tresoor were loosely fit and could be taken apart into individual pieces. In this post, most of the parts will be fitted together and fixed with wooden nails. The boards of the bottom display and the cupboard will be added as well.

Left: A lot of wooden pins were necessary for fixing the parts together. These are the split rough nails. Right: The square nails sized and pointed with a chisel.

A very useful jig. The adjustable lamp stand - a long plank with a hole for the swivel arm lamp which could be clamped anywhere on the tresoor. 

At this point we decided that a decorative groove around the edges of the panelframes would make the tresoor more appealing. For the panels of the cupboard, the wooden frame could still be taken apart and the groove easily made on a router table with a V-bit. For the frame at the back with the linenfold panels another set-up was chosen as the horizontal rails had multiple short stretches of grooves and using a hand router with a guiding rail offered more control of making the grooves. The connection between the horizontal and vertical grooves were cut by hand with a chisel and gouge.

Router set-up for the horizontal rails of the back of the tresoor. Each horizontal rails had four short stretches and this set-up allowed more visual control when using the router.

 

Left: For the router set-up, the guiding rail needed very precise placement to ensure the groove also was horizontal. Right: One groove was forgotten on the router table and had to be made with the hand router as well.

 

Grooves were made on the top of the panel frame and the sides. The bottom of the panel frame was planed at an angle. The end of the groove (indicated by the 2 pencil lines) was cut by hand with a gouge.

The angle connecting the top en side groove was cut by hand (indicated by pencil marks). The grooves towards the panel were rounded with a scraper.

 

Using a Veritas corner rounding tool to smooth the edges of the frame.

 

Bottom cupboard and bottom display planks consisted of 18 mm oak planks. They were connected to each other with a non-fixed groove en tongue joint. For the bottom of the cupboard also grooves needed to be cut into the horizonal and vertical rails. The planks for the cupboard were thus enclosed and fixed by the side walls of the cupboard. The boards for the bottom display are just resting on the frame, but semi-fixed by the two vertical standing stiles. An extra supporting rail was added in the middle for the bottom boards.

A groove was sawn and cut with a chisel in the vertical rail to support the planks of the cupboard. 

The set-up for the bottom of the cupboard without the planks.

Left: The set-up with one of the planks added - top view.  Note that the board has a groove for the tongue of the next board. Right: The set-up with one of the planks added - bottom view. You can see that the back of the plank rests on the rail of the backside.

The next board needs to be sawn  at an edge.

The second board added for the cupboard.

The bottom board consisted of three parts; the middle one needed a complex cut-out for the pentagon stile.

 

A lot of clamps were needed for this process, and luckily we had a lot of clamps. But clamping an edge of 45 degrees or as thin as 1-2 cm is difficult, so some clamping jigs were used. After the main parts of the tresoor were fixed, the tresoor was sanded and oiled with linseed oil. The crown and the metal fittings are still missing.

 

This was the easiest part to construct. Only four large clamps were needed.

Pins added at the mortise and tenon joints of the backside of the tresoor.

Left: The horizontal parts of the sides could be easily clamped to the backside, as they stood at an 90 degree angle. Right: Each 'side of the tresoor had its own number, and the parts with the corresponding numbers fitted exactly.

The grooves were oiled with linseed oil before the panels were added. The panels were already oiled and dried.

 

To clamp the next pentagon sized vertical rail some clamping jigs with a V-groove were used.

 

The remaining three sides of the cupboard needed to be added and clamped together. Also the rails for the drawer was added at this time. A lot of clamps and clamping jigs were used in this process. You can see the pins sticking out at various joints.

 

A photo of a test set-up showing how the drawer rails are fixed between the back and front. Two mortise and tenon joints were used, but no pins were necessary here.

The mortise and tenon joints of the cupboard were fixed by two pins.

For the bottom planksan extra supporting rail was added. At the back a dovetail joint was used, at the front a mortise and tenon joint.

 

Adding two of the boards helped in retaining the correct angle when the bottom of the tresoor was clamped. Space was much less here and it was near impossible to drill the holes for the pins. The bottom supporting rail in the middle was fixed with a pin after the bottom panel frame was fixed.

After the bottom was fixed with pins, it needed some adjustment with rabbet and bullnose planes to allow the third and final board to be placed.

Everything sanded and oiled. Only the door with the metal fittings and the crown are missing.