Thread: Even more made-up pieces of furniture.

Subsequent to the other threads A few made-up pieces of furniture and A few more made-up pieces of furniture here are yet more pieces of furniture I made up, and again, my apologies for the quality of some of the older pictures.


A George III style Irish wake table

Wake tables are further examples of furniture made popular because apart from their simple lines, they lend themselves so well to the rather more confined dwellings we live in these days. My parents and I both have one. The tables will stand unobtrusively against a wall, taking up only 16"-20" in depth, and perform the duties of a console table or sideboard, yet when fully opened up, they can seat between eight and twelve diners.

They follow a fairly standardized form, having six or eight legs with a long narrow fixed top (just the right width to support a coffin) and shallow elliptical hinged leaves. The inner corners of the legs are usually stop-chamfered (in keeping with other square Georgian chair and table legs) to give a lighter appearance without any loss in strength.

This example is of English oak, but they are found in other timbers including mahogany (the much preferred choice of the English, who call them 'hunt' tables). The table appears very dark in the pictures, but it was an extremely bright sunny day when the photos were taken, making it awkward to photograph. The true colour is more of a mid honey oak colour.

An original wake table will fetch between $25,000 and $50,000.








A George I style gateleg table

This table was made for a Melbourne dealer from drawings I have of an original table c.1715. Like the original, it was unusual, being made of English walnut rather than oak. This is another very popular style of table which I have made many examples of, though more commonly in oak.








A metamorphic library chair

This chair was made from bought plans at the behest of a customer – one of my first commissions in Australia. They had seen an 'old style' metamorphic library chair in a magazine and brought me the article. I knew there were plans for such chairs, so I purchased a set and made the chair up in American walnut. When the customer saw the finished chair they didn't like it, saying it looked "old and dirty"! I don't do 'new-old', so I now own the chair. I detest it, but my wife likes it and uses it.








A Queen Anne style lowboy

Yet another popular piece of furniture that I have made quite a number of. These c.1720 walnut lowboys are small, elegant, light and airy and suit a number of purposes. They are used as dressing tables in the bedroom, side tables in the living room, or hall tables. Many variations are common such as carved knees and feet, different mouldings and veneering patterns (single piece, book-matched, quartered and oyster-veneered).

They are really great fun to make and involve carving, making cross-grain mouldings and veneering.
Apologies for the really appalling final picture.