A George II Virginia Walnut Chest of Drawers

**Woodwould** · 24th June 2012, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

WW, I've been trying to understand your categorical statement that the chest in the Hayward measured drawing originally had bun feet and they had been replaced with bracket feet at a later date.

Initially I thought this must be based on style differences. A relatively ornate chest on angular bracket feet. However looking at your treatise on bracket feet construction you show a similar flat bracket design dated at c1720.

How do you come to the conclusion the Hayward chest has been modernised? What design elements of the chest indicate it should be on bun feet?

The early eighteenth-century saw the introduction of several different design elements which overlapped to some degree. However, cabinetmakers (and their customers) then, were no different to us now – once a new trend appeared, everyone wanted it.

If Holden brought out a new model, you wouldn't order one with last year's engine, wheels, paint and interior etc., you'd want the whole new package. There are some people, conversely, who would be quite content buying last year's model if they could have it at a reasonable price.

So it was with furniture: Established families (particularly those in provincial and rural areas) were quite content with traditional designs and didn't see what all the fuss was with new-fangled mouldings and feet etc. They would have continued buying older style furniture until the cabinetmakers caught up with their urban counterparts. If you were a fashionable Londoner (or dweller of a number of significant regional centres), then you'd demand the latest styles… all of them! You wouldn't be content with the new bracket feet on a Charles II style chest; you'd want all the latest embellishments to show your peers that you had modern tastes.

The Hayward chest has several stylistic elements that, date-wise, overlap. D-moulding around drawer openings was popular from about 1670 through to 1720. Bun feet continued until 1720 (1730 in rare examples). The earliest bracket feet appeared around 1720, but what makes them alien to this chest is that the marquetry points to the chest being a town piece, which constrains the dates somewhat. The combination of handles (popular c. 1670-95), veneers, marquetry and mouldings indicate the chest was made, if not in London, then in a fashionable and affluent regional centre around 1685-90… about twenty five years before the first appearance of bracket feet.

If the chest had been made with bracket feet originally, then it would have more up-to-date mouldings, handles and veneers.

**Woodwould** · 24th June 2012, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by 3 toed sloth

How did you cut the top moulding, Woodwould?

Regards, Peter

The mouldings were fashioned using a combination of planes and a scratch stock.

**Fuzzie** · 24th June 2012, 03:14 PM

Thanks Woodwould. I think trying to visualize the Hayward chest with bun feet does seem to make it more coherent. The pictured bracket feet seem to somehow place the chest on stilts.

**3 toed sloth** · 24th June 2012, 05:14 PM

Nice work.

**springwater** · 24th June 2012, 05:28 PM

Ok I'll ask

'cause it's interesting; what necessitated the change from bun feet to modern bracketed feet and D-moulding around draw openings WW? It's got me stumped

**Woodwould** · 24th June 2012, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by springwater

Ok I'll ask

'cause it's interesting; what necessitated the change from bun feet to modern bracketed feet and D-moulding around draw openings WW? It's got me stumped

It wasn't so much a necessity as evolution. Cross-grained D-moulding was purely decorative and did nothing to protect the vulnerable veneered drawer edges (although contemporary crossbanding was to some extent sacrificial/protective).

The adoption (c.1720) of cockbeading around the peripheries of drawers was a natural progression; it was solid enough to absorb fairly big knocks without popping off, it was quicker to make and simple to attach and it also went some way to disguise imperfectly fitting drawers due to seasonal shrinkage and expansion – it looked neater.

The transition from bun to bracket feet isn't as clear or obvious – other than the human trait for the desire for change. Some imported oriental cabinets had shaped plinths which some believe are the origins of English bracket feet, but it's more likely that cabinetmakers took their inspiration from classical architecture as they already did for their mouldings.

One thing that may have precipitated the change to bracket feet was that bun feet would have been made by turners who belonged to a separate trade and guild and would have been bought in. Brackets, on the other hand, could be made by the cabinetmakers in their own shops from the same materials/off-cuts.

**springwater** · 24th June 2012, 07:06 PM

Thanks WW, I suppose the reason for evolution could be easily lost over time. On another note, about the short multi-piece draw kickers, only need to be scrap pieces? Therefore isn’t one piece running from end to end?

**Woodwould** · 24th June 2012, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by springwater

... about the short multi-piece draw kickers, only need to be scrap pieces? Therefore isn’t one piece running from end to end?

Sorry, I don't follow your meaning.

**springwater** · 24th June 2012, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Sorry, I don't follow your meaning.

Sorry, I've got a bit of difficulty with that too sometimes

These bits:
Attachment 213558
('cept now I think I relise it's about grain direction, contraction and expansion)

**Woodwould** · 24th June 2012, 07:49 PM

Sometimes dustboard off-cuts were used to make up the packers, as here. The expansion and contraction rates would be the same.

Once the glue dried, I ran a plane across them to remove any obstacles so the drawers will move unhindered.

**Woodwould** · 1st July 2012, 02:05 PM

I prepared all the stuff for the drawers; rebated the sides for the bottoms, grooved the fronts for the bottoms and cut the dovetails. The boards for the drawer bottoms were planed down to 1/4" thickness and rubbed together in threes. I began gluing the drawers together and notwithstanding the high winds and forecast of rain, I whipped the tarpaulin off the carcase so I could rest the drawer shells in it to ensure they set-up perfectly square.

The drawer shells setting-up in the carcase.

I trimmed the drawer bottoms to size, cleaned them up with a plane and then slid their front edges into the grooves in their respective drawer fronts, nailed and glued them into the side rebates and nailed them to the undersides of the drawer backs. Lastly, narrow runners were rubbed into the side rebates/undersides of the drawer bottoms.

Drawer bottom and runner glued in place.

When all was dry, I planed the runners/rebates down just enough to allow a modest clearance between the bottom edges of the drawer fronts and drawer dividers.

**Phil Spencer** · 1st July 2012, 02:53 PM

Hi WW

Does this weather in Melbourne cause any problems with your wood as you build a piece?

**Peter36** · 1st July 2012, 03:20 PM

The sides look quite thin or have they been rebated to accommodate the runners?

**Woodwould** · 1st July 2012, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

Does this weather in Melbourne cause any problems with your wood as you build a piece?

The humidity recently has been in the region of 90-94% which will obviously cause the wood to expand. There's nothing much I can do about it, but I am mindful of it. The drawer bottoms, for example, spent the night indoors prior to being nailed and glued into the drawers.

Originally Posted by Peter36

The sides look quite thin or have they been rebated to accommodate the runners?

The drawer sides are 5/16" (8mm) thick and are rebated to accept the bottoms and runners.

**Blue-deviled** · 1st July 2012, 04:19 PM

The chest stands tall in the face of inclemement weather!

Thread: A George II Virginia Walnut Chest of Drawers

Thread Tools

Search Thread

A George II Virginia Walnut Chest of Drawers – Part Four

Similar Threads

A George III Mahogany Cabinet-on-Chest

A George I Walnut Side Table

A George II Walnut Fretwork Mirror

A pair of George II Walnut Girandoles

A William and Mary Walnut Chest of Drawers

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions