Bombe cabinet construction?

[fudo133]

Hi all,

Having spent a bit of time browsing through books and sites on art deco design and furniture for a school project, i've come across a chiffonier that's piqued my interest.

I've no plans to build one for myself any time this century since my skills are wayyyyyyyyyy below the required level to attempt it, but i was nonetheless curious as to how a cabinet like this might possibly be built, aside from what seems to me to be the enormously wasteful method of carving the curved bits out of solid timber...unless this is actually a viable method of producing it?

It dates to around 1925 and was designed by andre groult.
Its constructed from beech, mahogany, ivory and shagreen


2c31698e4cfb6e70412d06d6ff5b1170.jpgAndré_Groult,_cassettone_antropomorphe,_parigi,_1925_ca..jpg

[fletty]

aside from what seems to me to be the enormously wasteful method of carving the curved bits out of solid timber...unless this is actually a viable method of producing it?

It dates to around 1925 and was designed by andre groult.
Its constructed from beech, mahogany, ivory and shagreen

Hi Fudo,
It's wayyyyyy beyond the skills of most of us but, this time, I'm grateful!!
Ive looked at making a French classic bombe dresser and all the examples I've researched had the shape carved from solid!
I guess the definition of 'wasteful' and 'sustainable' have changed over the Century?
It scares me a little that trees, elephants and sharks died to make that truncated peanut cabinet ....but that's just me!
fletty

[fudo133]

Hi Fudo,
It's wayyyyyy beyond the skills of most of us but, this time, I'm grateful!!
Ive looked at making a French classic bombe dresser and all the examples I've researched had the shape carved from solid!
I guess the definition of 'wasteful' and 'sustainable' have changed over the Century?
It scares me a little that trees, elephants and sharks died to make that truncated peanut cabinet ....but that's just me!
fletty

Likewise most of the ones i've seen seem to have been carved from solid, although i seem to recall reading/seeing something a while ago about some of them having being made up from blockwork, not unlike fronts on the rather fabulous cutlery boxes mic-d made a while back. https://www.woodworkforums.com/138610...eorgian-style/

As for wastefulness, or rather...excess... i count upwards of 60 stingray hides in that cabinet... and that's without guessing how many are in the sides and the back of it...

[fudo133]

Some more pictures of it, as well as its measurements: 150cm high, 77cm wide, and 32cm deep.

ac621b4f-91a2-4d81-aa44-3ffbabdf11e2-file.jpga2e047fa-bf1d-444b-8da8-8eb20ced40d8-file_0.jpgac89deab8c2e5d6704c30c1859d71fc1.jpg83322153-cd98-492b-9a97-3d68712258be-file_0.jpgandrgroultchambredemadameinthe.jpg

[IanW]

I seem to recall an article in an early issue of Fine Woodworking on a bombe chest (in an eralier style, not art deco), in which the sides were glued up from partly-shaped staves, & the final shaping was done after. That might be what fudo133 means by 'blockwork'? If you've seen 18th C American pieces with the carved 'shell' tops, the shells were also made by glueing up multiple partly-shaped pieces, then carving the final shell shape. Both techniques used a lot of wood, nevertheless, though the shells are painted, and so a less-expensive & easy to carve wood like pine was used.

To make a 'peanut' like the piece shown above without having to waste half a tree, you could use the technique of 'cold moulding' boat-builders have perfected. For such a complex shape, you would need a mould that could be dismantled & removed, once the initial layers were in place & set. Perhaps your piece was made using a similar method? Veneering the final shape with anything other than sharkskin or some synthetic substitute would be a challenge!

Finally, there was a brief craze for paper-mache furniture in the late Victorian period. Some of it has survived, so it must've been a bit better than most of the plastic furniture made in my lifetime (). Again, you would need a dis-mantle-able or sacrificial mould, and a good idea of how you were going to finish it.

It's a fugly bit of furniture to my eyes, too, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If they used a waterproof glue, you could always take the drawers out & use it as bath tub.....

Cheers,

[artme]

I'm a big fan of most things Art Deco - Except that!!

I find that just plain old fugly!!

[62woollybugger]

I think with his new found skills, Fletty should be able to knock one up using steam bent cedar I'm sure progresing to bending in 3D should be an easy step from chair slatts for someone with his skills.

[fudo133]

I wasn't overly fond of it when i first saw it, maybe 10 years ago, but since then its grown on me quite a bit...i'm more asking out of general curiosity from a technical perspective.

The first part of IanW's post pretty much hit my ideas about its construction on the head - making it up from multiple roughly shaped pieces and then shaping the final contours after everything's glued together. Extending on that a bit, here's a more modern piece of furniture that uses more or less the same technique to create a very interesting result (though its not something i'd have in my house given then choice)...

42-demakersvan-table-cinderella-2005-600x450.jpg269-572-430-1.jpgDSC_2086.JPGfig1_three_sides_table.jpg

Though interestingly, from a long term standpoint, this particular table doesnt appear as though its likely to last the test of time, at least going by the issues that have already started to appear... http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journal...derella-table/

[fletty]

I also remember an article (FWW?) describing the block work that Fudo mentioned. A whole bombe dresser was made in 1" layers of shaped blocks that were then dressed to shape after being assembled and glued.
BUT, before any of this talk possibly convinces someone to make their own mutant peanut I just need to 'say' something....
I am a tolerant man. When I see something that I don't like I presume that is just a reflection of my nature and nurture and that someone else may, and is in fact entitled, to like! However, THIS piece is fugly! We should do NOTHING to allow it to breed nor multiply!
Sharks, stingrays elephants and good taste ...rest easy tonight....
fletty

[ian]

Hi all,

Having spent a bit of time browsing through books and sites on art deco design and furniture for a school project, i've come across a chiffonier that's piqued my interest.

I've no plans to build one for myself any time this century since my skills are wayyyyyyyyyy below the required level to attempt it, but i was nonetheless curious as to how a cabinet like this might possibly be built, aside from what seems to me to be the enormously wasteful method of carving the curved bits out of solid timber...unless this is actually a viable method of producing it?

It dates to around 1925 and was designed by andre groult.
Its constructed from beech, mahogany, ivory and shagreen


2c31698e4cfb6e70412d06d6ff5b1170.jpgAndré_Groult,_cassettone_antropomorphe,_parigi,_1925_ca..jpg

despite looking like a villain from an episode of Dr Who ...

it looks to be a combination of solid wood, segmental construction and veneer -- so not as wasteful (of wood) as a traditional Bombe chest which would be carved out of solid wood boards up to 6in thick.
About a year ago, FWW had an article on building a traditional bombe chest

[StevenManos]

Check out the article about Dan Faia's Bombe Chest build in Fine Woodworking issue # 234 (July/August 2013). Amazing build, tool around 2 years on and off.

[IanW]

.....About a year ago, FWW had an article on building a traditional bombe chest...

Hmmm, when FWW started repeating itself (for the 3rd time), I reckoned the unit cost for the occasional gem was no longer economical, & I decided to subscribe to other mags. I haven't seen other than the very occasional FWW for the last 12 years, so wasn't aware of that article, Ian. The one I was referring to was back in the early 80s or maybe even before that....

......I am a tolerant man. When I see something that I don't like I presume that is just a reflection of my nature and nurture and that someone else may, and is in fact entitled, to like! However, THIS piece is fugly! We should do NOTHING to allow it to breed nor multiply!
Sharks, stingrays elephants and good taste ...rest easy tonight.... fletty

Can't help but agree with you, Fletty, however, I'm willing to accept there are other 'tastes'!

The styles that appeal most to me are generally simple (or deceptively so, as I've sometimes discovered!), but I'm a card-carrying conservative when it comes to the decorative arts. There have been several periods in furniture history when fashions got a little lot over the top, but there are always folk who find such stuff exciting/beautiful/exotic, or whatever turns their crank, and genuinely like it. That's fine & good, & viva la difference - just as long as they don't ask you or me to "make one like it"!

Cheers,



Cheers,

[wheelinround]

Interesting piece for sure.
To think of the engineering design and thought that went into this piece is amazing considering NO COMPUTERS were around.

Not sure how you see using the skins as "Wasteful" what would be done with them otherwise? Tossed in to rubbish fill, back into the ocean? Should we not be using animal hides then?
I see a waste of Ivory world wide from what has been collected from poachers ivory stock piles and whats done with it all its burnt, now thats a waste.

[fudo133]

Interesting piece for sure.
To think of the engineering design and thought that went into this piece is amazing considering NO COMPUTERS were around.

Not sure how you see using the skins as "Wasteful" what would be done with them otherwise? Tossed in to rubbish fill, back into the ocean? Should we not be using animal hides then?
I see a waste of Ivory world wide from what has been collected from poachers ivory stock piles and whats done with it all its burnt, now thats a waste.

Hence why i corrected myself with 'excess' over wasteful...though i suppose that's just the nature of the beasty when it comes to using shagreen - small hides = needing to use heaps of them
And definitely in agreement over those ivory stockpiles. SO much material wasted!

[Christos]

I am not sure how to word the comments on the cabinet with out being over the top. The shape is almost like a figure of a female, which also holds true of a peanut as was mention earlier. I am going to guess the earlier as that would have been easier to sell.

......I see a waste of Ivory world wide from what has been collected from poachers ivory stock piles and whats done with it all its burnt, now thats a waste.

......And definitely in agreement over those ivory stockpiles. SO much material wasted!

Not wanting to distract from the original thread I voice my concerns in this thread,

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...48#post1800248