A pair of walnut Carolean stools.

**Woodwould** · 21st June 2008, 12:44 PM

I made these two walnut stools for another dealer who had a stunning original dating from the latter half of the seventeenth century. He had acquired a sumptuous Flemish tapestry at auction which provided sufficient material to ultimately cover both new stools.

There is nothing extraordinary about the construction of the stool frames, but I thought some may find the turning of the legs interesting.

I am aware jigs exist which adapt hand-held power routers to turn spirals, but a) I don't have one of those contraptions and b) I don't like the bland, boring appearance of routed work. (No offence to those whose businesses rely on routers, but a router has no place in any proximity to an antique or antique copy.)

Even though this pair of stools would probably never be compared side-by-side with an original, they still needed to be constructed in the propper time-honoured manner.

The first stage in making a helix on one of the new legs or stretchers was to count the number of turns on the original barley twist components. A length of string was then taped to one end of the stock mounted in the lathe and the stock was then revolved the required number of rotations while stretching the string towards the opposite end. Before the loose end of the string was finally taped down, its entire length was gently patted to ensure it followed the most direct path around the previously turned cylinder.

Using a large soft lead pencil, the string line was followed leaving a dark, easily visible thread around the stock. With a turning gouge in hand, the lathe was started at a slow speed and the gouge introduced to the start of the thread. One has to be confident and determined when turning helixes as you obviously don't get a second chance with the first cut.

Once a rough helix has been cut into the wood, subsequent passes with the gouge open it up to the desired depth.

Further working with gouges and chisels transform the square-edged helix into the traditional barley twist form.

Final successive papering completes the job. The frames were constructed using the normal mortise and tennon joints which were assembled with pegs, but devoid of glue.

Thereafter the frames were sympathetically coloured and appropriately aged.

As an aside; in the background of the last two pictures above can be seen a pair of George I walnut chest on chests c. 1720 belonging to a client. One was a copy, but unfortunately I can't locate any photos of it or the construction process.

**artme** · 21st June 2008, 01:18 PM

You will have to stop making us so envious WW.
Beautiful - as usual!

Now, how about posting something ordinary, just to show that you are actually an earthling!

**Woodwould** · 21st June 2008, 01:30 PM

Thank you (I think!)

This is about as ordinary as I get. When I was quite young I made this garden bench for the BBC, around which a drama series was enacted. I didn't enjoy the project, but at the time, I needed the money.

**jimbur** · 21st June 2008, 02:03 PM

Right, that's redefined ordinary

Jim

**Chipman** · 21st June 2008, 02:40 PM

Hi Woodwould,

As usual, outstanding work

Now a couple of questions for you:

1. Are you still working or have you retired? (given you have been doing it for more than 30 years)

2. With the rather special skills you have, have you passed at least some of them onto the next generation?

Regards,

Chipman

**Woodwould** · 21st June 2008, 03:03 PM

Thanks again guys.

Originally Posted by Chipman

Hi Woodwould,

As usual, outstanding work

Now a couple of questions for you:

1. Are you still working or have you retired? (given you have been doing it for more than 30 years)

2. With the rather special skills you have, have you passed at least some of them onto the next generation?

Regards,

Chipman

1. Retirement was forced on me through illness; otherwise I suspect I would have carried on, possibly even knocking the last nail into the lid of my coffin.

2. My son worked with me for a short while after leaving school, but he knew far more than me and thought I was a slow learner, so he departed. He now has a young family of his own and dearly wishes he'd been more tolerant of me and my quaint and ritualistic ways.

It was always my intention to take on an apprentice later in life and to write a few books. I may still achieve the latter.

**joez** · 21st June 2008, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

It was always my intention to take on an apprentice later in life and to write a few books. I may still achieve the latter.

Woodwould, another awesome post, i am not sure if your posts inspire or depress me!

You seriously should consider putting pen to paper and writting a book. You obviously have a wealth of knowledge that any woody would be eager to learn from.

PS I'd love to see pics of your tools/workshop and if you need a proof reader let me know

joez

**Woodwould** · 21st June 2008, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by joez

Woodwould, another awesome post, i am not sure if your posts inspire or depress me!

You seriously should consider putting pen to paper and writting a book. You obviously have a wealth of knowledge that any woody would be eager to learn from.

PS I'd love to see pics of your tools/workshop and if you need a proof reader let me know

joez

Thanks, and thanks for the offer!

As requested, here's a picture of my tools. Don't mind the mess on my bench; there was a reason for it on the day.

Out of view are an electric hand drill and a few other bits and pieces (I can't see my scratchstock), but I never was one for gathering superfluous tools.

**Chipman** · 21st June 2008, 11:28 PM

Hi again Woodwould,

Sorry to hear you had to retire due to ill health...I hope you are doing OK now.

I guess it is not uncommon for kids to find something else to do other than what their parents did. My son has no interest in anything practical but is very much into IT stuff and at least we have that in common. As kids get older, an especially when they have kids of their own, I think that is when they really begin to appreciate their parents. You never know, your grandkids may want to learn!

Regards,

Chipman

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