Thread: A George III Mahogany Cabinet-on-Chest

WW

Many thanks

Looks great WW

I was determined to use appropriate veneer for the cabinet's door panels; viz. full width, reasonably thick (un-jointed 13" [330mm] span, greater than 3/64" [2mm] thick), Swietenia macrophylla mahogany as would have been used on the original doors. It proved a tough assignment.

Solid S. macrophylla was available (even up to 26" wide!), but my current bandsaw only has a resawing capacity of about 10", so that ruled out sawing my own veneers for the doors. I sourced three parcels of veneer from Australia, England and the US. The American stuff was so thin it was almost transparent, the local stuff turned out to be the most hideous cut of coarse African mahogany, but a small mill in England cut me some good thick stuff.

The gossamer-like veneers widely sold today present no difficulty in laying even for rank amateurs, but curls and thicker cuts of veneer – as employed in the eighteenth-century – often necessitate the use of veneer pins and profuse expletives to lay them successfully. Thomas Sheraton offered some sage words on the subject:

"If the veneer be of a pliable kind it may be laid with a hammer, by first shrinking and tempering the veneer well, which must not be by water, but thin glue. If the veneer be very cross and unpliable, as many curls of mahogany are, it is vain to attempt the hammer. A caul in this case is the surest and best method, though it be attended with considerably more trouble than the hammer." [1]

I "attempted the hammer" and succeeded in laying the veneers on both door panels. When dry, the panels were trimmed to size and fitted into the door frames behind the astragal mouldings. The panels are retained by 1/8" thick cockbeading nailed around the door frame behind the panels.

The finished doors.

The cabinet was set on the chest and centralised on the back edge. I mitred the separation moulding around the cabinet and then glued and nailed it in place.

The cabinetwork completed.

[1] Thomas Sheraton, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book,
Ed. 3, revised, T. Bensley, London, 1802, p. 329.

Looking forward to the hardware being fitted and then it all being oiled.

Looks good from here

The instructor at the first training I received in veneering warned us never to attempt to veneer to solid timber - particularly of a different species to the veneer - as there would eventually be troubles with unmatched rates of movement, expansion and contraction etc. His substrates of choice were extremely stable ply or in the worst case MDF. Obviously from your excellent and historic teaching that theory is not as hard and fast as I was led to believe. Is it because you are using hide glues (and we were using PVA type adhesives) that allows you to do this with confidence, or was the teaching just completely erroneous?

Originally Posted by waveink

The instructor at the first training I received in veneering warned us never to attempt to veneer to solid timber - particularly of a different species to the veneer - as there would eventually be troubles with unmatched rates of movement, expansion and contraction etc. His substrates of choice were extremely stable ply or in the worst case MDF. Obviously from your excellent and historic teaching that theory is not as hard and fast as I was led to believe. Is it because you are using hide glues (and we were using PVA type adhesives) that allows you to do this with confidence, or was the teaching just completely erroneous?

Prior to manmade boards, veneers were hammered onto solid wood – usually pine or oak, but in the case of some door panels, like in this cabinet, mahogany also served well. Single-sided veneering or both sides, it's all good with animal glue.

I can't speak for modern adhesives personally, but from what I've read – and what you allude to above – they often seem to cause more problems than they allegedly address.

Mrs Phil, was very impressed WW beautiful piece, the lemons look good also.

Beautiful work once again! Do you have your own collection of timbers to use or do you get them from where you can at the time? I was told mahogany is hard to get is all, at least what this person called 'real' mahogany.

Originally Posted by Sandow

Beautiful work once again! Do you have your own collection of timbers to use or do you get them from where you can at the time? I was told mahogany is hard to get is all, at least what this person called 'real' mahogany.

Click

Originally Posted by Lignum

Looks great WW

It certainly does highlight so many deficiencies in modern, straight-everything furniture design.

Originally Posted by Basilg

WW

Any chance of you finding some time to post the French Curve drawing

Regards

I scanned the curve in two parts which can easily be stitched together. The overall length is 13-3/4".

For some reason the outline appears somewhat notchy – which it isnt, but if you do make one, be sure to perfect the curves as otherwise the tool won't be of much use.

WW

Thank you kindly.

I suspect the curves are not appearing fair, because of shadows created on the scanner, but I am sure this will not be an insurmountable issue.

Now I will have to see if I can find a suitable piece of Swietenia Macrophylla, of which I only have one or two very small pieces left.

Around 30 years ago I bought some off a chap that was selling his stock, some of which was around 1 metre wide by about 6 or 7 metres long. I did not buy it

Regards

Thank you for posting enjoyed the work in progress.