Making a 'Mulberry' Corner Cabinet

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 01:56 PM

The 'Mulberry' bug has burrowed deep under my skin, so to satiate my craving I have decided to create a piece of 'Mulberry' furniture. I have amassed a substantial collection of 18th century glass and New Hall porcelain which currently occupies various shelves in different areas of the house, so I'd dearly like a new corner cabinet in which to protect and display a portion of it.

The concept

The cabinet will be a two-tier, floor standing affair of early 18th century style. I couldn't turn up an extant example of what I have in mind (though I can clearly recall one I saw some years ago), but I have in my records, sketches and photos of a Walnut hanging corner cabinet with a single glazed door c. 1740 which I can draw on. So basically, I will be stretching the width and adding a second door, and slotting another tier with panelled doors beneath it. It won't be Walnut, but other than the aforementioned departures, it will be a perfectly faithful reproduction!

The original hanging cabinet was constructed of Red Deal - or Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and faced with thick, hand-cut Walnut veneers. This was the norm for case furniture of this period, although English Oak (Quercus robur) was often employed for the groundwork of quality pieces in place of Deal. I don't have a lot of Oak at present and Pine is plentiful, so Pine it is.

I have a small amount of Mulberry (Morus nigra) - though not sufficient for the job in hand and rather uninteresting anyway - and I have a stack of English Walnut (Juglans regia) which would be perfect and would look superb, however, I really want to 'Mulberry' this piece. I also have a quantity of English Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and in particular, some rather nice 'curl and burl', or bruscum and molluscum.

"The truth is, the Bruscum or Molluscum, to be frequently found in this [Ash] wood, is nothing inferior to that of Maple, (of which hereafter,) being altogether as exquisitely diapered, and waved like the lines of the Agate." [i]

Cross-grain mouldings still remained popular at this time, so I will make up cross-grain mouldings for the plinth (which incorporates the front feet), surbase and cornice. The plinth moulding can be made as a single moulding, but the surbase and cornice mouldings are more complex and will therefore be composite mouldings (assemblies of several moulding sections glued together). The Ash blocks that will form the mouldings will be glued to a Pine backing to assist in reducing shrinkage. Shrinkage is however, part and parcel of cross-grain mouldings and light reflecting off the individual, slightly deformed blocks creates a dazzling effect like a crystal chandelier in candle light.

The interior of the cabinet will be painted with duck egg blue oil paint, over which I will brush a tinted glaze to tone it down and to impart an appearance of age to. In truth, the interior of the original cupboard was most likely left plain and would have been painted around the end of the 18th century as was the fashion then. This cabinet is not an exercise in painstakingly creating an early 18th century piece as it would have appeared new, rather, it's about conjuring up an early country piece as might be found at a good auction house or antiques dealer's – complete with its 'improved' interior and other accumulated scars.

George III cabinet c. 1800, showing painted interior.

Constructing the cabinet

I sawed a plank of Ash into period-correct 3/32" (2.4 mm) thick veneers, which, when cut, displayed an attractive mixture of bruscum and molluscum.

The sawn Ash veneer.

Curl, fiddleback and burr figuring.

The basis of the upper and lower carcasses is a pair of kite-shaped end boards made up of 3/4" Pine boards which are rub-jointed together. I just thought I'd mention in case someone cites my squandering of materials; I would normally cut the first board at an angle of 45° and then flip the remainder over for the start of the second board and so on, but on this occasion, well… I didn't.

Extravagantly cut Pine end boards.

The edges of the 3/8" thick back boards were rebated so the boards can be half-lapped. This method of sealing the boards (to resist draughts and the ingress of dust) was the predecessor to 'matched' (tongue and groove) edges. In practice, the boards are spaced apart by about 1/16" to allow for expansion. The nailed side of each board captures the un-nailed half of the adjacent board which is free to expand and contract.

One half of each board is free floating.

The two adjacent boards at the back corner also form the rear foot. The backboards are nailed in position with traditional cut steel nails.

I think I've nailed it.

Shelf space is at a premium in my little garden shed, so I keep my stock of nails outside in the open where they conveniently rust.

Alcohol-free rusty nails.

The front frame was morticed and tennoned together and the sides were housed onto the baseboards. I planed the edges of a couple of Pine boards and glued on the cross-grain blocks of Ash for the surbase and plinth mouldings.

The glue-up for the lower section of the composite surbase moulding.

The two-section composite surbase moulding.

I veneered the face of the Pine plinth board so the veneer overlapped the lower edges of the Ash blocks. The moulding was stuck by first removing as much waste as possible with a rebate plane and then creating the profile with an appropriate 18th century wooden moulding plane. The front of the plinth was cut to the profile of the bracket feet and the ends were mitred to join the side pieces.

The veneered and moulded plinth.

The completed lower carcass.

[i] Silva: or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesty's dominions, as it was delivered in The Royal society, on the 15th of October 1662, by John Evelyn, third edition, volume 1, York, 1801, p.149.

**Waldo** · 9th February 2010, 02:20 PM

Cor!

Front and centre to watch this one WoodWould.

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Waldo

Cor!

Front and centre to watch this one WoodWould.

Don't get too excited Waldo. It's going to be a slow journey; I don't go out to the shed unless it's below 20° C.

**RufflyRustic** · 9th February 2010, 03:15 PM

I'm drooling!!!!!!! What gorgeous timber! and a WIP as well

Move over Waldo, I wanna a seat on this bench too please

**Waldo** · 9th February 2010, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Don't get too excited Waldo. It's going to be a slow journey; I don't go out to the shed unless it's below 20° C.

And my hutch/bookcase isn't slow?

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 03:24 PM

Because I don't have any drawings and very few dimensions to lead me on this interpretation of a two-tier corner cabinet, I wanted to visualise the proportions of the cornice before embarking on the upper tier.

The untrained eye may be forgiven for assuming all mouldings are stuck as one. Indeed, modern crown moulding, skirting and architrave are typically machined from single pieces of timber (all be they straight-grained). Surviving complex wooden moulding planes also demonstrate wide, one-piece, intricate profiles were being stuck as early as the 17th century (the moulding planes, often with rope holes so the plane 'drivers' could harness the additional grunt of an apprentice or two). By far though, the most commonly seen mouldings of this complexity are built up from smaller, individual coves, quadrants, arcs and flats that were stuck with smaller, more manageable moulding planes or scratch stocks.

Different methods of building up mouldings.

Composite Walnut cornice moulding c. 1730. Photo Christies.

I don't have a single large moulding plane capable of sticking this cornice in one go and even if I did, I'm not sure I'd be keen on tackling this quantity of cross-grained Ash in one hit anyway.

Cross-grained mouldings inevitably shrink across the grain leaving the characteristic splits and gaps, but to minimise shrinkage, the moulding stock is prepared by gluing small sections of Ash onto Pine grounds.

The various Ash blocks are rubbed onto Pine boards.

The ground of the ogee section was bevelled before gluing on the Ash blocks...

…and then moulded using 'hollow' and 'round' moulding planes.

The built-up cross-grained cornice moulding.

**Afro Boy** · 9th February 2010, 03:52 PM

Taking my seat on the viewing bench too.

Great work and detailed description WW. I do like how the corner moulding is built up too. Also wondered about those things.

Cheers,
Af.

**Phil Spencer** · 9th February 2010, 04:14 PM

As always WW brilliant

Mrs Phil is also impressed and can't wait to see the progress

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 04:19 PM

The weather is going to be hot for the foreseeable future and I'm not going to get out to the shed for a while, so I thought I'd write a little bit about 'Mulberry' history.

A George I 'Mulberry' bureau in the manner of Coxed and Woster. Photo Christie's.

In the mid-eighties, I restored an eighteenth century chest of drawers of a type known in the antique trade as, and generally believed to be, Mulberry. After a little help from a friend at the Victoria & Albert Museum, I discovered the chest was in fact veneered with Common Maple (Acer campestre) Bruscum[1] and subsequently coloured to create the amazing effect known as 'Mulberry'.

Two species of true Mulberry, Morus alba (native to China) and Morus nigra (origin uncertain), were established in England well before 'Mulberry' furniture became fashionable. Like other members of the Moraceae family, Mulberry's bright yellow colour would have been bedazzling amid the normal palette of brown, cream and grey woods common at the time, yet little furniture made from solid or veneered Mulberry survives. It has been said that Mulberry trees do not attain sufficient proportions to provide suitable timber for cabinetmaking; my parents have a yellow, solid Mulberry drop leaf table in their house in Somerset and I sold a stunning Mulberry elbow chair through my shop during the mid-nineties. I have also cut Mulberry boards as wide as 28 inches.

A slab of true Mulberry, 22 inches wide, with a small area (top left) planed to show the vibrant yellow of the wood.

Mulberry is a sound furniture timber, resembling fine-grained Elm. It is strong, works easily and takes polish well, but one possible explanation why Mulberry was little used, is its vibrant colour can be unpredictable; some samples remain yellow (although somewhat muted compared to when it's freshly cut) and others quickly warm to a glorious nut brown. It is therefore understandable why a cabinetmaker desiring a striking yellow colour for his work would be reluctant to employ true Mulberry if its colour might eventually turn deep brown.

There exist a great many stunning pieces of furniture from the last quarter of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century that are veneered with burr, curly and fiddleback veneers and, in most instances that is precisely all they are.

Over the years I have restored several pieces of 'Mulberry' furniture, veneered with either burr or curly Ash, Birch, Oak and Maple and they all, where they would take it up, were heightened with a dark opaque stain.

On the subject of stain; to those unfamiliar with the colouring of wood, there are two distinct substances that jointly go by the name of Stain. The first is probably the most widely understood definition of the word and would best be described as a dye; that is, a coloured, translucent, aqueous or oleic solution that, when applied to wood, tints the surface of the wood without obscuring its grain or figure.

There existed at the time, several yellow vegetable extracts which were employed by dyers to colour wool and linen for clothing and furnishings, and which were also compatible with wood. Weld (Reseda luteola), in conjunction with a mordant, produces a very strong yellow and was cultivated in England. A second yellow dye, Fustic [2] (Old Fustic), derived from the heartwood of another member of the Moraceae family, Maclura tinctoria, was imported from Central America and the Antilles. (Perhaps it was the colour of freshly-cut Mulberry wood, or the dye obtained from Fustic, and subsequently applied to pale English bruscum and knotty woods - and duplicated with aqua fortis - that lent its name to the deep yellow colouring of wood we know as 'Mulberry'?)

When highly concentrated, some dye-stains such as asphalt and Vandyke (refined from Walnut husks and should not be confused with the pigment Van Dyke Brown) can behave much like pigmented-stains and are very useful for mulberrying.

The second colorant comprises insoluble pigment (usually finely ground soil, clay, or carbon) suspended in either water or oil, which obscures the wood in varying degrees contingent upon the concentration of the concoction. Of the natural earth pigments, the darker ones better suited to staining 'Mulberry' are the Siennas and the Umbers from Siena and Umbria in Italy, and Van Dyke Brown which is obtained from peat-rich soils. Carbon in the form of soot was collected from metal plates held above purpose-made oil lamps with multiple wicks (lampblack).

There is also a third method of 'staining' wood that involves applying mordacious chemicals to the surface of the wood. The chemicals react with those present in the wood, altering the wood's colour in dye-like appearance.

In Chapter XXVII, "Of Dying or Staining Wood, Ivory, &c.", Stalker & Parker [3] recommend several recipes for staining wood, including the following:

"To stain a fine Yellow.

Take Burr or knotty Ash, or any other wood that is white, curled, and knotty; smooth and rush[4] it very well, and having warmed it, with a brush dipt in Aqua fortis wash over the wood, and hold it to the fire, as you do Japan-work until it leaves smoaking; when dry rush it again, for the Aqua fortis will make it very rough. If to these you add a polish, and varnish it with Seed-lacc, and then again polish it, you'l find no outlandish wood surpass it; for the curled and knotty parts admit of so much variety, being in some places hard, in others soft and open-grained, to which Aqua fortis gives a deeper colour, than to the harder and more resisting parts. In short, you'l perceive a pleasing variety interwoven, beyond what you could imagine or expect. If you put filings or bits of metals, as brass, copper, and iron, into the Aqua fortis, each metal will produce a different tincture: the best French Pistols are stockt generally with this sort of wood, and stained after this manner."

Despite the inclusion of a chapter entitled "To imitate and counterfeit Tortoise-Shell and Marble", Stalker & Parker do not tender a recipe for mulberrying per se. However, they do offer a couple of processes which, when used successively, can achieve the 'Mulberry' effect.

However, in Chapter III, "General Rules to be diligently observed in all manner of Varnishing", Stalker & Parker instruct on the use of black grain filler (having previously polished the work and cut it back with tripoli):

"… and with oyl mixt with Lamblack anoint the whole face of your work; let no corner or moulding escape…"

Continuing in Chapter IV, "Of varnishing WOODS without Colour":

"Then wipe of your Tripolee with a spunge full of water, the water with a dry rag; grease it with Lamblack and Oyl all over; wipe off that with a cloth, and clear it up with another…"

Staining, grain-filling and polishing (or varnishing) hasn't changed for over 340 years. The fundamentals of wood sealing, filling and varnishing (oiling) were undoubtedly known to cabinetmakers since their trade first emerged. Stalker & Parker merely rhymed off the standard processes of wood preparation in readiness for their specialised finishes of "Japanning, Guilding, Burnishing, and Lackering".

'Soiled', not Stained

John Coxed in his pre-partnership years, produced much burr and curly veneered furniture, however, without the wild grain being filled (either with lampblack or thick Van Dyke), such veneered furniture would be best described as 'highly figured'.

Burr veneered cabinet, John Coxed, c1700. Photo Avon Antiques.

The above cabinet was sold by Christie's (Lot 149, Sale 5969), at their South Kensington rooms in London on the 21st of May, 2009. The effect of the burr and curly veneers is utterly mesmerising, but at any other time, it would simply be described as a "very fine burr wood cabinet".

The close-up of the cabinet door below, exhibits no evidence of pigment in the grain, just the wood's natural chatoyance (the dark lines are typical small fissures from which the glue has exuded and grime and wax have seeped in).

Close-up of the John Coxed cabinet door. Photo Avon Antiques.

In stark contrast, the clothes press, below - also sold by Christie's (Lot 64, Sale 7400) at their King Street rooms on the 7th of June, 2007 – exhibits distinct opaque, dark patterning in classic 'Mulberry' fashion.

A wonderfully rich 'Mulberry' clothes press in the classic manner of Coxed and Woster. Photo Christie's.

Like Stalker & Parker - and the French stock makers before me, I too have used nitric acid to stain furniture and wooden turnings etc. and it performs admirably as a dye-like stain (as any modern aniline dye - though with the added bonus of imparting a slight appearance of age). Alone however, aqua fortis is not capable of producing the incredible impact of the press illustrated above, further, its use is unessential to mulberrying; the crucial ingredient being a black or very dark, opaque filler rubbed into the grain.

Though many cabinetmakers in the early part of the eighteenth century were undoubtedly accomplished in the practice of grain-filling and thus, the art of 'mulberrying', 'Mulberry' is synonymous with the firm of Coxed and Woster, active at a time when few cabinetmakers signed their furniture. Consequently, 'Mulberry' is now very much a clichéd currency with auction houses and antiques dealers alike. A West Country dealer once enquired if I would 'mulberry-up' an otherwise lacklustre figured bureau during the course of its restoration. I declined!

Mulberrying in practice

The art of mulberrying differs little from the common practice of grain-filling, familiar to every cabinetmaker and polisher: The raw or stained wood is normally sealed first and then entirely brushed over with grainfiller (a stiff mixture of drying oil, silica and earth pigments – including, on occasion, lampblack). For the majority of work, the grainfiller is prepared somewhat darker than the wood itself (except when polishing fair woods like Maple and Satinwood). The filler colours the grain which compliments and accentuates the wood's figure[5]. The grainfiller is rubbed into the grain and the residue removed with a clump of hessian, or if left to dry on the wood's surface, by scraping off with a cabinet scraper. The piece is then polished or varnished[6] in the usual manner.

[1] Bruscum L. knot or excrescence on a Maple tree.

[2] "MORUS (tinctoria) foliis oblique cordatis acuminatis hirsuitis. Mulberry with oblique,
heart-shaped, acute-pointed, hairy leaves. Morus fructu viridi, ligno sulphureo tinctorio. Sloan.
Hist. Jam. 2. p. 3. Mulberry with a green fruit, whose wood dyes a sulphur colour. Fustick wood.
This tree is better known by the title of Fustick, which is given to the wood, than by its fruit, which is of no estimation. It grows naturally in most of the islands in the West-Indies, but more plentifully in the Bay of Campeachy, where it abounds greatly. This wood is one of the commodities exported from Jamaica, where it grows in greater plenty than in any other of the British islands."
Silva: or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesty's dominions, as it was delivered in The Royal society, on the 15th of October 1662, by John Evelyn, third edition, with notes by A. Hunter, volume 2, York, 1801, p. 44.

[3] John Stalker & George Parker, A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, Oxford, 1668.

[4] Stalker & Parker recommend every artist should furnish themselves with, amongst other paraphernalia, "Rushes, which are called Dutch-Rushes, with which you must smooth your work before you varnish it; and as you lay your ground of Colour or Black, if any knob or roughness appear on your work, you must take a Rush and rush it off; so must you do as oft as you find any roughness or grittiness upon your work, either in laying your Grounds, or varnishing it up."
The "rushes" referred to are a species of Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale - known as Scouringrush Horsetail). The ridges of the stems are roughened with a single series of transversely oblong siliceous tubercles. When dried, the stems make an excellent fine abrasive for smoothing wood and polishing metal etc.

[5] In this context, grain refers to the individual open pores. Figure is the overall arrangement of the grain.

[6] Gum or resin varnish; not the modern varieties containing synthetic resins and other solids.

**Ozkaban** · 9th February 2010, 04:34 PM

*squeezing onto bench in between Waldo and Ruffly*

Nice WIP Wouldwood. How about we all chip in to get some aircon for your shed so you can keep working on it

Love the cross grained mouldings. Look lovely though they do come under the category of 'bloody lot of extra work'. Well done for doing it the way you wanted though

Cheers,
Dave

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

How about we all chip in to get some aircon for your shed so you can keep working on it

Phil Spencer has kindly installed a solar-powered vent up on the roof already to try and suck some of the hot air out of the shed for me. I think the poor little shed would just give up under the weight of an air-conditioning unit.

However, if you were talking about a whip around for a new shed...

**Ozkaban** · 9th February 2010, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Phil Spencer has kindly installed a solar-powered vent up on the roof already to try and suck some of the hot air out of the shed for me. I think the poor little shed would just give up under the weight of an air-conditioning unit.

However, if you were talking about a whip around for a new shed...

ahh well, can't stretch to a new shed

If you're not going to continue the WIP today, I'll just have to 'watch' the cricket. Windies doing their best to implode... Gale out for a first ball duck

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by ozkaban

if you're not going to continue the wip today, i'll just have to blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah... Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

What!

**Ozkaban** · 9th February 2010, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

What!

Isn't this thread about still doing stuff they did in the 18th Century? Even if it takes ages and not a lot seems to happen? Mentioning it seems perfectly appropriate to me

**Woodwould** · 9th February 2010, 05:59 PM

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" as the saying goes. I'm off to watch the cricket too.

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