Thread: New foot required for a french day bed - Perth

That would be carved, not turned.

You could have a go yourself. If good, then splice it on the end.

The question is "what is the timber?".

Regards from Perth

Derek

Following. This would make a good project.

It's called a Boston claw foot. Funnily enough I was reading about them only yesterday. There are a thousand variants, but the maker was going into great detail as to why it was a "Boston" and not the other one (of a slightly different area, but the name eludes me atm).

Let me find the article and post it.

Edit 1 - this is a video showing production.



Also, there is a page describing the various styles. I'll find that too.

Thanks for replying Derek. I have no idea as to the timber. The day bed or bench is I think fairly old, not that that helps. I wouldnt give it a go myself, as I have absolutely no idea where to start. Whatever timber would be used, it would ideally need to grey like this has.

Is this piece of furniture worth something? I've absolutely no idea...

IF it isn't, it will be a costly repair. Not from a materials perspective, but one of time.

-- Using one of the undamaged legs, the craftsman will copy that
-- Then it will be spliced on in a manner that either hides it, or makes it apparent its a repair
-- A bit of grime, paint, heat and distressing will disguise it according to skill

Unless the legs are removable (doubt it!) then it will need to be a local repair. Shipping would be ... prohibitive.

It definitely would be a repair needing the couch, no way it could be done remotely.

What do others think?

To be honest I am not sure of its value. I was told it is old, and certainly it appears that this is so. The repair could be costly..but what is costly exactly?

Do you have the part that broke off?

Its called a french style scroll foot . And its a ugly bad attempt at carving one . Lacks the proportion and style of a quality period piece . The white powdery look and specially the way the patina has worn off to reveal a lighter stained up wood underneath mean it has the look of a typical Indo bodge job from the 80s.

Most period versions of such a foot would be Walnut , cherry , Chesnut , Oak, Beech. 18 th Century City ones in quality Mahogany .

Indo repro ones are things like Teak or lightweight cheap Mahogany's .

Roughly
The real deal would be a $600 job to repair .
The Indo job would be a $600 job to repair.

To repair, a splice join needs to be done higher up . Long and strong . The slightly over size blank is glued on and the outline of the leg re cut the way normal cab legs are cut . Scrolls re drawn on and re carved on the job . If the frame was in pieces then the leg could be repaired on the bench or a whole new leg made and fitted if it was bad enough . Just a foot and carving while still a part of the frame is a just a little harder .

Rob

Gosh I wish I did. No I dont.

20191212_220038.jpg20191212_220147.jpg Needs recovering and its solid.

Thats quite a job.

All quite do-able though.

Any Perth takers?

Does it look to you to be a cheap imitation of a french made day bed?

Originally Posted by Newbie57

Does it look to you to be a cheap imitation of a french made day bed?

Yes it does . Nothing unusual about that though . Its probably the most copied furniture ever . You see it from the 1980s 90s
1960s . 50s 20s 1880s and probably all in between as well .
You see Indonesian , Singapore , Egyptian , French of course, and ? more made versions of reproduced French furniture.

Plenty of the repro stuff is rough . Specially the carving .
The original 2 to 300 year old stuff can be sort of rough in a provincial 18th c way too but its way way better . The original city stuff is finer again .
Amazing stuff .