Let’s re-examine this picture from my last blog.
The solution.
(I believe the hex nut on the right is not original.)
To recap, the above was the solution to mounting this pull
A really attractive pull with eye bolts. Click to enlarge.
onto this unusually thick drawer front
Click to enlarge.
(Note the really thin dovetail pins.)
And they are from this server
19th Century Norfolk, VA server
The auction house described this as: 19th century, flame mahogany veneers, single long drawer over two doors flanked by fully turned columns supported on later carved paw feet. Aside from the fact that there are two drawers, not one, let’s accept their description. I retrieved my copy of Classical Norfolk Furniture, 1810 to 1840 and started comparing pictures. This server is similar to pieces in the book.
My initial impression was that this was a bit of a crude solution. But then it occurred to me that this is the inside of a drawer. The front of the inside of the drawer. Except for idiots such as the author (blogger?), who the heck looks at the front of the inside of a drawer. This takes us back to discussions of overcutting dovetails. Before Thos. Moser, there were different expectations of the perfection of furniture. More commerce and less art.
So, you’re a furniture maker in 1830 finishing up a server for a client. You have this pull that the client selected or more likely left over from another job. The pull has 1″ eye bolts that you have to mount on a 4″ drawer front. It’s not like you can order longer eye bolts from McMaster-Carr or e-mail Orion at Horton Brasses. You have to improvise (bodge). You can bore a hole with your brace and bit but, not having a nut driver, you can’t get your plyers (pliers) down a cylindrical hole. You need a conical hole. Out comes the ream or more likely, the chisel or gouge. A few minutes of banging and paring and you are that much closer to being paid. And it’s the bloody front of the inside of the drawer!
And, there you have it. This ends today’s performance of Period Furniture Maker’s Theater. Hope you enjoyed. ‘night.
Blog encore. This following has nothing to do with the rest of the blog. I just really like the column capitals on this server. Enjoy.
Carved Norfolk Capital, or so they claim.