Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

24 Conservation of Furniture
Figure 1.18 Chair, mahogany, English, c.1760. The
backsplat resembles designs for ‘Ribband-Back’ chairs in
Chippendale’s 1754 Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s
Director
tops), as well as in veneer form. Apart from its
rich colour and handsome figure, several other
virtues established mahogany as an ideal cabinet
wood that allowed the extraordinary
designs in chair backs to be executed by
Chippendale and his followers (Figure 1.18). It
is strong, hard, tough, uniform in structure,
dimensionally stable, durable and resistant to
splitting. Mahogany remained important for the
rest of the century. Satinwood was used in the
second half of the century for its fine figuring
and rich golden yellow colour. Supplied from
both the West and East Indies, it was mainly
used in veneer form. Robert Adam and
Sheraton both incorporated it into their
designs, as it suited the lighter touch furniture
of the latter part of the century.
The trade in timber was international. In
1747 Campbell in his London Trades mentions
‘... deal from Norway, wainscot from Sweden,
mahogany from Jamaica and wall-nut from
Spain’. Yellow deal from the Baltic, and red
cedar from North America (after 1750), were
extensively used for carcasses. Many other foreign
woods were used especially in veneer
form for marquetry and banding. Calamander
or Coromandel came from India and Ceylon.
Woods from South America, especially from
Brazil, included kingwood, partridge, zebra,
and tulip woods. Amboyna came from the East
Indies and red cedar from North America,
whilst thuja was imported from Africa.
Domestic woods were used to imitate the
imported ones. Birch and horse chestnut were
substituted for satinwood and acacia for tulipwood.
Harewood was produced by staining
maple or sycamore, using salts of iron, which
resulted in a green–grey tint. The Windsor
chair used only indigenous timbers, usually
elm for the seats, beech for the spindles and
yew for the frames. In America these timbers
were often hickory, ash, maple or tulip.
The principle woods used during this period
in America were walnut, and a little later,
mahogany. Maple was also used in New
England and Pennsylvania, and cherry was
used in New York.
Scagliola This was an imitation marble or rare
stone material made from fine-ground plaster
of Paris mixed with glue and colourings and
marble or stone chips. It was originally made
in Italy and was very popular for table tops.
Although table and commode tops were often
imported from Italy, by the second half of the
century there were some makers in England
supplying the needs of the furniture and carving
trades.
Tools and techniques of conversion and
construction
During the eighteenth century there were few
developments in methods of construction or of
the use of new tools. There were, however,
some efforts made that were to assist developments
in the long term. These early attempts
included the 1761 Society of Art’s Prize to
Stansfield, for his sawmill design, and in 1793,
Bentham’s comprehensive patent for woodworking
machinery. Developments such as
lathe-turned screws which were being produced
with slotted heads to fix handles, and
Maudsley’s construction of a sliding tool holder
in 1797 which enabled screws to be made
more easily, were aimed at woodworkers other
than furniture-makers. Their influence was not
to become important until the nineteenth
century.