Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

Figure 1.20 Papier mâché chair, English c.1840.
Japanned with gilded decoration and painted mother-ofpearl
inlay
During the 1850s gutta percha was introduced
as a furniture material. It was a rubberlike
material that could be moulded into a
variety of shapes and designs. However, due to
cost increases and problems with damage, it
was discontinued before it could become fully
established. Other organic materials such as
deer antlers and other animal horn were used
to produce eccentric chairs particularly. Rustic
furniture was also made from logs and roots.
Bamboo and its painted imitation has been
mentioned above in association with the
Regency style, but it was revived again in the
latter part of the century for whatnots, hallstands,
flimsy tables, and so on. Basketwork,
wicker and rattan were all pressed into service
to make furniture, but especially chairs. The
distinctions between the various materials
cause confusion. Wicker refers to the plaited
twigs or osiers of willow; cane is the outer bark
of the rattan palm used for weaving seats,
whilst reed is the inner core of the rattan. Cane
is also a generic name for bamboo and
malacca reeds which are made into a large
variety of utensils and equipment, as well as
Furniture history 31
furniture. The role of Cyrus Wakefield and
Walter Heywood in the development of cane
and reed in furniture is important. By the midcentury
Wakefield had developed the rattan
used for packaging into a furniture-making
material by processing the reed and the cane.
Heywood introduced power looms to weave
cane into a continuous web to avoid handwork;
he also substituted the rattan with its
pith, the reed, which was susceptible to staining
(and could therefore be coloured).
The period experimented with a variety of
other materials that were essentially unsuitable
for furniture-making or decoration. Coal, glass,
lava, liquefied quartz, ferns and even seaweed
were experimented with and in some cases
patented. More important developments
included machine-made screws in the 1850s
and the first machine-made tacks in 1860.
Innovations in upholstery related to springing,
and metal frames have been mentioned.
Much effort was expended in trying to find
substitutes or improvements in fillings. The use
of curled horsehair was standard but other
ideas included plant fibres, seaweed, and natural
sea-sponge. The more likely stuffings were
wood-wool, shredded fibres, animal hair and
flock. An interesting substitute for leather was
developed in the period. Although known
since the fourteenth century, oil or leather
cloth or Rexine, was originally made with a linseed
oil coating. In the second half of the nineteenth
century it was coated with a mixture of
oil and liquid celluloid (cellulose nitrate).
Tools and techniques
The use of machines in the conversion of raw
material and the construction of furniture during
the nineteenth century is a story of both
important changes and minor developments.
The development of machines such as circular
saw planers, mortisers, borers, dovetail-cutters
and veneer cutters for preparing and shaping
timber was the most important change, which
affected all woodworking industries, including
particularly shipbuilding and house building.
Machines for processing and shaping parts
(bandsaws, fretsaws and lathes) were also
being used in larger quantities, as was the third
category of machines (embossers, moulders
and carving machines), that produced decoration.
Similar developments in the textile industry
made soft furnishings more widely available.