I was at a museum today and what I found most interesting was not actually an exhibit. In an office there were 5 plan chests, for holding engineering drawings. It was obvious that they had one chest made and when that got full they made another, the same size & design. Then when that got full they made another. Rinse & repeat. Only one of the chests was dated, by a brass plaque on the front. This was clearly the oldest and was dated 1829. I would estimate that the newest one was made in the 1950s to 1970s era.
All 5 chests were the same size (I estimate 1000 wide, 800 deep and 700 high), but they differed considerably. The 2 oldest were made from a dark-coloured hardwood; I cannot say what. Not a local species anyway. The others were made from what I guess was a local wood, possibly birch, stained to look more exotic, but not as dark as the oldest 2 chests.
All 5 chests had 7 drawers each. On the oldest 2 chests the front of the drawers had hand-cut half-blind dovetails. The other chests had machine-cut half-blind box joints. The box joints were a tighter fit than the dovetails but looked awful in comparison when the drawers were open. When such a drawer was closed though it looked much the same as the drawers on the older chests.
All the drawers that I opened, on older and newer chests, had a strange flap inside. This was about 100mm wide. It normally lay flat, at the top front of the drawer and hinged to the drawer front. When the drawer was opened more than 100mm the flap could be swung "open" about 150 degrees, so it slanted outwards and upward from the top of the drawer front at about 30 degrees to the horizontal. It was not strong enough to take any weight. What purpose did these flaps serve? I have never seen anything like it before.
The chests had a sort of face frame with butt joints at the bottom corners and mitres at the top corners. The mitres on the oldest chests were faultless, completely tight. The mitres on the newer chests had opened nearest the inside of the joint. I am pretty sure the older originals would have been cut by hand whilst the newer ones were machine cut and they have not lasted as well.
Unfortunately photography was not allowed in the museum or I would have posted some pics. It was an interesting set of items to study though, with the same piece being made by different people using different materials and different techniques over a period of perhaps 100 to 150 years.
All 5 chests were the same size (I estimate 1000 wide, 800 deep and 700 high), but they differed considerably. The 2 oldest were made from a dark-coloured hardwood; I cannot say what. Not a local species anyway. The others were made from what I guess was a local wood, possibly birch, stained to look more exotic, but not as dark as the oldest 2 chests.
All 5 chests had 7 drawers each. On the oldest 2 chests the front of the drawers had hand-cut half-blind dovetails. The other chests had machine-cut half-blind box joints. The box joints were a tighter fit than the dovetails but looked awful in comparison when the drawers were open. When such a drawer was closed though it looked much the same as the drawers on the older chests.
All the drawers that I opened, on older and newer chests, had a strange flap inside. This was about 100mm wide. It normally lay flat, at the top front of the drawer and hinged to the drawer front. When the drawer was opened more than 100mm the flap could be swung "open" about 150 degrees, so it slanted outwards and upward from the top of the drawer front at about 30 degrees to the horizontal. It was not strong enough to take any weight. What purpose did these flaps serve? I have never seen anything like it before.
The chests had a sort of face frame with butt joints at the bottom corners and mitres at the top corners. The mitres on the oldest chests were faultless, completely tight. The mitres on the newer chests had opened nearest the inside of the joint. I am pretty sure the older originals would have been cut by hand whilst the newer ones were machine cut and they have not lasted as well.
Unfortunately photography was not allowed in the museum or I would have posted some pics. It was an interesting set of items to study though, with the same piece being made by different people using different materials and different techniques over a period of perhaps 100 to 150 years.