Stuff for my BA submission in August. AKA Welcome to The Dark Side.

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One area that I have always liked is linenfold carvings. There are very few examples here and any books on carving will only have a poor illustration or two and that's it. Every now and then I see in the background of a TV show or movie some but goes by way to fast. I don't suppose you have any resources I could look at that would show more details? I would love to make a bed with linenfold panels someday.

Pete
 
One area that I have always liked is linenfold carvings. There are very few examples here and any books on carving will only have a poor illustration or two and that's it. Every now and then I see in the background of a TV show or movie some but goes by way to fast. I don't suppose you have any resources I could look at that would show more details? I would love to make a bed with linenfold panels someday.

Pete

I've got loads of pictures from different periods.

The process is the same for all, but the design becomes more elaborate with the development of the wooden moulding plane.

Basically, its a process of creating a series of planed hollow and round grooves along a board and then cutting the end to create the folds. The early ones are just a series of troughs cut with a round moulding plane and the ends are cut at an angle, but with the development of the moulding plane and the creation of hollows and rounds they introduced the hollow plane which creates a raised curved section and then the snipes bill plane was introduced which creates an undercut and makes the linenfold fold over on itself, like the panel below.

I forgot to add, once you've cut all the gouge cuts straight downwards, remove the waste and undercut it to create the shadow edge at the bottom.
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Thank you for taking the time to share Adam. Absolutely fascinating. Other than the level of skill involved in the carving it's really interesting to see the depth of knowledge involved in the timber selection and processing by riving onwards all by hand.
 
Thank you.

I'm at The City and Guilds of London Art School in Kennington. I wanted to study historic joinery, but there wasn't a course for that, so I got a place on their historic carving course instead.

I get told off for doing too much joinery study though, but they've got used to me and my funny tools and wooden planes. As long as I do the carving bit as well, I'm left alone to do my thing.

I studied Historic Timber Building Conservation at The Weald and Downland museum before that and I hope to get some work in the large London jobs combining both disciplines, which work together very well.

Most of my work before was in conservation and repair, so there wasn't a call for CNC made stuff, as the emphasis is on making things in the traditional way, using traditional tools and materials. I have to be able to read tool marks and I study lots of 17th. century pattern books to decipher how things were made. Then I do loads of experimenting with method and materials to get it just right before I begin.

So I guess I don't feel threatened by automation at all. Lots of things are being made with 3D printing nowadays but there isn't really a huge demand for it in grade 1 listed buildings.

many thanks for the reply.

It is fantastic that there are people such as yourself who want to learn these skills -It is a valuable part of our heritage.

I used to run a joinery company and Ive worked on many listed buildings and indeed a few churches. A builder friend of mine is a preferred contractor for an ecclesiastical architect an dIve helped with a few refurbs -not historical really mostly kitchens, tea serveries etc. But Ive seen lots of the original work - beautiful linenfold panelling with carvings.

I know the Weald and Downland museum well -been there a number of times, its an hours drive from my house.
 
Adam, I've very much enjoyed reading about your experiences, the skills and learning you're undertaking, and the issues you're discussing. I'm looking forward to reading and seeing more. Slainte.
 
Thank you for taking the time to share Adam. Absolutely fascinating. Other than the level of skill involved in the carving it's really interesting to see the depth of knowledge involved in the timber selection and processing by riving onwards all by hand.

Thanks.

There's no point in keeping it all to myself and I believe in sharing knowledge around. Other people have shared their knowledge with me and the least I can do is share it all further.
 
Adam, I've very much enjoyed reading about your experiences, the skills and learning you're undertaking, and the issues you're discussing. I'm looking forward to reading and seeing more. Slainte.
Cheers, I'll post a bit more about the conversion tomorrow. I hope to read your book one day.
 
Great stuff, excusemy ignorance but BA, is that a degree in wood carving?
I assume it is, I employed a guy with a degree in furniture making a few years ago and was amazed at what you can do degrees in these days, but also rather saddened the there was a necessity to turn a trade into a degree.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not under valueing a trade. I'm more interested in why it was made into a degree, bit like why it was necessary to make nursing a degree.
Prehaps you can shed some light on this for me and educate me.
 
Great stuff, excusemy ignorance but BA, is that a degree in wood carving?
I assume it is, I employed a guy with a degree in furniture making a few years ago and was amazed at what you can do degrees in these days, but also rather saddened the there was a necessity to turn a trade into a degree.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not under valueing a trade. I'm more interested in why it was made into a degree, bit like why it was necessary to make nursing a degree.
Prehaps you can shed some light on this for me and educate me.

It was a diploma when I started, but it turned into a degree in the second year.

I'm not sure why that was to be honest, but I guess it's how things progress in education and maybe the college gets some more funding that way, which I don't begrudge, as they have done a lot to keep the subject alive and it's a very small independent college. They are supported by most of the London guilds, so the trade links are still there and I receive bursaries from The Worshipful Company of Carpenters and The Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers and without their support I couldn't do it.

Turning it into a degree has upped the student numbers, which is possibly because students can now apply for a student loan to study there. I'm sure you'll agree that more people studying historic woodcarving is a good thing for historic building conservation in the UK, no matter what the qualification is at the end of the day.

It's a huge amount of work, I do 11 hour days, and we have to become proficient at drawing, including life drawing, clay modelling, gilding and woodcarving.

Where are the industry lead apprenticeship schemes for trades these days anyway ?
 
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Currently working on my submission for a BA in carving and I've been working on a carved chest made from one of these, converted by riving.....




View attachment 108704



The front is joined and carved and the lid, back and sides are plain wainscott.

View attachment 108705


With these panels as infill on the front...

View attachment 108706

I made this from construction grade spruce. It's a copy of part of a 15th. century Della Robbia terracotta heraldic shield and will be gessoed and polychromed, which is why it looks a bit rough and ready.



I've got two more frames to make before I'm finished, a walnut Sansovino and a gilded tabernacle, both copies of 16th. century Venetian picture frames.View attachment 108707
Absolutely amazing. It’s hard to imagine how these things can be made by hand. Well done 👏
 
Currently working on my submission for a BA in carving and I've been working on a carved chest made from one of these, converted by riving.....




View attachment 108704



The front is joined and carved and the lid, back and sides are plain wainscott.

View attachment 108705


With these panels as infill on the front...

View attachment 108706

I made this from construction grade spruce. It's a copy of part of a 15th. century Della Robbia terracotta heraldic shield and will be gessoed and polychromed, which is why it looks a bit rough and ready.



I've got two more frames to make before I'm finished, a walnut Sansovino and a gilded tabernacle, both copies of 16th. century Venetian picture frames.View attachment 108707
Beautiful work, thanks for sharing and imho you already have a 1st
 
Thanks. I wish it was that easy, but they ignore everything other than carving, although I view it all as essential, but joinery other than a lap joint is definitely seen as an extra curricular activity.

I will come out with much more knowledge than I went in with and I'm considering doing an MA and that's where I can really get going with stuff like fan vaults and segmented pediments, but that's for another day and another thread.

I'll do a thread when the time comes and we can all have a good laugh as I take an unguided trip down another rabbit hole.

But, to whet your appetite, here's a picture of some 3" long boxwood planes I made to work on the pediments sprung cornice moulding .

Compass and radiused boxwood planes 23:11:20.jpg
 
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I hope to read your book one day.
That's much appreciated, Adam. Maybe there's a copy handy in the college library, and if not, perhaps I should get in touch with the highheidyin's there to extol the tome's virtues, and to persuade them they require multiple copies to satisfy the learning needs or goals of their students, ha, ha, (tongue firmly in cheek on the last bit). Slainte.
 
Anyway, back to converting timber by hand.

The logs get bucked into the desired lengths with the chainsaw. Mostly I go for 6' lengths for stock, as I can make muntins for wainscott panels with that and most furniture uses lengths shorter than that, so its a good compromise.

This one's 4' for the chest components.

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So I start off with a maul and some iron and plastic wedges, you can use timber wedges too if you want.

Starting at the butt where the splits normally are (you can see them in the earlier photos where the stem has started to split into quarters from sitting in the wind), drive the wedges in and split the piece in half along its length.

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This one sat over the summer and some mycelium has caused the dark staining, I don't worry about this, as it will die when the timber dries down below 18% which is classed as air dry.

Note where the split has gone wiggly along the pith in the center. This is from the sapling moving around as it grows upwards. The fibres in that middle portion are quite sloping and brittle and it gets chopped off as waste later.

I use the axe to cut any fibers which don't separate with the wedges. The two pieces will just fall apart when they are cut.

You can also see where the butt flares out at the near end, on the left, and starts to form the buttresses which support the tree and brace it against the wind.

This one didn't split exactly into quaters and the pieces vary in size. I can use this size difference when I'm selecting pieces to use for joinery.


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Continue splitting each piece in half into eigths and sixteenths depending on the thickness of the section required. I wanted nominal 1" thick pieces so I went down to 16ths. If you want thicker for 2" legs, stop at eigths.

For misericords you want to stop at quarters, that's why they are that shape. Take a look next Sunday and you'll find they are invariably quarters from riven stock with medullary rays on the seat part.

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Take a look at the end of this where the broken off branch is and see how the fibers grow around it like water flowing around a rock in a river. That's why you want to avoid bumps in the bark when you choose the log, stuff like this is hidden inside and it affects the end product greatly so it needs splitting off.

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That's about it for converting the timber and it's then to the stump to start the work of the broad axe and square the section before planing.

Check out the orientation of the annual rings and straightness of the grain, that's quality timber right there, and for very little money too.

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You can't really see the medullary rays on this piece, as it's still very wet, so I'll talk a little about that next time when I make a panel with the froe and beetle on a brake.

It's got its own language too, full of strange and wonderful forgotten words and for me that all adds to the richness of the experience.
 
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