The Dunlap Highboy or any other highboy
WillGeorge
| Posted in General Discussion on
A general question.
I was looking at the pictures of the two maple highboys. The original one made in 1782 by John Dunlap, the other made in 2007 by his descendant Donald Dunlap.
I have always wondered how the legs support a highboy. Especially when the drawers are full of whatever. What if somebody try to move it across the room. I realize wood is/can be very strong but the legs ‘appear’ very delicate!
Anyone want to comment on how they are made that allows all that weight. I know how the legs are made in general but I’ll really can’t get it in my head how they survive everyday life.
Edited 9/15/2007 6:43 pm by WillGeorge
Edited 9/15/2007 6:44 pm by WillGeorge
Replies
You are correct in surmizing that sliding the piece across the floor isn't a good idea. However, a correctly shaped Queen Anne leg will support a tremendous load. The secret is a 1/2 to 3/4" shaft of wood that runs continously from top to bottom. Legs which don't contain this shaft will easily snap.
Dick
Hi Will,
These legs are indeed very strong, but will not fair well being skidded across the floor, even if the case is empty. I think it is important to be careful about grain orientation as well. Straight grained stock seems to work best.
I recall a picture where the grain runs diagonally across the post. Lonnie Bird?
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Will, even people living in the 1700s were awake enough to realize that the piece needed to be lifted and not slid across the floor. I also assume that when it was necessary to move them that the drawers were removed to make the lifting easy. There was no 'everyday life' in the sense that they were dragged around fully loaded, willy-nilly. And if they were, well, they didn't survive. I would guess that most of the pieces that did not survive were lost to fires, not poor handling.
And remember that these kinds of works did not come cheap. A John Dunlap piece would not have been found in a field laborer's home, rather, it would be in a home with staff who had as a big part of their job making sure the furniture was well maintained and cared for.
I get the point.. Well made!
Hey Will,
Don't be intimidated by these scuttle legs as Lataxe calls 'em. They're actually fun and rather easy to make. Listen to me, I made one and now I'm an expert. NOT!
Get Jefferey P. Greenes book on American Furniture of the 18th Century and go to section Nine. There's lots of other sources as well.
If ya gotta bandsaw, they're a lot of fun! If I can make one you can too. As Ray says, "Bobs your uncle." I'm still trying to figure that one out! :-)
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 9/20/2007 8:55 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Don't be intimidated by these scuttle legs ... LOL..Making them is easy for me also. However, getting every leg in the set to look the same is HARD!
I read somewhere that making them all look alike is easier if you do all processes in order, i.e. draw all legs on the stock using a template, then saw all the legs to the line, then clean up/shape all legs starting from the same position on each leg.
I'm about to find out if that works. Will let you know how I make out.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
The legs are at least 20" apart. So they don't have to be exactly the same, They just have to look the same.
I tend to agree with your statement they don't have to be exactly the same. BUT...It is really something inside me. I HATE things when they are not symmetrical (paired when they should be) and things out of level.
I have always been this way. I will spend hours looking for 4 screws of the same type/material/length etc. when I already have a box full of ones that will do the job even if they will be hidden. I 'know' they are NOT matched! LOL.. But sometimes not that funny when I can't find or do it.EDIT: Art or freeform is a different matter.
Edited 9/21/2007 12:08 pm by WillGeorge
That is a fact. 20 inches is a long ways apart. Take it easy on the first couple legs and the 3rd and 4th will look great.
Maybe the 5th will replace the 1st. Maybe. Only you know.
Maybe the 5th will replace the 1st.. Oh geeee, I had this vision of me trying to pick out four legs I made out of 55 or so!... LOL..I loved your post!
Will,
Not everyone knows this, but the highboys that you are talking about all have steel rods that go through the legs. Obviously their makers plugged the bottoms of the legs so that the customers wouldn't notice this.
I was disappointed to see that the other respondents to your question did not know this.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
This is Fine Woodworking! They are stainless, not just steel! :-)
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob, and Mel,
A purist like me only uses hand surfaced graphite rods. I turn them first in a treadle lathe, that's made of reinforced fibreglas over polymer.
Ray
Graphite is sooo 20th century. These days, it's gotta be boron, or nothing at all.
-Steve
HEY! You just call me a boron??!!??
Ray,
off in a snit
HEY! You just call me a boron??!!?? LOL..I never culd spells..
"HEY! You just call me a boron??!!??"
Hey, if the fiber-reinforced shoe fits....
-Steve
Steel rods! I LOVE IT! AND a good idea.I think I posted it once in here but I made a cabinet with long shelves for my son-in-law who is a Doctor of Education. He has some really heavy books. And a lot of them. ALL of his cabinets had drooping shelves.I forget the exact length but I believe the shelves were around 8 foot long 3/4 inch ply. I cut a rabbit and a groove in the underside of each shelf (down the center) and glued in a cold rolled steel 'L'.You would never see it unless you looked under the shelve. NO SAG WHATEVER!I originally posted this question and threw in the comment about moving it.. A post here (sorry I can't look for the name just now) said something about 1/2 to 3/4 inch shaft at the smallest part of the leg. I saw a Highboy somewhere on a trip. Somewhere in California in a hotel where the leg at the smallest diameter 'looked' to be about 1/2 inch or less. Very pretty, but I just wondered 'How can that be!). Especially when there was a curve just below that 'skinny' part of the shaft/leg.I believe everything that was posted and I work a lot using laminations. On occasion I will try to snap a really thin stick in half and sometimes it just 'snaps in half' and other times I have to get a saw to cut it.Did some 'Old Timer' pick out the sticks that would be used for the legs and then let the 'workers' make the leg. What was the 'old timer' looking for when picking out the sticks to use for the leg?
Will,
I like the idea of using steel rods or L bars to reinforce shelves. I am designing a hutch for my daughter and do not want to have a stile up the middle, so the shelves will need to be strong. I have looked at all the well known ways of doing this -- but I like your ideas of steel rods.Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
but I like your ideas of steel rods..I did not use a rod. I used a length of steel angle iron. It does not have to be very big to be strong. Just try and bend a 1/2 X 1/2 cold rolled steel angle iron and you will get my point!A groove to fit the thickness of the steel and a dado depth to hide it flush to the surface.
WG, good evening, I was just moving off my goodies *(favorites cookies. doc's and pic's) from my Tenn pc to the NY pc as it had to go to the doctor. I can now return the Tenn pc when I go down in Oct.
One of the doc's, 3 actually, are of Randall O'Donnell's curly cherry high boy 18th century with one article solely on carving the fans (yes 3) including copious pic's, notes, hints and innuendos on doing them**. It's from FWW ### 116-117-118 I think. I f you don't have access just send me a pvt. email and I will provide. Boy the upper and lower case work are a lot of work with out the fru-fru stuff, but it is stunning. Paddy
*did the file moves thanks to the info from FG and others, a life saver as usual, many thanks.
** Hey O.S.O.B. are you lookin for carvin stuff? This one's a pip.
Paddy,
You're a mind reader.
But a Secretary might be higher on the list. Gotta have a proper place for my collection of FWW and the laptop so's I can have ready access to Knots.
But then again my boxer shorts need a place to reside. What really ticks me off is that I can't find flannel ones for these cold New England winters! May need to get the wife to recycle some shirts.
Not sure if that is in the Green. I'll have to telly Mr. Gore!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
B, very little need for flannel's in east TENN. My kin came from Argentia Newfoundland so once froze twice shy for me. ha ha. Paddy
boxer shorts.. flannel.I had this vision of someone cutting out paper patterns for boxer shorts to be used on a King sized flannel sheet picked up a K Mart! Lets see.. How many pair can I get from one sheet?
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