Furniture Designing And Draughting | by Alvan Crocker Nye

Preface

THIS book for the use of students, architects and others who at times find it desirable to make drawings for furniture, has been prepared from material collected during an experience of some years as ...

Chapter I. Definitions, Classification, Etc

FURNITURE designing is the art of delineating and ornamenting household effects so they become objects of beauty and pleasure as well as service. Furniture designing means giving thought and study to ...

First Things Considered

The character of the wood need not affect the quality of the design, as each variety may receive equal aesthetic treatment. The bold, coarse work may have just as much feeling expressed in the design ...

Chapter II. Tables

THE table consists of a flat, level surface, suitable to receive whatever may be placed upon it, supported on one or more uprights. The word table properly applies to the top, which in early times was...

Tables. Part 2

When the design will admit, the square parts of the stick are cut down after the turning is made, so that they are a trifle smaller than the turned portions. This makes the two sections seem more near...

Tables. Part 3

The method of fastening the top to the frame of the table varies with the class of work and the size. If it is a small table, no special care is taken, the fastening consisting of screws driven throug...

Tables. Part 4

Other ways of increasing the size of tables are shown on Plate VI. These are extension tables. The upper one is the old draw table, and is not used much now. A study of the drawings will show that ...

Chapter III. Chairs, Scats, Sofas

THE parts of a chair are the legs, the seat frame, the back, and the arms. Plate XL The seat frame, and in most instances all the rails, are doweled to the legs and back posts. The seat frame is stif...

Chairs, Scats, Sofas. Part 2

Having determined on the outline of a chair back it is necessary to study its composition, that is, to decide how the space within the outline is to be treated. This question is sometimes decided befo...

Chairs, Scats, Sofas. Part 3

In making the drawing from which a chair is to be constructed care must be taken to determine whether it is to have castors or not. If it is to have them the leg must be shortened accordingly, for the...

Chairs, Scats, Sofas. Part 4

The foundation for the padded seat is webbing stretched as tightly as possible across the frame, front to back, and side to side. The widths interlace, over and under, each other so as to make a firm ...

Chairs, Scats, Sofas. Part 5

The beauty of this class of work is dependent on the absence of fussy, unnecessary trimmings, and on the outline. This outline ought to be one that seems the natural result of using upholsterers' mate...

Chapter IV. Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads

THE beauty of casework is dependent on: Firstly, its proportion as a whole. That is whether the height, the width, and the depth are of dimensions that appear well together. In most problems at least ...

Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads. Part 2

The cyma recta, or ogee, has a profile composed of two arcs, hollow and convex, like a wave, the hollow at the top. The crown member of cornices is often made with this moulding. The cyma reversa, as...

Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads. Part 3

Angle joints are frequently mitred; that is, the joined edges are cut at a bevel bisecting the angle between them when united. The union is made by butting the pieces and gluing them together. As this...

Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads. Part 4

Bookcases, china cabinets and others of the same class of casework have portions of their sides glazed either with clear glass or mirrors. In the best of glazed work plate-glass is used, but where so...

Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads. Part 5

Desk lids may be considered as doors hung by the bottom rail, but they seldom open wider than an angle approximately 90 degrees, and the method of hinging is dependent on the way the lid is supported....

Casework, Panelling, Bedsteads. Part 6

The side rails are made much wider than in olden times, that they may hide the box spring, which has taken the place of the cording, and they are constructed so they may be removed and replaced as des...

Chapter V. The Drawer

NEARLY every article of furniture may be provided with a drawer; and the ease with which it slides and its accuracy of fittings are tests of good workmanship. To have a wide, deep drawer slide so easi...

Chapter VI. Ornamentation Of Furniture

IN addition to the general outline and proportion of furniture, its appearance is dependent upon ornamentation. This should not, however, become so important as to destroy the constructive elements or...

Ornamentation Of Furniture. Continued

Where the top of the slat, in the form of a horizontal ellipse, joins the top rail of the back a dowel is placed. The thickness of the material included in the outlines of the ellipse is hardly suffic...

Chapter VII. Theories Of Design, Rendering, Etc

IT is necessary that the designer should be familiar with the historic styles of architecture and furniture. He should also study the characteristic forms and ornamental details of each period. This w...

Addendum. The "Louis" Furniture Styles

IT is natural that the historic styles of furniture should correspond with those of architecture. The architectural arts as practiced after the Middle Ages may be divided into the Renaissance and the ...

The "Louis" Furniture Styles. Part 2

The legs of Louis XIV. chairs and tables are quite erect, and though the outline may be curved or broken, there is generally a sense of support. If a line is drawn vertically through the middle of the...

The "Louis" Furniture Styles. Part 3

The Louis XVI. style is in many respects more severe than those which had preceded it, and it is said to owe its origin to the renewed interest in classic forms induced by the excavations at Pompeii a...

The "Louis" Furniture Styles. Part 4

The second class of work belonging to the reign of the Grand King was richly carved in wood. Some of this was made by Jean Lepautre, who began life as a cabinetmaker, but later practiced architectur...