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HANDMADE
or HAND-FINISHED? |
In essence, most furniture is 'handmade', even if all the components have been produced using machines and spray finished. Providing the components are assembled by hand, anyone can call it 'handmade' .........and plenty do !!! We think this can be misleading. To a large extent, the look of the end product and it's overal ambience depends on what is actually hand done. So how is our Oak Furniture and Architectural Joinery made?
We
use reclaimed old oak (usually 150 to 500 years old) which requires
time and great care in selecting. Cut to size using hand-held tools
(we don't use re-saws), so no two pieces are identical, perfectly straight
or of uniform dimensions. Finished 'by eye' using hand-tools. The 'relaxed'
effect we achieve is subtle, not contrived, just like an early piece
of furniture or an old timber framed house. Wherever possible we retain
the original pit sawn surfaces or reproduce them in the most convincing
way. Cut
by-hand, using workshop made scratch stocks and moulding planes, in
exactly the same way as craftsmen of the Medieval, Tudor and Elizabethan
periods would have done. (Naturally, we don't want to waste time unnecesarily
so, if there is a lot of initial material to be removed, we do bow to
21st century power!) All
our carving is both set out and executed by hand. Individually
fitted mortise and tenon joints using the drawer bored and pegged method,
with hand-made tapered oak pegs, just as it was done centuries ago.
Because of their inherent irregularities, panels are also individually
hand planed to fit. Where they are used, we hand-cut dovetail joints. Arguably
the most important aspect, that needs time and finesse to get right.
The ageing is very carefully and thoughtfully administered, so as to
accurately reflect centuries of genuine wear and tear. The colouring
is hand applied using techniques and formulae developed over decades
and unknown to anyone else. Final finishing is also hand applied using
traditional beeswax and carnauba wax. We
probably spend more time on this aspect than anyone else and is reflected
in the quality of colour, clarity and patination achieved. The other way of making high quality handmade oak furniture..............
English/European
character grade oak cut and prepared using modern machines and then
hand-planed, spoke shaved or hand-scraped. Table tops are usually spoke
shaved and hand scraped straight from sawn oak. Cut
by passing through a spindle moulder or router. By-hand. Machine
cut mortises and tenons (they're hidden when assembled), hand cut dovetails
(they show when assembled) and all put together by hand...of course! Hand aged, hand coloured and hand finished. For
oak and country furniture made this way, have a look at our sister site,
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© 2010 Nicholas Berry, Early Oak Specialists |