THE CABINET MAKER AND UPHOLSTERER.
CABINET MAKER’S SHOP.
The trades of the Carpenter and the Joiner having been considered, we may now turn to that of the Cabinet Maker, who, though he makes the furniture of the house, and seldom has anything to do with building or fitting the house itself, uses many of the same tools as the joiner.
Panel Plane. Veneer Plane. Smoothing Plane. Floats. Rebate Plane. Hand Saw. Rebate Plane.
As the Cabinet Maker mostly works in more costly woods, and the operations of his trade have to be performed with greater nicety, his implements are generally of rather a better sort; while he has to fashion the articles in which he deals in so many different shapes that some of his tools, such as planes and gouges, are constructed especially for him, like the panel plane, used as its name implies in smoothing and forming the edges of panels for wardrobes, chiffoniers, and other pieces of furniture before they are placed in their frames, and the veneer plane, intended for putting on veneers, or the thin slabs of costly wood with which more common woods are frequently covered. The smoothing plane and the rebate plane, as well as the hand saw, the tenon saw, the gimlet, and the rule and square, have already been mentioned in connexion with the joiner’s business.
Then there are moulding planes, with their blades shaped hollow so that they will cut a strip of wood into a rounded form, or shaped round so as to cut a hollow groove.
Square. Hand Saw. Gimlet. Rule.
Sometimes boards are joined at the edges by a process called match boarding: a groove being made along the edge of one board while the edge of another is cut with a tongue along the middle to fit accurately into the groove. For this purpose a pair of match planes are used, one of which makes the groove and the other the tongue exactly of the proper size to fit perfectly. This kind of joint is used for common doors, which it is not worth while to frame together in panels. The boards after being matched are nailed close together to strong cross-pieces.
The operations of mortising and dovetailing have been described in the description of joiner’s work. The various fittings and joints used in making chairs, couches, tables, cabinets, side-boards, and other furniture are adaptations of the same kind, or differ only according to the shape and position of the various parts. In ornamental cabinet work the separate parts, such as pillars, legs, arms, and other pieces, are often supplied by the turner and the wood carver, who sometimes carry out their designs under the direction of the Cabinet Maker.
Mahogany and many other of the harder woods are difficult to work, as the grain does not all run the same way, so that in planing them the wood is likely to split or chip where it should be shaved off smoothly. To remedy this inconvenience, the Cabinet Maker’s planes are furnished with double irons, that is, an iron with a flat dull edge is screwed on to the face of the cutting iron, so as to prevent the shavings chipping against the grain. The more cross-grained the wood is the closer the workman brings down the dull iron towards the edge of the sharp one, and his shavings are consequently finer.
The veneering plane is about the same size as the smoothing plane, but the iron instead of having a smooth edge is toothed like a fine saw, so that, instead of taking off shavings, it makes scratches all along the grain of the wood. This is applied to the veneer as well as to the wood to which the veneer is to be glued, so that the glue may easily hold the two rough surfaces together.
Tool Chest.
Previous to the veneer being put on, the work is well warmed before a fire, and the glue brush worked freely over both the veneer and wood to which it is to be applied. When the veneer is put on, it is rubbed backward and forward, at the same time being pressed down with the hands until it sticks in the right place. There are often lumps here and there where there is too much glue, and these are remedied by the veneering hammer, the head of which is made of wood furnished with a strip of iron plate. This strip is laid flat on the veneer, and the head of the hammer pressed with the hand while it is worked about by the handle, pressing out the glue as it moves towards the edge. When a piece of furniture is too large to be covered with one veneer, these thin slabs of wood are laid on in several pieces, the edges being first planed quite straight and made to meet with the greatest accuracy. The whole surface is afterwards worked with the toothing plane, and then scraped with a flat square piece of steel, which takes off a wonderfully fine thin shaving and leaves the surface perfectly smooth. It is afterwards finished with sandpaper. It is then French polished with a liquid composed mostly of rectified spirits of wine, gum, shellac, gum seed lac, and Venice turpentine, the furniture being previously well oiled that it may better receive this sort of varnish.
Clamps are a sort of screw vice for holding the various parts of the work. The bow saw is a small fine blade of steel notched like a saw, and fixed to a short handle, from which a wooden or metal bow extends to the other end of the blade. The bow keeps the saw from buckling or breaking, and the tool is used for small work, like the fretwork in front of pianos, where a corner has to be turned and the piece sawn out. The screws seen in the larger picture hanging above the Cabinet Maker’s bench are used for holding pieces together after being glued, or on other occasions.
Bow Saw. Clamps.
It is supposed that there are about 50,000 workers in wood in London, and 350,000 in all England. About 160,000 timber trees of average size are required to make the furniture for the new houses built every year in England and Wales. In cabinet making there are many departments, such as the chair maker, the bedstead maker, the carver, the general manufacturer of tables, drawers, side-boards, wardrobes, &c. and the fancy Cabinet Maker, who uses costly woods and makes workboxes, desks, dressing-cases, and similar articles.
A good set of Cabinet Maker’s tools is worth from £30 to £40.
The Upholsterer, whose trade is generally joined to that of the master Cabinet Maker, does what is called the “soft work,” that is, he undertakes the curtains, hangings, cushions, carpets, beds, and the stuffing of the seats of chairs. For these operations he requires but few tools.
Upholsterer’s Shop.
Devil. Strainer. Web Strainer. Bench Screw. Square.
The devil is the ugly and very absurd name given to a machine consisting of a box, inside which a spiked wheel turns; the use of this implement is to separate and tear to pieces such woven substances as, when reduced to shreds, serve for the stuffing of furniture, as also to soften and make finer hemp or tow for the same purpose, when horsehair, which is the best and most expensive material, is not used. Cocoa-nut fibre is now sometimes applied for this purpose; and in the commonest furniture hay is frequently placed as a foundation, with a small quantity of horsehair on the top. The bench screw is a kind of vice which will hold a very thick substance, like the seat of a chair or sofa, without injuring the woodwork; the web strainer is used for stretching strong cross-pieces of webbing across the bottom of the seats of chairs or couches, to make a firm foundation for the stuffing to rest upon, and with the ordinary strainer to bring the canvas cover that confines the stuffing tightly and firmly to its place, an operation which requires great care, especially when metal springs are placed beneath the horsehair to make the seat more elastic. The Upholsterer’s hammer is of such a shape that it will drive a small nail deeply down in a space when it is hidden by the damask or leather covering of the furniture. The punches are for a similar purpose; while the needle and the regulator are used in stuffing the seats and properly adjusting the hair or other material.
Upholsterer’s Hammers. Punches. Float. Screwdriver. Needle. Regulator. Bradawl.