The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING
Solid stands
Solid stands are used in modern furniture for table and cabinet stands, divan-type beds and chair sides, etc. They can be of solid core block- board edged all round with hardwood and face veneered either side (218:1), or built up of light frameworks sheeted with plywood, edged and veneered (218:2). Although the finished appearance would appear to be the same for both types, nevertheless there is a subtle difference, and the former is preferable for high-class work. Solid core blanks can also be built up of plywood sheets glued together to make up the thickness, or more economically of flush-door blockwood blanks obtainable up to 2 in (50 mm) thick. A double tongue and groove for the edgings will be necessary for thickness over 1 in (25 mm) and the edgings can be applied either before or after the face
veneering. If applied before and veneered over out to the edges they should not be more than about 3/16 in (5 mm) wide, or the junction will shadow through in time. Hollow blanks made up of light softwood framings, tenoned, dowelled or merely spiked together and overlaid with thin plywood should have additional rails and muntins for stiffness, and suitably placed uprights for any structural jointing (218:3). The vacant spaces between the
framing can be filled with strawboard, fibreglass, corrugated or honeycomb paper or metal honeycomb to prevent any shadowing of the framing members through the thin plywood due to the trapped air becoming progressively drier with consequent sinkage of the
unsupported sheeting material. For cheap work without filling it is customary to bore a series of holes through the framings, as indicated by the dotted lines in 218:3, which allow trapped air to adjust itself to the external atmosphere.
Levelling leg framings, etc.
Some workers cut legs in framed-up work to finished length before jointing, but the better method is to leave a little waste top and bottom and trim off after assembly. The legs can then be cut to length by measuring down after the tops have been squared, or more accurately by standing the framework upside-down on a level surface (sawbench, planer-table), checking that the rails sight through and are not twisted, and then uprighting the stand and shimming up the legs until the top is level. A piece of waste wood thicker than the gap between the shortest leg and the level surface is then used as a scribing - block to mark all sides of the four legs, which are then trimmed to the marks. This method is also useful if it is required to increase the back rake or slope of a chair slightly. The front legs are supported to give the required slope to the back, and then all four legs are scribed and cut; but the alteration must not be too great or the tilt of the front legs will be noticeable, and the backward slope of the seat too much.
Three-way joints
Methods of forming three-way joints are illustrated in 219, which shows the constructions.
Showcase joints
Figure 220:1 shows the simplest form of threeway joint for glass showcase framing, in which the horizontal frame is mitre jointed together and cut away at (X) to receive the mitred vertical member (A); the joint is then strengthened with strips of fine linen canvas (B) glued into the rebates/rabbets. Constructional details of a combined dovetail and tenon joint are also given. Figures 220:2 and 3 are dovetailed together and 220:5 shows the first layout. These two members are glued together (220:6) and then mortised for the tenoned member (220:4). Both the development of light metal sections and special cements for gluing glass panels at right angles to each other have largely done away with the necessity for these wood j oints, which are now of academic interest only.
