The Technique of FURNITURE MAKING

STATIONERY CASES

Often called 'pigeon holing', these are designed to hold the usual stationery sizes, and 247:9 shows typical examples. They are best made up as separate units, through dovetailed together (247:11) or rebated/rabbeted, glued and pinned (A), with a slight clearance for easy entry, screwed to the carcass sides and the gaps sealed with a cover moulding (B). In fine work the main elements are either 3/16 in (5 mm) or 1/4 in (6 mm) thick, with the divisions no more than 1/8 in (3 mm) vee grooved (247:10), glued, and veneer pinned together. The vee groove can be cut with a sharp knife against a bevelled block, and the divisions polished before assembly.

TAMBOURS

Tambours are flexible screens composed of narrow slats of wood mounted on a silk, canvas or leathercloth backing, and running in grooves which control the travel. The system originated in France in the seventeenth century, was introduced into England in the eighteenth century, fell into disuse in the Victorian era, was popularized by the American pattern roll-top desk and has since been firmly re-established, forming as it does an admirable space-saving method of closing carcass openings. Tambours can be vertical, rising or falling (249:1, 2) or horizontal, moving from side to side (249:3, 4), and can be secured with a bird's beak, sliding door or box lock. They can be built up of solid slats, shaped, chamfered or rounded on the edges, or veneered in simulation of a solid sheet.

Vertical tambours

These can open from the top (falling, 249:5) or at the bottom (rising, 249:6) and require careful planning for there are certain pitfalls in this type as distinct from the horizontal form. If the vertical opening is tall (249:1) then a falling tambour could rattle down under its own weight immediately the lock is released, and if the carcass is shallow in depth it could partially return from the fully opened position if most of the weight is transferred to the back. On the other hand, a rising tambour requires more physical strength to lift it from a low position, and if very tall could either rattle down at the back as it opens, or down at the front as it is closed. This is assuming a sweet, free-running tambour (as it should be), and methods of restraining the unwanted movement, which can be pronounced in long tambours of heavy wood, include coil springs recessed into the carcass sides, with the locking rail attached to nylon cords; lazy-tong springs housed at the back of the carcass to absorb the downward movement, and felt restraining pads recessed into the sides of the grooves which grip the tongues of the slats and slow down the movement. These are compromises, however, and it is usually better to avoid large and heavy tambours or to split them into two wherever possible. These objections do not apply to wide but shallow tambours fitted to roll-top desks, or small vertical tambours in writing-cabinets and wall cabinetry.

Horizontal tambours

These can open from one side or the other (249:7, 8), or two separate tambours can meet in the middle (249:9). They should not be too tall in relation to their width or they are inclined to shake.