PAINTER & GLAZIER.
1. The painting which is the subject of this article relates to forming letters and sometimes ornamental and significant figures on signs, as well as to the application of paints to houses and other structures, for the purpose of improving their appearance, and of preserving them from the influence of the atmosphere and other destructive agents.
2. The substances capable of being employed by the house and sign painter, comprise a great variety of articles, derived from the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; but he ordinarily confines his selection to but few, among which are white lead, litharge, Spanish brown, yellow ochre, chrome yellow,red ochre, terra di sienna, lampblack, verdigris, linseed-oil, spirits of turpentine, and gold-leaf.
3. White lead and litharge are manufactured in great quantities at chemical works, sometimes established for the express purpose of making these and some other preparations of lead. The substances of which we are now speaking, are produced in the following manner: the lead, in form of a continued sheet, about three feet long, six inches wide, and one line in thickness, is wound spirally up in such a manner, that the coils may stand about half an inch apart.
4. The metal in this form is placed vertically in earthen vessels, at the bottom of which is some strong vinegar. These vessels, being placed in sand, horse manure, or tan, are exposed to a gentle heat, which causes the gradual evaporation of the vinegar. The vapor thus produced, assisted by the oxygen which is present, converts the exposed surface into a carbonate of lead, the substance known as white lead, or ceruse.
5. The corrosion of one of these sheets occupies from three to six weeks, during which time it is repeatedly uncoiled and scraped. Litharge, or flake white, is nothing more than the densest and thickest scales produced in the manner just described. It can be obtained in a pure state from the dealers in paints, whereas the white lead of commerce is most commonly adulterated with chalk.
6. Spanish brown, yellow ochre, and terra di sienna, are earths impregnated with iron in different degrees of oxydation. Red ochre is yellow ochre burned. Chrome yellow is extensively manufactured in Baltimore, from the chromate of iron, found near that city. In chemical phraseology, the manufactured article is the chromate of lead, since the chromate isseparated from the iron by the aid of a solution of the nitrate or acetate of lead.
7. Linseed-oil is obtained from flax-seed by pressure. It is afterwards filtered, and then suffered to remain at rest, to precipitate and clarify. This oil improves in quality by keeping, as it becomes, in a few years, as transparent as water. In this state, it is employed in the finest painting.
8. Before the oil is used, it is commonly boiled with a small quantity of litharge and red lead, to cause it to dry rapidly, after the paint has been applied. During the boiling, the scum is removed as fast as it rises, and this is mixed with inferior paints of a dark color. Linseed-oil, thus prepared, is vended by dealers in paints, under the name of boiled oil.
9. Spirits of turpentine is produced by distilling with water the resinous juice or sap of several species of the pine. The residuum, after distillation, is the turpentine of commerce. Spirits of turpentine is mixed with paints, to cause them to dry with rapidity. Like oil, it improves with age, and it is sold in the same manner by the common wine measure.
10. White lead, and several other principal paints, are purchased in their crude condition, and reduced to a state of minute division in paint-mills. They are afterwards mixed with boiled oil, and put up in kegs of different sizes for sale. Many articles, however, are pulverized, and sold in a dry state. The preparation of paints is commonly a distinct business, and very few painters seem to be acquainted with the mode in which it is performed.
11. In mixing colors for house and sign painting, white lead forms the basis of all the ingredients. This the color preparer, or the painter himself, modifies and changes by the addition of coloring materials, until it is tinged with the proposed hue. The pigments derived from vegetable bodies, produce, whenfirst applied to surfaces, a brilliant effect; but they cannot long resist the combined influence of air and light, while the mineral colors, in the same exposure, remain unchanged.
12. Painters, in the execution of their work, commonly lay on three coats of paint. In communicating a white, the two first coats are composed of white lead and oil; and in the last, spirits of turpentine is substituted for the oil, for the inside work. For the outside of buildings, especially in warm and dry climates, this liquid is inapplicable, since it causes the paint to crack and flake off. It is, however, frequently used, when the painter is compelled to do his work at too low a rate, or when he is regardless of his reputation.
13. For other colors, the composition for the different coats is the same, except for the two last, in which other coloring substances are added to the materials just mentioned, to give the proposed hue. The tools for painting houses are few in number, and consist chiefly of brushes of different sizes, made of hog's bristles.
14.Grainingis understood, among painters, to be the imitation of the different species of scarce woods used for the best articles of furniture. But the manner in which this kind of work is executed can be hardly gathered from a concise description, although it may be easily learned from a practical exhibition of the process by a painter.
15.Ornamental paintingembraces the execution of friezes and other decorative parts of architecture on walls and ceilings. The ornaments are drawn in outline with a black-lead pencil, and then painted and shaded, to give the proper effect. Some embellishments of this kind are executed in gold-leaf, in the same manner with gold letters on signs. This kind of work is calledgilding in oil.
16. Painting in oil, as applied to the execution of designs, seems to have been invented, or at least to have been brought into notice, in the early part of the fifteenth century, by John Van Eyck, of Flanders. Before this time, house-painting, so far as the exterior was concerned, could have been but little, if at all, practised.
17. One profitable branch of common painting is that of painting and lettering signs. In performing this kind of work, the sign is first covered with two or three uniform coats of paint. The letters are next slightly sketched with chalk or a lead-pencil, and then formed in colors with a camels'-hair brush. When the letters are to be gilt, the process, so far, is precisely the same. The leaf is laid upon the letters, while the paint is in a tenacious state, and is suffered to remain untouched, until the oil has become dry, after which the superfluous gold is removed. The whole is then covered with an oil varnish, which, in plain lettering, completes the operation.
1. Glazing, as practised in this country, consists chiefly in setting panes of glass in window-sashes. In the performance of this operation, the glazier first fits the panes to the sash by cutting away, if necessary, a part of the latter with a chisel; he then fastens the glass slightly with little pieces of tin, which have been cut to a triangular shape; and, lastly, he appliesputtyat their junction with the sash, and by this means confines them firmly and permanently to their place. The putty is made of linseed-oil and whiting. The latter of these materials is chalk cleared of its grosser impurities, and ground in a color-mill.
2. Plain glazing is so simple, that no person need serve an apprenticeship to learn it; and there are but few who confine their attention to this business exclusively.It is commonly connected with some other of greater difficulty, such as that of the carpenter and joiner, or house and sign painter, but with the latter more frequently than any other.
3. When the glass, as received from the manufacturer, may not be of the size and shape required for a proposed application, the panes are cut by means of a diamond fixed in lead, and secured by a ferrule of brass, which is fastened to a small cylindrical handle of hard wood. This instrument is used, in conjunction with a straight edge, like a pencil in ruling lines on paper for writing. The glass is afterwards broken in the direction of the fracture, by a slight pressure downwards.
4. Although glass windows seem to us to be indispensable to comfort, yet glass had been manufactured many centuries in considerable perfection, before it was applied to this purpose. The houses in oriental countries had commonly no windows in front, and those on the other sides were provided with curtains, or with a moveable trellis-work in summer, and in winter with oiled paper.
5. In Rome and other cities of the empire, thin leaves of a certain kind of stone calledlapis speculariswere used. Windows of this material, however, were employed only in the principal apartments of great houses, in gardens, sedans, and the like. Paper made of the Egyptian papyrus, linen cloth, thin plates of marble, agate, and horn, seem likewise to have been used.
6. The first certain information we have of the employment of glass panes in windows, is found in the writings of Gregory of Tours, who flourished in the last quarter of the sixth century. This prelate states that the churches were furnished with windows of colored glass, in the fourth century after Christ. The oldest glass windows now in existence were ofthe twelfth century, and are in the Church of St. Denis, the most ancient edifice of this description in France.
7. Æneas Sylvius accounted it one of the most striking instances of splendor which he met with in Vienna, in 1458, that most of the houses had glass windows. In France, all the churches had these conveniences in the sixteenth century, although there were but few in private dwellings. Talc, isinglass, plates of white horn, oiled paper, and thinly shaved leather, were used instead of glass. A similar state of things prevailed in England.
8. The glass used for the windows of churches and other public buildings, after the fourth century, was very commonly intrinsically colored or superficially painted. Painting on glass had its origin in the third century, and at first it consisted in the mere arrangement of small pieces of glass of different colors in some sort of symmetry, and constituted a kind of mosaic-work.
9. Afterwards, when more regular designs came to be attempted, such as the human figure, the whole address of the artist went no farther than drawing the outlines of the objects in black on glass resembling in color the subjects to be represented. The art, in this state of advancement, was spread over a great part of Europe.
10. About the beginning of the fifteenth century, a method of fixing metallic colors in glass by means of heat was discovered, and from this the art derived great advantages. It flourished most during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; but it declined in the following age, and in the eighteenth century it was very little practised in any country. It has, however, been partially revived, of late, in Germany. A very good specimen of this kind of painting, as well as of colored glass, may be seen in St. John's Church, in Philadelphia.
TURNER.
1. Turning is a very useful art, by which a great variety of articles are almost exclusively manufactured. Besides this, it constitutes a considerable part of the operations of several trades and occupations, such as the chairmaker, machinist, cabinet-maker, brass-founder, &c., since every substance of a solid nature can be submitted to the process.
2. Turning is performed in alathe, an apparatus constructed in various ways, according to the particular purposes to which it is to be applied, although, in all cases, the general principle of its operation is the same. The kind represented in the above picture, is used for plain or circular turning in wood. On examination, it will be perceived, that two wheels of different sizes make essential parts of it. On the extendedaxle of the smaller one, is fastened the piece to be turned; and immediately in front of this is therest, on which the cutting instrument is supported during the performance of the operation.
3. When the material to be turned is wood, it is commonly cut to the proper length with a saw, and brought to a form approaching to the cylindrical by means of an axe or drawing-knife. It is next fastened in the lathe. This is done by different means, varying according to the particular form of the thing to be turned. In plain circular turning, as applied to bed-posts, legs of tables, and rounds for chairs, the piece is supported at each end. That at the left hand is driven upon a piece of steel, which has been screwed upon the extended axle of the small wheel; and the other end is fixed upon a steel point, placed in an upright moveable piece called apuppet-head.
4. In case the wood is to be turned on the inside, as in making a bowl, cup, or mortar, the piece is supported altogether at one end, by means of a hollow cylinder of wood, brass, or iron, called achuck, which receives it on one side, and on the other is screwed upon the end of the axle. The axle is sometimes called themandril, and any extension of it, by means of a piece added to it for a centre, on which anything may be turned which will admit of a hole through it, is denominated anarbor.
5. The tools used in turning wood and ivory, aregougesandchiselsof different sizes and shapes. In using these, they are placed upon therest, and brought in contact with the revolving material of the proposed figure. The gouge is employed in cutting away the rough exterior, and the chisel, in producing a still further reduction, and a greater smoothness of surface.
6. In working in very hard wood and in ivory, thegrooving tool, a sharp pointed instrument somewhat similar to the graver, is used in the first part of theoperation; and by this the grain of the substance is cut into contiguous grooves, and prepared for an easy reduction by the chisel. The instruments for turning metals are numerous, but they differ in some respects from those for cutting wood.
7. In almost every kind of turning, a tool called thecalipersis necessary for measuring the diameters of the work. In its form, it bears some resemblance to the compasses or dividers. One or both of the legs, however, are curved; and one kind of this instrument has four legs, two curved, or two straight, at each end, with a pivot in the centre, on which it is opened and shut. The former of these is employed in measuring the dimensions of outside work, and the latter, for that on the inside. This kind is called thein-and-outcalipers; and it is especially useful in turning a cylinder, or pin, which shall exactly fit an internal cylinder already made, andvice versâ.
8. There is but little difference in the management of turning different substances. The principal thing to be attended to is to adapt the velocity of the motion to the nature of the material; thus wood will work best with the greatest velocity that can be given to it. Brass should have a motion about half as quick as wood, and iron and steel still less; for, in operating on metallic substances, the tool is liable to become hot, and lose its temper; besides which, a certain time is requisite for the act of cutting to take place.
9. When compared with many other mechanical operations, the art of turning may be considered as perfect in its accuracy and expedition. The lathe is, therefore, resorted to for the performance of every work of which it is capable; nor is its use confined to the production of forms perfectly cylindrical, for it can be easily made to produce figures of irregular shape, such as lasts, gunstocks, &c.
10. The lathe was well known to the Greeks andRomans, as well as to many other nations of antiquity. Diodorus Siculus, who wrote in the time of Julius Cæsar and Augustus, says that it was invented by one Talus, a nephew of Dædalus. Pliny ascribes it to Theodore, of Samos, and mentions one Thericles, who had rendered himself very famous by his dexterity in managing the lathe. The Greek and Latin authors frequently mention this instrument; and, among the ancients, it was customary to express the accuracy and nicety of a thing by saying, it was formed in a lathe.
CABINET MAKER.
1. It is the business of the cabinet-maker to manufacture particular kinds of household furniture, such as tables, stands, bureaus, sideboards, desks, book-cases, sofas, bedsteads, &c., as well as a certain description of chairs made of mahogany and maple. Many of the operations of this business are similar to those of the carpenter and joiner, although they require to be conducted with greater nicety and exactness.
2. The qualifications of a finished cabinet-maker are numerous and of difficult acquisition; so that they are seldom concentrated in any single individual. He requires not only a correct taste, but also a knowledge of drawing, architecture, and mechanics, besides the abilities of a good practical workman.
3. A knowledge of drawing is especially useful in designing new articles of furniture, or in improving the form of those which have been already introduced. It also enables the artist to determine with accuracy what would be the general effect of furniture, were different pieces of it placed in any proposed apartment; and, combined with architectural knowledge, it enables him to adapt the style of his wares to that of the building for which they may be designed.
4. In general, the principles of this business are fixed, so far as relates to the mode of operating in the execution of the work; yet continual changes are made in the form and construction of its various articles, so as to keep pace with the advancement of correct taste, or with the caprices of fashion. In fact, the shapes of furniture are almost as changeable as those of female dress; and this causes many expensive pieces to fall into disuse, while others are introduced, which, for a time, are considered indispensable to comfort, and which in turn enjoy but a temporary favor.
5. The cabinet-maker uses various kinds of wood in the manufacture of his wares; but those which are most frequently employed in the United States are pine, maple, poplar, cherry, black walnut, white oak, beach, mahogany, and rose, all of which are abundant in this country, except the last two. Mahogany is brought in great quantities from the West Indies and South America; rose-wood is obtained chiefly from the West Indies and Brazil, although it was first introduced into notice from the island of Cyprus.
6. The applicability of mahogany to the manufacture of cabinet-ware, was accidentally discovered in London, about the year 1724. A physician, named Gibbons, received a present of some of the planks from his brother, a sea-captain, who had brought them from the West Indies, chiefly as ballast. Thedoctor was, at that time, erecting a house, and, supposing them to be adapted to the purposes of building, gave them to his workmen, who, on trial, rejected them as being too hard to be wrought with their tools.
7. A cabinet-maker was next employed to make a candle-box of some of it, and he also complained of the hardness of the timber; but, when the box was finished, it outshone in beauty all the doctor's other furniture. He then required a bureau to be made of the same kind of material; and this, having been finished, became the subject of exhibition to his friends, as a piece of remarkable beauty. The wood was immediately taken into general favor, and it soon became an article of merchandise of considerable importance.
8. In giving the reader a view of the operative part of this business, we have selected the bureau as affording the best means of illustration. The material which composes the frame and drawers of this piece of furniture, is commonly some kind of soft wood, such as pine or poplar; and this is faced with thin layers of mahogany in those parts which are to be exposed to view.
9. The materials for the frame and drawers are first marked out, and the several pieces reduced to the form and dimensions required, with planes and other instruments. Thin pieces of mahogany are firmly fixed to the surfaces which require them. This part of the work is calledveneering. The workman prepares the surface of the soft wood for theveneer, by cutting it into small contiguous grooves by means of a small plane, the cutting edge of which is full of little notches and teeth.
10. Melted glue having been spread upon both surfaces with a brush, the parts are placed in contact, and firmly pressed together by means ofhand-screws. Before the screws are applied, the surface of the veneeris covered with a piece of heated board, termed, in this application, acaul. One piece of this kind commonly serves a veneer on each side of it at the same time.
11. The mahogany thus attached to the softer wood, is afterwards wrought with thetoothed-plane, and others of the common kind. It is then scraped with a flat piece of steel, having edges which act upon the surface in the same manner as pieces of broken panes of glass. The polishing is finished, so far as it is carried at this stage of the process, by the use of sand-paper.
12. The several pieces which compose the frame of the bureau are put together with the joint calledmorticeandtenon; and those which form the four sides of the drawers, with that calleddove-tail. The bottom is united to the sides on the right and left, and sometimes in front, by thegroove-and-tongue, and its rear edge is fastened with a few nails. Thebearersof the drawers are fastened on by means of nails.
13. The joints are made to fit not only by the accuracy of the work, but by the application of glue previous to the union of the parts; this is especially the case with the mortice and tenon. The back of the bureau is composed of some cheap wood, such as pine or poplar; but the panel at each end is most commonly plain mahogany through its entire thickness.
14. The parts which are to be exposed to view are next to be varnished and polished. The material for the former purpose is calledcopal varnish, because one of the principal ingredients in it is a kind of gum called copal, which is obtained from various parts of South America. This kind of varnish is made by melting the gum with an equal quantity of linseed-oil and spirits of turpentine or alcohol.
15. To give the work a complete finish, four coatsof varnish are successively applied; in addition to these, a particular kind of treatment is used after laying on and drying each coat. After the application of the first coat, the surface is rubbed with a piece of wood of convenient form; after the second, with sand-paper and pulverized pumice-stone; after the third, with pumice-stone again; and after the fourth, with very finely powdered pumice-stone and rotten-stone. A little linseed-oil is next applied, and the whole process is finished by rubbing the surface with the hand charged with flour.
16. Some parts of several pieces of furniture are turned in the lathe; and, in large cities, this part of the work is performed by professed turners. The veneering of certain kinds of work of a cylindrical form is, also, in some cases, a distinct business; but, in places distant from large cities, the whole work is commonly performed by the cabinet-maker himself.
17. Mahogany is brought to market in logs hewn to a square form; and persons who deal in it, commonly purchase it in large quantities, and cause it to be sawn into pieces of suitable dimensions for sale. Formerly, and in some cases at present, slabs were sawn into thin pieces for veneering by hand; but, within a few years, a more expeditious method, by the circular saw, has been adopted. In performing the operation by this means, the slab is placed upon its edge, and shoved along against the teeth of the rapidly-revolving saw. It is kept in the proper position by holding the right side of it firmly against an upright plank, called therest.
18. Mahogany is eitherplain,mottled, orcrotched; nevertheless, the different kinds expressed by these terms are met with in the same tree. The variegated kinds are found at or near the joining of the limbs to the trunk; and these are used almost exclusively for veneering. The plain sort is employed for morecommon purposes, and in those parts of furniture required to be less splendid in appearance. It may be well to remark, also, that plain mahogany is often veneered, as well as the softer woods. Black walnut, white oak, rose, and several other woods, are likewise used for veneering, although not so much as mahogany. Our native woods will be hereafter more used in this way, since mahogany is becoming scarce.
19. In Europe, particularly in England, the business of the cabinet-maker is commonly united with that of the upholsterer; and this is sometimes the case in the United States. All, however, who make sofas and chairs, intrude enough upon the latter business to cover and stuff them; or they employ a journeyman upholsterer to perform this part of the work.
1. The upholsterer makes beds, sacking-bottoms, mattresses, cushions, curtains for windows and beds, and cuts out, sews together, and fastens down, carpets. One branch of his business, also, consists in covering or lining and stuffing sofas, and particular kinds of chairs, the frames of which are made by cabinet-makers and fancy chair-makers.
2. Beds are stuffed with the feathers of geese and ducks. The sack which contains them, when in use, is called atick, and the striped stuff of which it is composed, is calledticking. The feathers used by the upholsterer, are purchased from the feather-merchants, who in turn procure them from country merchants and pedlers. The dealer in feathers also employs travelling agents to collect them in different parts of the country.
3. Beds and pillows are also made of down obtained from the nests of the eider-duck, which is found in the northern parts of Europe and America, above latitude45°. Eider-down is worth about two dollars per pound, and five or six times that quantity is sufficient for a bed of common size.
4. Mattresses are made of curled hair, moss, shavings of ratan, flock, straw, corn-husks, and cat-tail flag. The hair most employed for this purpose grows upon the tails of cattle, and upon the manes and tails of horses. It is purchased, in its natural state, from tanners, by persons who make it a business to prepare it for use. The last process of the preparation consists in twisting it into a kind of rope. These ropes are picked to pieces by the upholsterer, and the hair, in its curled and elastic state, is applied to stuffing mattresses, cushions, chairs, and sofas.
5. Moss is obtained from the Southern states of our Union, where it is found in great abundance, and of a good quality. Flock is made by reducing to a degree of fineness, by machinery, coarse tags of wool, pieces of woollen cloth, old stockings, and other woollen offals of little or no value in any other application. Of all the materials for stuffing upholstery, hair is much the best, and, although it costs more in its original purchase, it is much cheaper in the end.
6. In making and putting up window and bed curtains, considerable taste is required to insure success. A knowledge of drawing is particularly useful here, in improving the taste, as well as in exhibiting to customers the prevailing fashions, or any changes which may be proposed. The trimmings consist chiefly of tassels, fringes, and gilded or brass fixtures.
7. We have not space for a particular description of the manner in which any of the operations of the upholsterer are performed; nor is this necessary, since the work itself, in almost every specimen of it, affords obvious indications of the manner of its execution. We will merely remark, that a great proportion of it is performed by females.
8. In the first ages of the world, it was the universal practice to sleep upon the skins of beasts, and this is still the custom among the savage nations of the present day. The Greeks and the Romans, in the early part of their history, slept in this manner, and so did the common people of some parts of Germany, even until modern times.
9. The first advancement from the use of skins was the substitution of rushes, heath, or straw, which was primarily strewed loosely on the ground or floor, and finally confined with ticking; and these and similar materials are still used by the poor in various parts of the world. So late as the close of the thirteenth century, the royal family of England slept on beds made of straw.
10. During the civilized periods of antiquity, the wealthy commonly filled their beds with feathers. After the Romans had become luxurious, they used several kinds of beds, among which were thelectus cubicularis, or chamber bed, whereon they slept; thelectus discubitorius, or table bed, whereon they ate; and thelectus lucubratorius, on which they studied.
11. The Romans adopted the Eastern fashion of reclining at their meals, at the close of the second Punic war, about 200 years before Christ, when Scipio Africanus brought some little beds from Carthage, which were thence calledPunicani. These beds were low, made of wood, covered with leather, and stuffed with hay or straw. Before this time, they sat down to eat on plain wooden benches, in imitation of the heroes of Homer, or after the manner of the Cretans and Lacedæmonians.
12. From the greatest simplicity, the Romans at length carried their supping beds to the most surprising magnificence. The bedsteads were sometimes made of gold or silver, and very commonly of wood, adorned with plates of these metals or with tortoiseshell. On the couch was laid a mattress or quilt, stuffed with feathers or wool.
13. Three persons commonly occupied one couch. They lay with the upper part of the body reclined on the left arm, the head a little raised, the back supported by cushions, and the limbs stretched out at full length or a little bent. The feet of the first were placed behind the back of the second, and his feet behind the back of the third. Reclining at meals was customary in Asia, in the time of our Savior, as is clearly shown in John, xiii., 23 and 25, and this rendered it convenient for Mary to anoint the feet of Jesus, while at the table.
14. The Romans, during the republic, made their tables of a square form, and on three sides of it was placed a couch; but, under the emperors, a long couch of a semicircular form having been introduced, the table was made of a similar shape to conform to it. In either case, one side was left empty, to admit of the approach of the servants.
15. We have no certain evidence that carpets were known in the civilized periods of antiquity. They appear to have originated in Persia, at a time comparatively modern, and to have spread in a gradual manner towards the West. They were unknown in England in the reign of Elizabeth; for it was then the fashion to strew the floor with hay and rushes. Even the presence-chamber of this princess was covered in this manner. The manufacture of carpets was not commenced in England, until the year 1750. They are now extensively manufactured in the United States.
CHAIR MAKER.
1. The chair was invented at so early a period, that its origin cannot now be ascertained. It was used by all the civilized nations of antiquity; and some of their patterns for this species of furniture have been revived, with some modifications, in modern times; for example, a stool for sitting at the piano, now called the X, is the lower part of a chair used in the Roman empire near two thousand years ago. The seat and back were stuffed with some soft elastic substance.
2. The seats used by the barbarous conquerors of the Roman empire, hardly deserve the name of chairs, as they commonly consisted of little or nothing more than a stool with three or four legs. Even the great Alfred, who swayed the sceptre of England in thelatter part of the ninth century, possessed nothing approaching nearer to a chair than a three-legged stool made of oak timber. This species of seat was at length improved into a chair by the addition of another leg and a back.
3. The next step in the art of chair-making was to cover the seats with cloth, and to stuff them with some kind of wadding. The material of which the frames were made was oak; and for a long period, they were exceedingly heavy and inconvenient. The armed-chair is said to have been contrived by an alderman of Cripplegate. Such chairs, however, were in use among the ancient Greeks and Romans.
4. Our old-fashioned chair, with four upright posts, several horizontal rounds and slats, together with wooden splints or flags for the bottom, is comparatively modern, although it is impossible to state the period of its introduction. Very few of any other kind were used in the United States, until near the beginning of the present century.
5. The Windsor chair seems to have been first used for a rural seat in the grounds about Windsor castle, England; whence its name. It was originally constructed of round wood, with the bark on; but the chair-makers soon began to make them of turned wood, for the common purposes of house-keeping. We cannot learn that any were made in this country before the close of the revolution, in 1783.
6. A great proportion of the chair-maker's stuff is brought to the proper form by means of the lathe; and this machine is used for this purpose in every practicable case; but this part of the work is not performed in the cities, since it is found to be less expensive and more convenient, to purchase the timber turned in the country. Slats for the back, bent to the proper shape, are also obtained from the same source.
7. The Windsor chair is varied in its constructionand finish, in some particulars; but, in all cases, it has a seat made of thick plank of cypress, bass, or some other soft wood. The slats, when employed, are also made of the same wood, or of soft maple. The parts which are turned, are commonly of the wood last mentioned.
8. In constructing chairs from these materials, the workman undertakes several at a time, say from one to two or three dozens. We may suppose, as is frequently the case, that he first cuts up a quantity of planks to the proper size for the seats, and reduces them to the proposed form and smoothness by means of the drawing-knife, adze, spoke-shaves, and sand-paper. He next cuts the various pieces which are to compose the frame, to the proper length, turns the ends of those which need it, to make the joint, and bores the requisite holes with abit. In putting the parts together, the joints are made to fit very closely, and their union is rendered permanent by means of glue.
9. The chairs are next covered with three coats of paint, and with two coats of copal or some other kind of varnish; and this, for plain work, completes the whole process of the manufacture. But, when they are to be ornamented, gold or copper leaf or bronze is put on before the application of the last coat of varnish. The bronze used by painters, is finely pulverized copper, tin, or zinc.
10. Theornamenteruses paper patterns, which he applies to the surface to be ornamented, to guide him in the execution of his work. The powder is laid on with a camel's-hair brush, or with a piece of raw cotton. Light and shade are produced by a proper distribution of the powder, or by paint of a dark colour. The bronze is made to adhere by means ofsize, which has been previously laid on.
11. Several other kinds of chairs are, also, madeby the common chair-maker; and the frames, or some parts of them, are sawn out of planks with a narrow-bladed saw, which can be easily guided upon the line of any pattern. The principal parts of the frame are commonly put together with the mortice and tenon; and the bottoms are composed of cane, flags, or a peculiar kind of rush. The cane is likewise used in the backs of chairs, especially in those having rockers.
12. The manufacture of mahogany chairs with stuffed seats, sometimes constitutes a distinct branch of business; at other times, it is connected with that of making sofas; and again, with cabinet-making in general. It is generally supposed, that rockers were first applied to chairs in this country, but at what time or by whom, it cannot be determined.
CARVER & GILDER.
1. Carving, in its widest sense, is the art of forming figures in various hard substances by means of some cutting instruments, such as a chisel or graver; but, in the restricted sense in which the term is generally applied, it has reference to the production of figures in wood.
2. Carving in wood, in all countries where it has been practised, has ever preceded sculpture, or carving in stone. It is, therefore, an art of the highest antiquity; and, although the same with sculpture in some of its applications, yet it differs from it somewhat in the mode of execution, according with the nature of the material.
3. The art of carving is very extensive in its application,being used in the decorative parts of architecture, both civil and naval, and likewise in ornamenting cabinet-ware, as well as in forming patterns for casting in metals, particularly in iron and brass. The Gothic style of architecture is peculiarly rich in carved work; and the productions of some ages are more so than those of others.
4. The style of Louis the Fourteenth, of France, so called because practised in his reign, was more overloaded with ornament than any other. A lighter and more beautiful style succeeded, which is still employed for some purposes; but generally the chaste and simple line of Grecian ornament now prevails.
5. In executing any proposed work, a drawing is first made on paper, commonly with a lead-pencil. The part of the paper not embraced in the outline is then cut away, and the remaining portion is laid upon the surface of the wood. The outlines are next drawn on the wood, by moving the pencil around those on the paper. The design having been thus transferred, the superfluous portions of the wood are cut away with carving tools, of which there is a considerable variety of both size and form. The tools are driven with a mallet or with the palm of the hand, but in most cases with the latter.
6. A capacity for designing, and a knowledge of drawing and modelling, are particularly necessary to make a finished carver. Without these qualifications, at least in some degree, one may be a mechanic, but not an artist. The subject most difficult of execution, is the human figure, and in producing it with accuracy, the same qualifications in the artist are required, and the same general process is pursued, as in producing it in marble.
1. Carving and gilding are, in most cases, ostensibly united as one business, although in fact they are branches of manufacture totally distinct. The gilder, therefore, who writes over his door, "Carver and Gilder," seldom has any practical knowledge of carving. For every thing in this line of work, he is dependent on the carver, who commonly pursues his business in a private way.
2. The operation of gilding, as performed by those whose business is now under consideration, is executed chiefly on wood. It is employed most frequently for picture and looking-glass frames, and for upholstery fixtures. It is a mechanical process, and consists in applying gold-leaf to surfaces, in such a manner as to adhere with tenacity.
3. Before the application of the metal, a tedious process must be performed, by way of preparation. The surface to be gilded is successively covered with from five to seven coats of glutinous size, made by boiling scraps of parchment in water, with the addition of a little whiting. The average thickness of the coat thus produced, is about one-sixteenth of an inch.
4. The surface is next rubbed with freestone and pumice stone, of a shape corresponding with the pattern of the frame, while a small quantity of water is occasionally applied, to increase their effects. After this, the sizing is rendered still smoother, by friction with sand-paper. This surface is then covered with three coats ofburnished gold size, which is composed of English pipe clay, venison suet, and French bole, or red chalk, mixed in a suitable quantity of weak parchment size. The preparation is completed by rubbing the surface with worn sand-paper, by washing it in water with a sponge, and by rubbing it with a piece of cloth.
5. The leaf is laid on with a broad, but thin brush, called atip. Before the gold is applied, however, the surface is well wet with alcohol and water. When dry, the parts designed to be bright, are burnished with a polished agate or flint. In the best kind of work, a second coat of the leaf is required. In gilding irregular surfaces, such as the ornaments at the corners of frames, a size made of linseed-oil, white lead, yellow ochre, and japan, is laid on a few hours before the application of the leaf. This is calledgilding in oil.
6. The ornaments on the frames are cast in moulds, and are made of a composition of glue, whiting, rosin, turpentine, and Burgundy pitch. The moulds are taken from patterns, originally executed by the carver.