Fronk

I went some time ago to Winterthur to look at one of the Rhode Island Quaker's block front kneehole desk. I had seen those beautiful, slim dovetails in photos, but never in person. I was shocked to discover that they took no trouble whatsoever making the dovetail on the outside of the drawer front look particularly good -- saw cuts on the tails went well beyond the base of the pins. But they were still exceptionally strong. The object was strength, not beauty. It is us contemporary woodworkers who want our dovetails to look as good as they can. And that's why I do it -- pure pride of authorship. I've even gone so far as to space (on some deep drawers) the pins on a Hambidge progression from the center up and down (to enhance the beauty of the dovetails by adding some cool proportioning.) But the primary reason is still strength -- satisfying my own ego with slim, pretty dovetails is still secondary.

I am very much in agreement with those encouraging you to broaden your exhibition of styles and periods. While I am sympathetic to the obvious majority of Early American furniture enthusiasts, there is much to learn from the evolution of furniture from the midieval baron's travelling chest morphing into cupboards and tables creeping over the centuries off the wall into the middle of the room. From Flemish bulb turnings to Louis XV compound curve veneers (how the heck did they do that anyway?) there are elements, proportions, and techniques that are rich with instruction for both the traditionalist and modernist furniture wonk. A series on furniture history? Yes! In addition, some historic "how not to's" might be fun. What was wrong with the joinery of MacIntosh's Glascow School furniture? Why did the glue blocks on Townsend's tea table tops break off? Why hasn't much regional French "everyday" furniture survived? Why didn't the X frame chair design survive the ages? Why wasn't Wallace Nutting able to sell his most excellent Early American reproductions? In other words, some bite-sized "notable failures" of the furniture world might be both fun and instructive.