My next project is to build a Queen Ann lowboy. I am the kind of ww that needs a plan and I am not skilled in doing any kind of CAD.
Woodsmith has a good plan and I am toying around with a version of it. While Googling, I discovered that Fine Woodworking #116 (Spring 1996) had a plan but I cannot find the 116 issue. Any suggestions?
Cool
Replies
Cool,
Gads I probably shouldn't say this but Normy has plans for one on his New Yankee site. Of course he most likely bought the cabriole legs from someone but as he says, who's to know..............
Being a Knotster I'm sure you'll make your own.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I will check it out. I have a plan for making the cabriole legs, but I may just make mine by selling a few more armadillo traps:-)
Cool
ool,
I may just make mine by selling a few more armadillo traps
That was hysterical! Give me minute so I can compose myself from all this laughter.
OK, there's also a really good plan available from Carlyle Lynch and I'm sure there are many others as well. As to the cabriole legs, being an expert with a total of 5 under me belt (HA, ha, ha), I kinda modeled mine around the ones done by Lonnie Bird and Phil Lowe from FWW articles of yore. One thing I have learned is not to make the template overly gandy/bandy in shape.
Still snickering and trying to type,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
If you knew the "rest of the story" you'd snicker a little more. I'll give you the short version.
While waiting on the Katrina victim to get her FEMA money to buy materials for me to make her cabinets, and not wanting to start anything else that required some planning and skill, I made and advertized an armadillo trap with which I have caught 92 armadillos, since I started counting!!.
I now have armadillo traps in 5 states. That, however is not what I want to do with my "skills":-)
Bottom line, sell three and buy 4 legs. That way, Norm and I would have something in common.
Armadillo traps!! HaHaHa. We have an overabundance of armies here in Mississippi. What does your traps look like?Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Harry,
I am from Mississippi also---Sumrall.
If you relly want to see one, send me an email and I will attach a photo to the reply.
Cool
Edited 5/16/2008 8:42 pm ET by coolbreeze
I may just make mine by selling a few more armadillo traps! LOL LOL LOL
I thought the traps were Ford 150 pickup truck wheels!
I loved Texas! In Boot Camp at Fort Hood Texas.. The firrs time I heard one of them critters romin' around at night I though we were being invaded by space creatures! I love them critters!
BOB GEEEEEE! Of course he most likely bought the cabriole legs from someone ..
Good folks trying to make a living making the stuff we have no time to do! OK, SO I have bought a few factory made legs in my time!
Dang.. You are hard on us lazy / unskilled folks! OK.. so I never could get all the legs to look the same making me own!
Hey Will man,
I never in Gawds world meant to be hard on folks about makin legs. I think there are a lot of folks who are intimidated by them scuttle legs as Lataxe calls em and so was I. But, they aint so tuff to make, me being the expert with a total of 5! :-)
If anything I think these same folks are actually depriving themselves of one of the pleasures of working wood. Ya git the rough blank sawed out w/yur bandsaw and it looks like h3!!.
Then ya grab yur spokeshave/drawknife and smooth out the sharp edges and that's when it hits ya. Yee caint stop cause you know a little more here, a little more there, mebbe I could lop off a bit more on the feet.
Nah, let's stop for a bit of juice and admire me work. Ya sit there and lookin at them legs and ya see where a bit more could be done, back to it. Next thang ya know they look like toothpicks, oh well, let's start again.
See what I mean?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
There is an excellent exploded view of one in the Jeffery Greene book on 18th century furniture, while not plans per se, working from photos is my preferred way to make furniture. Norm Vandal's book on Queen Anne furniture also has good drawings plus detailed construction notes.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
Rob, thanks for the tip.
I do not have to have plans if I could see an exploded view. With the plan I have now, I can simply adapt it to another one that I can see by looking at photographs. It would help if I could see two plans and some photo's. That is the reason I was trying to locate FWW #116.
I looked through my back issues of FWW, but I don't have it. Do you know the name of the author?
Rob Millard
No, I do not. I was googling all over the place today and I found a source that said that FWW had a QAL plan on the Spring 96 issue. Not even sure now how came up with 116, but I think that is right. I tried to work the archives to find a post about it and came up with nothing. I used to subscribe to FWW's online services but I so rarely used it. Finally gave up when I could not get them to get my renewal correct.
BTY, you do relly fine work, Rob
Cool
Paul,
I have a complete collection of FWW so I will pullout #116 this weekend. If you happen to have #117 there is an article by Randall O'Donnell on making a highboy, which I am using as a guide to make our QA entertainment center. The lower case portion of a highboy is similar to a lowboy.
If ya happen to have FWW #3, there's a plan for one by Frank Gottshall. Also if you use the search function here off the home page you will see more examples. Just enter lowboy in the search box.
Don't be intimidated by the legs as once you make one I'm sure you will see that they really aren't that difficult to make. I in no way profess to be an expert but I think the template was the hardest for me. If ya want a copy of my template email me with your address and I'll make a full size drawing for ya.
For my first one I made it from a 3" square by 32" long billet out of pine. For leg stock you want 12/4 straight grained stock with the grain running diagonally - makes for a stronger leg and the grain will follow down the shape of the leg. I believe rift sawn will yield what you want.
Your goal will be to make the legs look alike but don't get hung up with making them all exactly the same. They will be spaced apart so identicallity (that's a word?) isn't necessary. Find a look that pleases you and your customer (wife?) and Bobs your uncle (Gawd I like that phrase).
There are many experts in here far more knowledgeable than I so I am just trying to relay to you my experiences so far. Above all have fun and enjoy your adventure.
At this piint I'm struggling with a design for the apron of our piece. I like the ones with the drop down finials but the wife (customer) says she doesn't want to worry about knocking them off when vacuming. I'll give ya three guesses as to who ends up vacumming the livingroom!
:-)
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 5/17/2008 8:05 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Edited 5/17/2008 8:06 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
you might try Phil Lowe's
http://www.furnituremakingclasses.com/home.html
Look under Furniture plans from the home page
The plans are full size
I have several full size plans for queen anne. I dont have a way to copy a full size plan but could copy just the leg portion if your interested.
Rider, Are the plans some you made or some you purchased? If purchased, from what source?
Thanks
I made them. I use a photograph and a enginering scale to make all my plans. Just dont have a way to copy the full size ones. My first QA I did I, used a plan from furniture designs in Gleenwood, IL. Normans Vandall's book is a great book on QA. It will also cover how to make a plan from a photograph. It also has plans in it, but you'll still have to draw it to scale because most of the plans in his book are on the 1/4" scale. Furniture designs at one time did have full plans for the highboy, lowboy and one of the table and chairs. They are good plans and include the carved fan and the whole works. Normans book shows you how to carve the fan and the leg kneees as well, just depends on how close to the QA design you are trying to get. As far as the legs, I cut mine 2 at a time. Not sure of your skill level but if you need assistance send me you ?'s and email address and I'll help all I can. Hope this has helped some.
BTW I have a picture of the low boy on my web site if you need to see a finished QA lowboy. http://www.rogers-furniture.com.
I've made a couple of Queen Anne Lowboys from Carlyle Lynch plans. These are smaller pieces and are pretty plain, there is no carving on the drawers or the legs. Simple is good for me.
I bought them from Tools for Working Wood in NYC. The plans are excellent and they look great. The first leg took about eight hours and the rest averaged a couple hours each. They are fun to build.
I've gone to the site and looked. Did you use the highboy plan and make the lowboy?
No, I made the Lowboy, Carlyle Lynch plan # LL-13. It is located in the bottom third of the Dressers, Bookcases section. You might have looked right over it. I guess some might not consider it a true LowBoy because it has only one row of 3 small drawers. It is only 18" deep and around 30" wide. Hell, it looks like a small table in the picture. But the description calls it a LowBoy, so that is my story and I'm sticking to it.
It is a fairly small piece of furniture. My daughter uses hers as a dressing table/desk, and I use mine as an end table. If I had larger rooms I'd opt for a bigger piece, but it works nicely in my home. Like I said previously, it is easy to build once you get past the unknown of the cabriole legs.
No, at least at that time they had a low boy plan as well
I still have the online subscription and I can't find any article dealing with lowboys. I also tried a Google search and came up empty.
I did find that the Norm Vandal book has been reprinted (for less than I paid for in 1996!). This is an excellent source for details on a lowboy and making the legs.
Thanks for the comments on the furniture on the website.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=54157&cat=1,46096,46105&ap=2
Rob Millard
Rob,
Try Googling queen anne lowboy and you'll get a bunch.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
This is the one plan I have now. I think it is enough to proceed, but as the saying goes "when you chose from a field of one, you have no choice"
I like the over the apron leg for a couple of reasons and is the style I most likely will use.
I saw that same plan for the lowboy in woodsmith and fell in love with it. And of course had to build it. Am very happy with the way it came. No way I was going to buy the legs (as was suggested as an alternative); had to build them even though I had not done any queen anne legs before. The template and instructions to build the queen anne leg in that same issue were pretty decent. I used those and viola: 4 really acceptable queen anne legs. Give it a shot. PMM
Love to see your QA. Did you ever post it in the Gallery?
Haven't posted any photos before but will give it a try this week. Lowboy is at my office. Give me a few days and hopefully I can send you a photo. pmm
PM. before you do anything, you should try to downsize your photo's to something like 1000/750 pixels and they should be in jpeg format.. If you have them saved like that, you click on "attach files" below your message. You will get a window "browse" and from that you locate the pictures and then hit Download" When the picture is downloaded, it will tell you so then you hit post. for more than one picture, repeat th process
Good luck.
Edited 5/18/2008 9:04 am ET by coolbreeze
lets try this again: pmm
Cool,
The lowboy in Norman Vandal's book that Rob suggested was featured in FWW, but I don't know if it is the one to which you are referring. It is a very nice example complete with shell carving and Vandal offers a nice set of drawings. This one is on my list for later this year. If you're interested in QA style furniture, this book is full of great projects.
-Chuck
P.S.
Vandal also walks you through the making of cabriole legs including the foot variations (e.g., turned pad, slipper, Spanish and trifid foot).
Edited 5/17/2008 9:10 pm ET by chuckh
Chuck,
Hopefully, someone will remember or discover the issue that the FWW lowboy was featured.
Thanks for your reply
Cool
Okay, for the record, the QA dressing table in Vandal's book was featured in FWW issue #80 (Feb, 1990).
-Chuck
Cool,
There's one in FWW #3 and there may be more. To see more type queen anne lowboy in Google and you'll see a bunch.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Where can I get hold of a #3 issue?
An armadillo on the half shell for the first to come up with a #3
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Cool,
If ya have a paid sub to FWW Online, it's here: http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignPDF.aspx?id=1979
If ya don't, and ye promise not to tell the Knots Police, I kin send ya the PDF.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
I'll subscribe. I used to be a subscription member and used it some but not a lot. I tried to renew and had a lot of problem with it and decided If they want me, they can come and get me. They never did.
If I remember right it was around $14 which is not much for just one useful bit of info.
Thanks
Cool
Loved the Picture..
For some reason I love them little critters.. Never saw one until Basic Training at Fort Hood Texas.. At night they make alot of noise (yes them plates rattle a bit) and sound like a miniature Tank.. Hard to catch though.. Especially at night! NO I NEVER hurt one! Maybe on the highyway but not on purpose!
"Hard to catch though..."
If you stay downwind of them, they tend to be pretty oblivious to your presence. They can hardly see with those beady little eyes. I was standing at the edge of some woods in Oklahoma some years ago when once came snuffling through the leaves and detritus. It passed right in front of me, about a foot and half away from my feet. As it was passing by, I bent down and rapped it lightly on the back with my knuckles. It kind of scrunched down a bit, as if maybe it thought that it had run into a low-lying branch or something. It never noticed that I was there.
-Steve
Wait until you lay down $36,000 for landscaping(at 1998 $'s) and those rooters are wrecking havoc. Youll find it in your heart to lay the caddy shack treatment on them:-)
Cool
ok, my first try at a photo post. let's see what happens. pmm
Not trying to be snooty or condisending, but I hear alot of people in the trades say they have a hard time designing or drawing because they lack CAD skills. What do you think people did before they have CAD, they drew it out by hand. In my opinion, a fine piece of furniture should should be born on the drafting board, not on a computer. If you want a design to go off of, just find a picture of one you like. There is a good article in the current issue on scaling furniture from a drawing.
No snoot taken:-)
I am just doing my usual. I want to cover all the bases before I take the plunge. I also would like to see several different pictures/plans.
I am not a Richard Jones or Rob Millard type woodworker. Call me blue collar. I have done some very nice work, but I do not start until I am sure it is within my level of skill. Then, I take forever.
cool,
If you can find a copy of Wallace Nutting's Furniture Treasury, Vol III, there is a set of drawings for a high style philadelphia lowboy there. Carved feet and legs, fancy shell, etc.
Ray
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