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So, how would I do this?

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So, how would I do this?

Postby kirkpoore1 » 18 Aug 2017, 03:26

So, last week I was camping in Wales, lost my passport, and went to London to get a new one. After I got it, I had an extra hour to kill so walked over to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has lots of medieval woodwork (and other periods too). One thing I wanted to see was this chest or cassone, which dates from ~1488:

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(Hoping the photobucket images work, since I have a cheap paid account)

What has me really interested is the end shape. If you look, you'll see that the top and front curves are formed by curved boards nailed to the ends:
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The thing is, I'd like to make a shorter version of this (the original is almost 5' long). How would I best curve the boards to go in the front and top? I couldn't measure them directly, but I think they're about 5/8" thick. Wood type on the original is unspecified. The boards are maybe 6-8" wide. Front to back distance is about 17-1/2", height is about 21-1/2". The originals could have been bent while green, or adzed out on the inside, or maybe they did something else. The greenwood option is out for me, but perhaps steam bent around a form would work.

V&A catalog description: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O109268/cassone-unknown/

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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby Mike G » 18 Aug 2017, 07:05

Hi Kirk.

Are you trying to achieve authenticity, or would a reasonable external similarity be good enough? If the latter, you could just use some slightly thicker boards, cooper them, and shape them on the inside only at the ends where they meet the end panels. Then plane and belt-sand the outside to give the rounded appearance.
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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby Pinch » 18 Aug 2017, 07:57

What a beautiful old piece of medieval furniture and an interesting project to replicate. 8-)

Will you go with decorative panels as well?

With ref to the curved top and front, I would say Mike has offered a good solution, or you could go more modern and use construction veneers. I'm pretty sure medieval woodworkers had wooden block planes in their tool collection, so maybe they had a bespoke made plane for hollowing out the insides of the boards and then planed the tops/front to suit. I wouldn't have thought they bent the wood from green as it would have seriously split down the grain whilst drying out and probably before. They must have hollowed out. I shall have a Google.

I was trying to see by the photos, whether the top boards are construction veneers of the day, as the front looks a much thinner board, which may have been bent round the formed side panels. Looking closer, I can't make out whether the decorative panels are literally painted onto the boards, or whether they're separate panels inserted into a curved framework, which would be a completely different animal - hmmmm... :eusa-think: But then, the inside of the lid would suggest not.

I reckon the front may have been bent round to suit the already formed sides as it's a thinner board and the top was hollowed out.
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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby Malc2098 » 18 Aug 2017, 08:33

Yep, coopering.
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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby kirkpoore1 » 18 Aug 2017, 22:21

In looking closer at the V&A website, I found some more pictures:

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If you blow the first one up, you can see that they indeed did round out the inside of the top planks. I think, then, that I will go with a coopered top and front, but narrower boards so that I don't have to scoop out the inside.

Also, the "panels" are actually just painted on, so there is no need to complicate the structure.

Thank you all for the input...

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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby Pinch » 20 Aug 2017, 14:51

I too had a look at these photos - very nice indeed.

When are you going to make a start? 8-)
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Re: So, how would I do this?

Postby kirkpoore1 » 20 Aug 2017, 18:29

Pinch wrote:I too had a look at these photos - very nice indeed.

When are you going to make a start? 8-)


Some time this fall--err, autumn to you guys. :) I have a number of commitments to get out of the door first.

More information on the chest here:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/painting-the-gonzaga-montefeltro-chest/

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