Hartwood's projects

[Gothichome]

Jade, how is that large window project coming along?

[heartwood]

well, thanks for asking gothic! this past Wednesday, I pulled what I think was the 100th sash set of 150 from the 'great stone dwelling' of the enfield, nh shaker museum...we pull 8, 9 or 10 sets at a time...process is slow as there are lots of repairs and documentation in addition to complete restoration of 12 over 8 sash...the sash are impressively sturdy but after 165 years, they are bruised up a bit...the knife markings for joinery are very clear...instead of using a pencil for laying out cut lines, a fine knife is used...

the original glass is 'crown glass'...it starts out as a molten blob of glass at the end of a punty (iron rod)...the blob is pressed flat then spun into a large disc, annealed, then cut into panes...the glass exhibits concentric waves in the glass and the pane is often curved...in this sash, the individual glass rabbets are scribed to fit the glass with amazing detail...I imagine the sash maker having a pile of 20 panes of glass which he sets into the 12 and 8 pane sash...some of the glass is flat and some is curved...when he comes across a curved pane, he stops and scribes the sash rabbets to fit that pane...

many coats of paint--approximately 3/32" thick...we remove the glass and putty, the paint to bare wood, oil, prime, set glass, clean glass and apply two coats of paint...in addition, we glue or replace panes of glass (we use a glass resin and a uv lamp for gluing) and undertake 1 to 6 hours of repairs on each set...

the last week of December, we install 15 sets of sash from the 1716 warner house in Portsmouth, nh...I have worked 19 days straight in hopes of meeting a deadline...

and that's it from the exciting world of window restoration!

...jade

[Mick_VT]

LOL so not only have I been driving past the great stone dwelling each week, the place i am driving to is Portsmouth NH, where I have been staying in a hotel about two blocks form the Warner house! LOL

[heartwood]

hey, ain't that the coincidence!...we are destined to meet at some point mick...
...jade

[Gothichome]

Your a busy person Jade, how is the crown glass to work with ? Is it less likely to brake compared to cylinder glass that a lot of us are use to. The the blob of glass at the centre of the spin, is that used as bull eye glass?

[Eperot]

Where the pontil rod attaches is typically either throw away or used as "bullseye glass", often for transom windows where the only important function is letting in light. Sorry, not to jump in on Jade here. Just offering my knowledge as she sounds pretty busy.

I'd be interested in knowing what Jade is using as replacement glass for panes that can't be epoxied back together....

[BungalowMo]

I'd love to see some photos from that project!

Pretty Pleeeeze????

[heartwood]

everyone is welcome to chime in with their knowledge and experience!

the project manager and funders have specified a newly manufactured polish (as in Poland) wavy glass for replacement...it doesn't mimic or match the old glass but is more pleasing (and accurate) to the eye when viewing the entire sash...the client has made it easy and supplied hundreds of panes of glass already cut to size...typically cutting glass ahead of time is not a good idea because often the pane openings are slightly different from one another...these sash are so structurally sound and solid that all the glass fits....

the crown glass in these sash tends to be rather sturdy...it tends to be somewhat thick and tapers to thin in areas...because the rabbets are scribed for the individual pane, they set nicely into the opening...

I am technically inept...I have never posted a photo!!!! if it takes more than 30 seconds, I give up and consider myself hopeless in this realm...perhaps that will change in the near future and I will be relentless in my posting of photos!!

...jade

[phil]

after 165 years, they are bruised up a bit...the knife markings for joinery are very clear...instead of using a pencil for laying out cut lines, a fine knife is used...


...jade

my dad was a joiner and apprenticed under for an old englishman in his early teens. that was in the early 50's the boss was highly skilled and they were protective of techniques and information back then, unlike today.

They made reproductions of English antique furniturre and did restoration work too. He was very particular and knew a lot about the trade. One thing dad pointed out when he showed me how to do hand cut dovetail drawers was his technique where a scribe is used. the scribe looks like this:
http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/im ... -v2-lg.jpg

the scribe mark is to show how deep to cut the dovetails but remnants of the mark show on the ends of the drawer after assembly , if you look for them.
he said they never sand out those scribe marks and that is traditional. Yes they could use a pencil or lightly scribe and sand out the scribe marks but this is traditionally left to show and it is like a signature which says the dovetails were hand cut. maybe it dates back further than machine made dovetails?

Whenever I check out a piece with drawers I look for this and yes it is common to see these scribe marks. Leaving them to show was intentional. I wonder if you might be seeing similar markings and the reason they were left may be akin to a signature of the craftsman. most would think they just were too lazy to sand them out but he said that was not the case, it's tradition.
most dovetails these days are machine made and most modern joiners probably don't even know or agree with the technique. the following links show examples

maybe other readers could have a look at their antiques and see if you can see these lines in their old drawers? its easy to see if you just open a drawer and look at the edge.


http://www.hygra.com/wb/nmb01d12.JPG

https://communitywarehouse.files.wordpr ... .jpg?w=640

http://www.fullchisel.com/faux6.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tFpFo9czt4M/U ... G_2018.JPG

Phil

[Gothichome]

Phil, we have many examples of the scribing marks still on the dove tails. I know Southernlady also has at least one, a wash stand.