PopuLar Woodworking’s E WOODWORKING d Arts & Crafts itio2n TimeLess StyLe and SimpLicity Nd A r Furniture Projects S t imple and beautiful, Arts & Crafts s furniture designs offer an excellent learning medium for furniture build- & ing. The Arts & Crafts style allows the craftsman to build a quality piece of C furniture in a reasonable amount of time while providing a very successful r and satisfying experience. a This book, a revised edition with 17 additional pieces, offers a f collection of 42 Arts & Crafts furniture t projects for every room in your home. Some of the projects are s accurate reproductions of the original furniture pieces, while others are loving adaptations of the style. F This book represents a collection of projects that the u Popular Woodworking staff considers to be some of most visually r appealing pieces of furniture ever created. n i t u r e P r o j e c t s R4 o2 o D me s inig yn os u f ro r H o E mv ee r 42 Designs US $29.99 y T4199 (CAN $33.99) ISBN-13: 978-1-4403-3971-4 for Every Room ISBN-10: 1-4403-3971-6 52999 in your Home N A E C UP IncludeS 17 GrEAt 0 FnL1 04 0120 01 JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo 02 SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL 03 cnVlZ2VyAFRJICICMTMDMTAwATEFVVBD 04 LUEMMDM1MzEzNjYyNDA55A== 35313 66240 9 9 FnL1 04 0124 01 JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo 02 SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL 03 cnVlZ2VyAFRJH5kEMTAuNAI4MAExBkVB 04 Ti0xMw05NzgxNDQwMzM5NzE0AA== 781440 339714 2nd editioN New PRojectS CCoovveerr__TT44119999..iinndddd 11 1111//77//1144 1111::0033 AAMM PopuLar Woodworking’s Arts & Crafts Furniture Projects POPULAR WOODWORKING BOOKS CINCINNATI, OHIO popularwoodworking.com 001-005_T4199.indd 1 11/3/14 11:45 AM contents 23. THE HISTORY OF ARTS & CRAFTS Slant-Arm Morris Chair . . . 164 FURNITURE . . . 6 24. Stickley Ottoman . . . 176 25. Stickley’s No. 369 CONSTRUCTION AND FINISHING TECHNIQUES . . . 14 Morris Chair . . . 182 Shelving Storage 1. Arts & Crafts Bookcase . . . 20 26. Arts & Crafts Bridal Chest . . . 190 2. Harvey Ellis Bookcase . . . 28 27. Stickley’s No. 72 3. Limbert Bookcase . . . 38 Magazine Cabinet . . . 198 4. Arts & Crafts Cellarette . . . 44 28. Byrdcliffe Linen Press . . . 206 5. Knockdown Bookcase . . . 46 29. Arts & Crafts Tool Cabinet . . . 218 6. Arts & Crafts Magazine Stand . . . 50 30. Arts & Crafts Sideboard . . . 230 7. Stickley’s No. 74 Book Rack . . . 54 31. Byrdcliffe Cabinet . . . 236 8. Stickley’s No. 70 Music Cabinet . . . 60 32. Arts & Crafts Buffet . . . 242 9. Craftsman Bookcase . . . 68 33. Greene & Greene Medicine Cabinet . . . 250 Tables Other 10. Limbert Tabourette . . . 76 11. Greene & Greene Planter Table . . . 82 34. Wright-Style Print Stand . . . 256 12. Greene & Greene Side Table . . . 88 35. All-Weather Morris Chair . . . 260 13. Greene & Greene Sideboard . . . 94 36. Mantel Clock . . . 266 14. The Lost Stickley Side Table . . . 104 37. Greene & Greene 15. Prairie-Style Coffee Table . . . 112 Garden Bench . . . 268 16. Thorsen House Side Table . . . 118 38. Greene & Greene 17. Stickley Side Table . . . 124 Garden Table . . . 276 39. Wright-Style Table Lamp . . . 280 Seating 40. Voysey Mantel Clock . . . 284 18. Eastwood-Style Chair . . . 128 41. Greene & Greene Frame . . . 292 19. Morris Chair . . . 134 42. Stickley Mantel Clock . . . 294 20. Inlaid Rocker . . . 142 21. SUPPLIERS . . . 301 Greene & Greene Hall Bench . . . 150 22. Prairie Spindle Chair . . . 158 ABOUT THE AUTHORS . . . 303 001-005_T4199.indd 2 11/3/14 11:46 AM 001-005_T4199.indd 3 11/3/14 11:46 AM Introduction A rts & Crafts furniture stirs different emotions in every per- son. Interestingly to many people who grew up shortly after the first “movement” (ending around 1920), much of this furniture is remembered as clunky, dark and often rel- egated to a porch or basement. Happily, for a much larger audience, the simple lines, solid construction and homey esthetics of Arts & Crafts furniture strike a more harmoni- ous chord. From a woodworking point of view, Arts & Crafts furniture serves as an excellent learning medium for fur- niture building. Arts & Crafts furniture offers a reasonably short learning curve requiring only a few basic joinery techniques that can be easily mastered. Along with Shaker furniture, Arts & Crafts furniture lets the craftsman build a quality piece of furniture in a reasonable amount of time and provides a very successful and satisfying experience. Beyond the simple joinery and lines, the wood used in Arts & Crafts furniture (quartersawn white oak, mahogany and even ebony details) provides a beautiful finished appearance and a particularly satisfying detail for lovers of wood for itself. 4 ■ INTRODUCTION 001-005_T4199.indd 4 11/3/14 11:46 AM As a category, Arts & Crafts furniture is frequently identified with a single manufacturer, Gustav Stickley. Because of this, many woodwork- ers (and non-woodworkers) have a single image of the furniture style in their mind. Quite the opposite, there are many different manufacturers (discussed in detail in the history section of this book) offering very individual and varied styling, all encompassed in the larger category of Arts & Crafts. If Stickley isn’t to your taste, perhaps Roycroft or Greene & Greene will appeal. We’re happy to offer this collection of Arts & Crafts furniture proj- ects as both a skill-building tool for woodworking, and as a collection of furniture projects that the Popular Woodworking staff considers to be some of most visually appealing pieces of furniture ever created. We hope you’ll enjoy building and living with these projects as much as we have. David Thiel Executive Editor, Popular Woodworking Books 5 ARTS & CRAFTS BOOKCASE ■ 001-005_T4199.indd 5 11/3/14 11:46 AM The History of Arts & Crafts Furniture by Christopher Schwarz A rts & Crafts furniture was the product of a brief but fruitful social movement in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. For a short moment in history, the American people declared they didn’t want frilly, highly carved, machine-made stuff. They wanted furniture and decorative objects that were made by hand, with simple straight lines and honest construction. Furniture makers and philosophers gave the American people what they demanded (though sometimes they cre- ated it using machines) until consumers’ attention turned to World War I. Though the Arts & Crafts period lasted less than 20 years, its societal and stylistic impact is still felt today by scholars, home decorators and woodworkers. My first encounter with the Arts & Crafts movement occurred more than a decade ago in a foggy field outside Pickens, South Carolina. A friend and I had awoken before dawn that day to attend a farmers’ market that promised fresh produce, Mennonite baked goods and the occasional piece of furniture pulled from a barn or an attic. As we left the truck, carrying flashlights and heading into the fog, we ran into four men toting shotguns. It was going to be a dangerous day, but not because of the gun-wielding locals. I was facing the precipice of a deep hole from which few ever emerge: I was about to become a hard-core collector of all things Arts & Crafts. Gustav Stickley 6 ■ THE HISTORY OF ARTS & CRAFTS FURNITURE 006-019_T4199.indd 6 11/3/14 11:50 AM The farmer’s market was chock-full of men trading guns, military memorabilia, tools and other junk – which is the stuff we were looking for. One old guy had a truck that was almost entirely covered in rust, except for the worn wooden gates on the sides that kept his flatbed contents from spilling off the truck and onto the highway. This morning he had a few old dressers, some rusted metal things of unknown origin or use and one rocker. The back of the rocker was covered by an ugly blanket and its runners were soaked with dew, but the minute I glimpsed the outline of the first Arts & Crafts piece I had ever seen, I was hooked. I learned later that the rocker was an old copy of a low-slung L.& J.G. Stickley piece, but all I knew back then was that it was only $30 and so it was going to be mine. I took it home, and my fiancee allowed it to occupy a corner of the office. A few weeks later, I bought a huge Arts & Crafts settee that concealed a massive iron bed frame. It was stuffed with the original horsehair and had been owned by the first African-American doctor in Rome, Georgia. And it was only $125. So it, too, became mine. For the next few years, I spent every spare dime of my disposable income on Arts & Crafts furniture, books, pottery and metalwork. I went to lectures at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. I spent hours por- ing over the reprints of manufacturers’ catalogs that were just then becoming widely available. And I learned everything I could about how Arts & Crafts furniture was made: mortise and tenon, quadralinear post construction, Item No. 326, China cabinet, from 1906 Shop for wedged and keyed through-tenons. the Crafters at Cincinnati catalog. Of course, by 1993 it seemed the whole world was doing the same thing. And the newcomers had a lot more money. Soon, TOO EXPENSIVE TO COLLECT the pieces of furniture I wanted were sell- For the average American, authentic Arts ing at auction for prices that rivaled my & Crafts furniture has become all but unaf- yearly salary as a writer. Then, one day, I fordable. Furniture that is signed by its heard about a woodworking class at the maker and has its original finish and up- University of Kentucky. The class focused holstery now sells for thousands of dollars. on hand tools and traditional joints. At that moment, I Cabinetmakers sell authentic reproductions, but the good knew I would become a woodworker. ones are, again, thousands of dollars. The professor spent a lot of time teaching me and And the items available in furniture stores vary some- my classmates how to cut a mortise-and-tenon joint where between not entirely bad and unspeakably awful. with a backsaw and a chisel. I cut mine as fast as I could So, it’s official: The only way you are going to be able to in a piece of poplar. “Lynn,” I asked, “could you show afford authentic Arts & Crafts furniture is to build it your- me how to cut a wedged through-tenon?” My instructor self. That’s where this book comes in. looked at me kind of funny. He built high-end modern During the last 15 years, many of the Popular Wood- stuff with lots of plywood and lots of bent laminations. working staff members have been building Arts & Crafts “Why would you want to learn such an old-fashioned furniture for our homes and for publication in Popular joint?” he asked. I didn’t tell him why, because I certain- Woodworking magazine. Some of these designs have been ly didn’t need one more person interested in the Arts & adaptations. For example, the Arts & Crafts sideboard Crafts movement. But he showed me how to do it with on page 230 owes a huge debt to four or five sideboards hand tools. Then he showed me how to use a hollow produced by one or another of the Stickley brothers. chisel mortiser, and I was hooked. But instead of creating a museum copy, David scaled the 7 THE HISTORY OF ARTS & CRAFTS FURNITURE ■ 006-019_T4199.indd 7 11/3/14 11:50 AM proportions down a bit to fit into ings of the Victorian “Golden Oak” a modern home. Other projects period and longed for furniture that in this book have been taken was honest, simple and made by from photos of original pieces, hand. And while it’s true that the examples we found in museums founders of the movement had or, in the case of the Shop of pure intentions, the reality is the Crafters Morris chair on that most of the people involved page 134, an exact replica was in producing Arts & Crafts made from the original. goods during this period were Arts & Crafts furniture is re- more concerned with exploiting a markably simple to make. In fact, furniture fad. it’s no coincidence that just as Most historians trace the ori- the Arts & Crafts movement was gin of the American Arts & Crafts building in 1900, the manual movement to Englishmen John training movement became an Ruskin (1819–1900) and William important force in schools. It was Morris (1834–1896), whose name has the first time American schools had been given to the Morris chair, though sought to teach handicrafts, including no one has ever been able to con- woodworking and sewing. In fact, Gus- vince me he ever even sat in one. tav Stickley (1858–1942), one of the According to David M. Cathers’s spiritual fathers of the movement, urged seminal work on the movement, students in his shop class to build Arts & Furniture of the American Arts & Crafts Crafts-style furniture because of its simple Leopold Stickley Movement, Ruskin believed that the joinery and honest construction. industrial age had dehumanized work- So as you embark on building your own American ers who were slaving in England’s early classics, you can rest assured it has been part of the industrial factories. To break the bonds of the machine learning experience for woodworkers for more than a and create an improved social order, workers needed century. to return to creating handmade objects. In essence, Ruskin THE MYTHICAL MOVEMENT wanted a return to the old The Arts & Crafts movement itself was founded on medieval guild system. good intentions, cloaked in philosophy and popularized William Morris agreed through advertising and marketing. The now-popular and came up with an idea to legend is that the Arts & Crafts movement came actually do something about about because people at the turn of the the situation. He founded century rejected the mass- a company in 1861 that produced and ornate put these principles into furnish- practice. The idea was that people would make beautiful objects by hand that the middle class could afford. In this way, the workers’ lives would be improved, and the level of taste and quality of goods in the marketplace would also improve. Unfortunately, as you probably well know, making things by hand is slow and very ex- pensive. As it turned out, the only people who could afford Morris’s beautiful wares were the very wealthy. So in 1881, Morris allowed machines into his workshop to re- move the drudgery of routine tasks for his work- ers; it also made the furniture more affordable. Morris’s and Ruskin’s ideas, however, were flourishing in the minds of the right people in America. Elbert Hub- 8 ■ THE HISTORY OF ARTS & CRAFTS FURNITURE 006-019_T4199.indd 8 11/3/14 11:50 AM bard (1856–1915), the founder of the Roycrofters, and Gustav Stickley traveled to Europe and were exposed to these ideas. They came back to the United States and, within a year or two, a movement was born. Stickley spent some time experimenting with different designs and was producing his first line of Craftsman furniture by 1900. Hubbard founded a printing company. After he expanded his building, he needed to give the carpenters something to do. Legend has it that they built a few tables for the new build- ings. When visitors toured his place, they wanted to buy the tables, and so a new furniture com- pany was born. Both companies were more like craftsmen’s guilds than traditional cabi- net shops of that time period. Both began producing furniture mostly by hand. And both would eventually reject this idea in order to stay in business. As soon as other furniture makers saw the popularity of this new style, they began to copy it. They developed their own lines of furniture A Welsh cupboard similar to made from white oak, and they used the same market- this drawing was noticed by ing tactics employed by Stickley and Hubbard, who Leopold Stickley during an preached about the virtues of handmade furniture. exploratory visit to Chester, Charles P. Limbert’s catalog No. 112 is a good ex- England. ample of some of the puffery that the public was eager to swallow. “Our heavy tops are solid planks,” Limbert wrote. “We use no strips on the edges to make them ap- with this same dilemma every day we’re in the shop. I pear heavier.” Well, I can tell you with certainty: That enjoy cutting dovetails by hand, but you’d have to pry declaration is a load of bunk. I’ve inspected half of a my 3⁄4-horsepower jointer out of my cold, dead hands dozen examples of his furniture that use buildup strips on before I’d give it up. So is my work a product of hand- the edges; as a matter of fact, one of them is in my living work or is it merely machining the wood to an exact tol- room. At the Roycroft Shop in East Aurora, New York, erance? Modern woodworking machines have reduced visitors were shown the work area, which featured some the tedium of many time-consuming tasks. Would you massive woodworking benches, a lot of hand tools and enjoy woodworking if you had to spend three solid days not a machine in sight. Visitors were never shown the surfacing all your stock with a scrub plane? Probably mechanical tenon cutters, saws or sanders. Handmade not. So, if you feel a tinge of guilt as you fire up your objects were all the rage. But only the machine could de- hollow chisel mortiser, wondering if you’re being true to liver these products at a price the public could afford. the movement, you can rest assured that Stickley, Hub- Most woodworkers, like myself, are quick to forgive bard and others felt exactly the same way. And, in the the furniture makers of that time because we struggle end, they chose the path that took the drudgery out of 9 THE HISTORY OF ARTS & CRAFTS FURNITURE ■ 006-019_T4199.indd 9 11/3/14 11:51 AM