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Philadelphia Card Table

Bob Bernard, Ken Turner, and I are building reproductions of an 18th century Chippendale card table. We took a class given by Gene Landon at the Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe in York, PA. (Gene is a well-known "18th century" woodworker who gave a lecture to RWS a few years ago) The class had two sessions. The first was September 9 & 10, 2000, and dealt with the ball and claw legs, the frame, and the massive white oak knuckle hinge that allows one of the rear legs to be swung out to support the top when it is opened. The second session was a five day marathon (November 18-22). This section dealt with the top, drawer, moldings and shell carving.

This write-up will contain information about the card table, 18^th century techniques, the Olde Mill, Gene Landon, the other students, and my project.

We loaded up Bob's mini-van in the early afternoon of September 7. This was a Thursday - we were going one day early to be part of a tour with Gene and David DeMuzio, the conservator of furniture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Three woodworkers traveling out of town meant a vehicle full of tool steel and mahogany. It also meant five solid hours of tool talk - I'm not exaggerating! Bob did most of the talking (teaching?), and Ken and I felt lucky to be with Bob for this quality "tool time". For those of you who haven't met Bob, he is a collector of old hand tools. His main interest deals with hand planes, but he is very knowledgeable on most tools. What I found so fascinating about Bob was he remembers every detail about all his "finds". Bob can tell you where, when, and from whom he obtained every tool. He can also remember how much he paid for each one. This last detail frequently caused gasps and moans from Ken and me.

We arrived at the motel just in time to wave to Gene as he pulled in. After a slow, but very filling dinner with Gene and several other students, we headed to the Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe to unload our wood and tools. The class is held in a timber-framed building behind the store.

Bess Naylor, owner of the Mill, gave me the keys to the store and told me to look around. The store is located about two feet from the winding road, and is actually an old mill (the building must be from at least the Civil War era, and probably earlier). The 2nd floor contains a large assortment of hand tools, finishing supplies, and books. I knew that I would be leaving some money at the store before the trip was over. It was getting late, and we had a big day ahead of us, so we reluctantly left for the motel.

We met the next morning at Olde Mill, and then started on the hour and a half ride to Philly. After about an hour of wandering time, we met back with Gene, David, and the rest of the group to begin a three hour detailed tour of the museum's 18th century furniture collection. The main emphasis was on Philadelphia furniture (according to Gene, this is the epitome of 18th century furniture. Don’t even ask him about Rhode Island furniture!). David removed the drawer and flipped over a Chippendale card table that is part of the museum's permanent display. This allowed us to see how the maker over cut the frame's half-blind dovetails. This required less chisel work, and since it is only visible from the underside, it is a common feature (and an indicator) of 18th century furniture. Gene strongly encouraged all of us to do the same on our tables.

After about 1 1/2 hours in the museum’s period furniture rooms, we went to the "basement" to see the storage area for the museum's collection that is not on permanent display. Just before we left, Ken wandered away and found another card table. This one was beautiful; with several details similar to our table. The turrets, gadrooning molding, and top were all similar. The biggest difference was in the carving on the knees. This table had acanthus leafs; ours has a shell.

The tour ended with a trip to the furniture conservation lab. We didn't see many power tools or sawdust, however there was an Inca band saw. On our way out, I noticed a poster on the wall announcing the Grinling Gibbons display at the Victoria and Albert museum. I asked David if the PMA had any of Gibbon's work. They did, and after a long search we were able to find it. It was in the "English" section of the museum, and was not even attributed to Gibbons. It was simply an architectural detail from the Sutton Scarsdale Hall from Derbyshire, England. But it easily could have been a feature piece in the museum. Ken and Bob had to drag me away.

It was a long ride back to York due to traffic. Bob, Ken and I had dinner, and then headed back to the Olde Mill to start copying the leg pattern. We felt it couldn't hurt to get a jump-start on the class.

The Saturday session started with Gene showing the group the table's dovetailed frame. The front and sides of the frame were made from 7/8" mahogany. The back was poplar. Dovetails - hand-cut of course - were the method of construction. The front-to-side were full dovetails; the back-to-side were half-blind. The leg and turret assemblies hide the front dovetails. The rear legs (which have no turret) only cover a small portion of the frame, and therefore the half-blind dovetail is required.

The rear legs are attached with mortise and tenons to a massive white oak knuckle hinge. One side of the hinge is screwed to the frame, the other side is free to rotate 90°. The knuckle is formed by hand, and a tight fit is essential. (See Gene's article in Fine Woodworking #47 for details.)

Most of the people in the class have taken several classes from Gene (Bob and I were the only rookies), and they started right in with carving the ball & claw. Gene spent the rest of the morning demonstrating the ball & claw for the rookies and those who wanted a refresher.

Ken stopped work on his ball & claw, which was well under way, to work on the hinge. I decided early on that my main objective for this session was the ball & claw, and I would do the hinge at home. We worked until 5:00, and then all headed to a nice restaurant for dinner. After dinner, it was back to the shoppe for a couple hours of work and socializing.

Gene’s method for making a ball and claw is very systematic. He developed it based on his study of Period furniture. It involves several steps, which are summarized below.

Determine important dimensions and make a template. One such dimension is the "break point", which is the distance from the bottom of the ball (floor) to the maximum diameter of the ball.

Trace the template on the wood (12/4 mahogany) and band saw the shape.

Saw along the knuckles to define their width.

Amazingly, most of the work is done with a ½" bench chisel. Only five or six carving gouges are required.

Interestingly, Gene progress on the table wasn’t much ahead of the class. He showed up class with only one leg, the dovetailed frame, and the hinge completed. Gene’s teaching method involved a general discussion of the project, and then specific details on each component. The details included the methods and tools he used. It didn’t do much good to ask questions about the folding top, because he hadn’t gotten to it yet – that would be figured out before the 2^nd part of the class! After his intro, he then started marking up a leg blank, then proceeded to carve the ball and claw. His work progressed slowly since he was constantly being asked questions. When a particularly good question came up, he’d call the whole class over then discuss it in detail. Gene has a pretty good system, because he ended up working on his table during the class. I personally benefited from this because I was able to go back and watch him again when he was doing the 3^rd and 4^th legs!

The next morning, I got up early, skipped breakfast and walked the 2 miles to class. I was not real happy with what I got done on Saturday, and wanted to get some extra time in. The next morning was a work day, and we had a five hour drive in front of us, so we had planned on leaving a couple of hours early anyway.

I finished my first ball and claw by lunch. Bob and Ken were working away on their hinges by this time. Since I didn’t bring white oak for the hinge, I decided to start work on another leg.

When one of the more advanced (or faster!) students had roughed out his hinge, Gene called the group together and demonstrated the final fitting. This involved drawing the hinge together with clamps – stopping when it was feeling too tight – then pulling it apart so that burnished areas could be pared away. This had to be done several times until the round sections fit nicely in the carved pockets. A sign of quality craftsmanship was to have no gaps!

I didn’t get very far along on my second leg before I stopped and joined the group listening to Gene discuss the rest of the project. We also needed to make sketches of the frame and drawer runners, and there was added instruction on how the turrets were made. Bess reviewed the projects she and Gene were planning for 2001 at the Olde Mill, and by mid-afternoon there was a lot of socializing as people started to clean up and put tools away.

We left with a lot of homework! By the time the second session started in November, we were to have the four ball and claw legs completed (front two with turrets attached, rear two with mortises chopped). The frame was to be assembled with the drawer runners installed, and the hinge done (including tenons for the rear legs). The stationary hinge side was to be screwed or nailed to the frame. We also had a cutting list for the remaining moldings, knee blocks, drawer, and top.

As November 17^th Rapidly Approaches…

I set goals for myself. I wanted to have all of the ball and claws completed in September, and the frame, drawer runners, and hinge done in October. This left a couple of weeks in November to cut wood for the drawer, moldings and top.

A few hours at night during the work-week, and some time on the weekends assured the ball and claws were all done by September 32 (okay, October 2, but pretty good none-the-less!). I started on the frame dovetails, and got those completed over the course of a week. I thought my dovetails looked great – no gaps. Of course it didn’t occur to me that all but one dovetail is permanently covered. Only the half-blind dovetail on the swinging leg side can be seen, and then only when the leg is pulled out.

The hinge was a lot of work. If it had been made from mahogany it would have been pretty easy, but white oak is like a rock. This is one strong hinge – 1 ¾" thick by 4 inches high. Everything was done by hand, and I frequently was at my water stone honing my tools. For the final fitting, I took some carbon paper and put it between each hinge knuckle and pocket. This worked great to identify high points. I was extremely happy when I drilled the ¼" hole for the hinge pin then hammered the pin in. The hinge would stay in whatever position it was placed in, and took a bit of effort to move it. After many open/close operations, the hinge moves smoothly with minor effort.

Bess' son made the hinge pin. He took a ¼" diameter steel rod (like you buy at a hardware store), heated it, then hammered it so that one end was slightly tapered, and the other end slightly flared. The flared end will keep the pin from falling through the hole.

So I had achieved two of my three goals. By the end of October I had the legs, frame, and hinge done. That left the first two weeks of November to cut the mortise and tenon joints for the rear legs, make the drawer runners and mortise them into the frame, prep material for the moldings, and hand plane the wood for the top. Did I mention the top came from a 5/4" mahogany board that was 22" wide and 76" long?

Well, my boss had other plans. She stopped by my desk in the late afternoon on Friday, October 27. "Do you have a passport?" I spent the next week getting ready for a trip to Luxembourg and Germany the following week. I got home late every night during the first week of November. This meant missing dinner with my wife and son five days in a row. I left for the airport on Sunday, November 5. I was home for the weekend, but was absolutely exhausted. That left me the 11^th through the 16^th to get all my work done. To be ready, I had to take three vacation days the next week!

The biggest feat was the top. I cut the board in half, which gave me two pieces about 22" x 36". I then hand planed one side flat. I used a Stanley #5 for the initial work, then switched to a #7 and #4½ for the final flattening. I then used a mortising gage to mark the 7/8" final thickness – centered on the board. I then thickness planed the board with a Stanley #40 scrub plane, finishing with my jack, jointer and smoothing planes. This was a tremendous amount of work. I can’t even imagine doing this with oak or cherry.

We left from Bob’s house at noon, and made a side trip to Martin J. Donnelly Antique Tools. Bob had some tools to drop off. Ken and I walked around their office area drooling over hundreds of old hand planes, saws, spokeshaves, etc. Our next stop was in Montoursville, PA – the home and workshop of Gene Landon! I had been down there earlier in the year, and spent an hour with Gene as he gave me a tour of his house and shop. Spectacular! He built the house and the furniture. I felt like I was walking through a museum. In one room, the "Blue" room, Gene showed us a chair that was featured in Gene’s article on cabriole legs in Fine Woodworking (#73). Next to the chair was a Queen Anne Slab Table with a green marble top. Just across the room was a beautiful walnut Spice Chest on Frame (featured in an issue of Traditional Homes). He’s taught both the table and chest at Olde Mill. Gene also made the flooring and paneled walls in all the rooms.

When we arrived at Gene’s house, he immediately took us to his workshop to show us the Card Table. It now had the frame and legs complete, including the carved knee-blocks, gadrooning, and drawer opening. It also had the attached portion of the top glued on. Gene showed us some minor changes he made from the original. One very appropriate change was he carved the side/rear knee blocks similar to the front knee blocks. The original table just had shallow "V" cuts defining the volute. He also chose to make the gadrooning fancier (and more difficult we would soon learn).

We then got the grand tour of his house (my second time!). He told several little stories about various pieces of furniture. The enormous hutch in the dining room was made for his wife. The base was completed first, and was kept in his workshop for several years until he built the upper half. It occasionally served as an extra workbench!

After helping Gene load up his car with tools and the card table, Bob, Ken and I left for York. We all met up at the hotel and went to dinner as a group. After dinner we headed to the Olde Mill to unload tools and wood.

We started Saturday morning with Gene reviewing the various features of his now nearly completed card table. I had never carved a shell before, and doing this on the knee of a leg that has several hours of work into it was a little intimidating. I was happy with my first shell, but in doing the second one, I felt in complete control, and am much happier with it. Gene pointed out that the shell is part of an Indian mask. At the bottom of the shell are the eyes and nose of the mask. Gene had never seen anything like this before on Philadelphia furniture. . Again, the number of carving tools required was minor. Much of the shell was defined with an Exacto knife.

In between numerous questions about the shell carving, Gene started work on the second half of the card table top. This progressed at a leisurely pace over several days. The card playing surface of the table is covered in a felt-like material called baize (from what I can tell, baize is another name for "real expensive felt"). The card playing surface is relieved about 1/16" for the baize. Gene started by drawing the unrelieved sections; basically a ½" perimeter around the outside edge and the chip pockets and candlestick recesses. He then used chisels and gouges to vertically stab the outline and carve the chip pockets.

The fun came when he took an old Stanley #71 router plane and removed mahogany where the baize would go. We each got to take turns routing out sections. There was a great deal of tearout, but Gene explained that he was going to put a layer of spackle over the entire surface and sand it smooth before attaching the baize. After some cleanup, Gene went to the bandsaw to cut the profile. It took him several hours (with numerous interruptions) of edge filing and sanding before the top was done.

While Gene was working on his top, everyone in the room seemed to be working on different parts of the table. Some guys were still getting their ball and claws done, others were working on their knee blocks. I was getting ready to glue-up my frame. This was the first time I had ever used hide glue, and I was a little nervous due to the limited working time. I arranged all my clamps, and started the assembly. I don’t remember what when wrong, but during the glue-up I started to panic – things just weren’t going together right. Gene came to the rescue and calmed me down. He grabbed some clamps, and it was done!

Once Gene had the top done he started mortising for the hinges. This was a slow and meticulous process. The hinges are not rectangular and uniformly thick. They are stepped in both the visible profile as well as the depth.

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