No question that today "figure" it is hyped, I would say I see 3 kinds
of customers, those that look at figure as a defect; they want straight
grain and poly, those that want all 4 sides of a post to have figure and
those that know what the original looked liked and would like something
similar. problem is that the last category consists of mostly wood
workers that can build it them selves. :-)

I can't count the number of articles in the last year that show how to
"build" a leg so that all 4 sides have rays or figure. H*ll, 2 of the
sides don't show most of the time or are in the dark!

BRuce

Drew D. Saur wrote:

But do you find that when you look at the old, original A&C furniture,
it doesn't feature as much ray fleck/flake as some of the reproduction
pieces do?

Drew

In article 1059922811.683016@sj-nntpcache-5,
Bruce wrote:


Yep, Ive found the same thing. Works about the same for "wormy maple"
I have a shop stool and a "first aid" cabinet in the shop that are made
of wormy maple and most people ask "What happened to that!?" but there
are a few that ask, "Can you get more of that wood?". I am building a
mission style glider rocker for display and using flat sawn white oak
because that will generate more general business. Many of the people
that know about figured woods will ask if you can make it that way or
have a specific wood in mind. I watch for those customers, they are the
jewels in a sea of sameness.

BRuce

Rumpty wrote:

I produce and sell a lot of "Mission" furniture, I use flat sawn red oak.
90% of the customers don't know the difference between 1/4 sawn and flat,
nor do they care. It's the style and proportions of your work that sells and
not the figure of the grain. Also, many customers consider the ray flake a
*defect*.

--

Rumpty

Radial Arm Saw Forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/woodbutcher/start

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"Drew D. Saur" wrote in message
...


Hi, all.

I've recently gotten pretty interested in Arts & Crafts furniture (both
reproduction and antique) and am wondering something: in the recent
renaissance, have some A&C reproduction designers gotten too carried
away with "pure," extremely highly-figured quartersawn oak? It seems to
me, as I study older (original) A&C pieces, one would generally find
that pieces were constructed of a good mix of quartersawn and slightly
riftsawn lumber, even in quite prominent areas. This is true of both
"big name" (Roycroft, Stickley, Limbert) and "unsigned" pieces.

Today, some reproduction A&C furniture can be found that still uses such
a mix, while other, apparently "high end" pieces, are made of so much
highly figured oak that they don't resemble *anything* I have ever seen

from the distant past. The conspicuous ray flake in these pieces is

almost ridiculous. They don't really seem authentic to me when compared
against period pieces.

Is it possible that today's high-end craftsman furniture reproduction
"masters" have somewhat missed a point of practicality of the original
Arts & Crafts movement? Or am I missing something?

Thanks for any historical guidance anyone can offer!

Drew

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