Arts & Crafts Furniture Projects A Skill-Building Guide Featuring 9 Beautiful Projects

178 Pages·2015·20.36 MB·English

by  Gregory Paolini

ARTS & CRAFTS
FURNITURE PROJECTS
A skill-building guide featuring
9 beautiful projects
GREGORY PAOLINI
Arts & CrAfts
fu r n i t u r e P r o j eCt s
GreGory Paolini
t
Text © 2015 Greg Paolini
Photographs © 2015 by The Taunton Press, Inc.
Illustrations © 2015 by The Taunton Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Pp
The Taunton Press, Inc.,
63 South Main Street, PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506
e-mail: [email protected]
Editor: David Heim
Copy Editor: Seth Reichgott
Jacket/Cover design: Rosalind Loeb Wanke
Interior design: Tinsley Morrison
Layout: Laura Lind Design
Illustrator: David Heim
Photographer: All photos by Gregory Paolini, except p. iv, p. 3 (top and bottom), and p. 4 (top) by Randy
O’Rourke, p. 4 (bottom) by Barbara Bourne, p. 6 by Anissa Kapsales/Fine Woodworking magazine, and
pp. 122–141 by Matt Kenney/Fine Woodworking magazine
The following names/manufacturers appearing in Arts & Crafts Furniture Projects are trademarks: Festool®,
Lee Valley®, Masonite®, Plexiglas®, SawStop®, Titebond®, Woodpeckers®, X-ACTO®.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Paolini, Gregory.
Arts & crafts furniture projects / Gregory Paolini.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-60085-781-2
ISBN 978-1-63186-173-4 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-63186-174-1 (epub)
1. Furniture making. I. Title. II. Title: Arts and crafts furniture projects.
TT194.P364 2015
684.1--dc23
2014046454
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ABOUT YOUR SAFETY
Working wood is inherently dangerous. Using hand or power tools improperly or ignoring safety practices
can lead to permanent injury or even death. Don’t try to perform operations you learn about here (or else-
where) unless you’re certain they are safe for you. If something about an operation doesn’t feel right, don’t
do it. Look for another way. We want you to enjoy the craft, so please keep safety foremost in your mind
whenever you’re in the shop.
Dedication
To Frank, Mom, and Mona
Acknowledgments
T
his is the third book I’ve written, so you might think it would have been
easier to complete than the first two. But somehow it was more of a chal-
lenge than the first two combined! Fortunately, I had a great, patient team
to help get me through it.
First and foremost, I need to thank David Heim. Technically, David was my editor,
but in truth he should be listed as one of the authors of this book; without him, you
certainly wouldn’t be reading this right now. Thank you, David!
I also want to thank Peter Chapman for his patience and faith in this project. Yes,
Peter, I can’t believe it’s finally done either.
Special thanks to Matt Kenney at Fine Woodworking magazine for helping with the
chapter on building the sideboard.
There’s a handful of folks at the Taunton Press who work behind the scenes that I’d
like to thank as well. I’ve never met most of these people--or I’ve had only quick email
or phone conversations with them--but I know that they worked extremely hard to
convert my scribbled manuscript, mediocre photos, and chicken scratch into incredible
books. In short, these folks compile great books, and make me look good, too. I really
appreciate it!
I’d like to extend thanks to a few folks at my favorite tool companies, too: Michael
Williams at Festool®, Rich Hummel at Woodpeckers® Tools, and Matt Howard at
SawStop®. Thanks for making some “kick butt” tools that help us woodworkers do
what we love to do! But, more important, thanks for believing in me and the team at
GPD, and for being companions on this journey.
Speaking of GPD (Gregory Paolini Design LLC, where I teach woodworking and
build furniture, millwork, and cabinetry), I definitely need to thank my work family:
Shane Hall, Mike Pentland, Phil Carter, Eric Kimes, and David Greenbaum. Thank
you so much for helping me through this book.
And thanks, of course, to my family at home: Mom, Frank, Jaime (Jamie), Dave,
Jen, Dan, Sheri, and Charlotte!
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife, Mona. For quite a while she
may have forgotten what her husband looked like while he was off building furniture,
cabinetry, and a business. Mona, thank you!

Contents
1 A Few words oF IntroductIon 2
2 stIckley-InspIred FrAme 10
3 round-topped tAbouret 22
4 bookcAse wIth tusk tenons 32
5 stIckley-InspIred spIndle bed 46
6 FrAme- And-pAnel nIghtst And 61
wrItIng desk In the greene
7
80
& greene s tyle
greene & greene–InspIred
8
101
sIde c hAIr
clAssIc Arts & crAFts
9
116
sIdeboArd
10 bow-Arm morrIs c hAIr 142
11 good optIons F or FInIshIng 159
sources oF supply F or
Arts & crAFts hArdw Are 168
metrIc equIv Alents 170
chapter
1
A FEW WoRdS oF
InTRodUCTIon
T
his book celebrates the beauty of things “for the people and by the people, and a
wood and the furniture makers who source of pleasure to the maker and the user.”
helped launch a new aesthetic move- Ruskin’s writings and Morris’s businesses pro-
ment in the late 19th and early 20th moted this philosophy, trying to produce things
centuries. The movement became known as that everyone could afford.
Arts & Crafts, and the woods those early makers The English Arts & Crafts movement never
used to great advantage were oak, cherry, achieved its goal of producing fine work for a
mahogany, and maple. mass market. But the Arts & Crafts philosophy
quickly spread worldwide. In the U.S., many
The Arts & Crafts potters, furniture makers, weavers, and archi-
tects adopted the Arts & Crafts philosophy. Just
Movement
as Morris spearheaded the movement in
The style of Arts & Crafts objects reflects a phi- England, Gustav Stickley was the chief propo-
losophy that arose in England in the mid-1800s. nent of Arts & Crafts in the U.S. He and his
At that time, the Industrial Revolution was run- brothers established a number of businesses
ning at full throttle, but churning out shoddy that succeeded in providing durable Arts &
goods produced in dehumanizing factories. The Crafts furniture to a wide audience. Stickley
critic John Ruskin and the designer William also published an influential magazine, The
Morris, generally acknowledged as the founders Craftsman, which helped spread and popularize
of the Arts & Crafts movement, strived to the Arts & Crafts philosophy.

change that. They embraced the skill of crafts- The major American Arts & Crafts furniture
men and wished to elevate workmen to the sta- makers embodied that philosophy with very dif-
tus of artists. Medieval architecture and art ferent designs. Stickley’s work, for example, gen-
became their ideal, and they promoted the aes- erally features large, square legs, thick stretchers
thetic and practical value of plain, well-crafted and slats, with exposed tenons and other join-
furniture and other household objects. As ery, as shown in the photos on the facing page.
Morris put it, the movement intended to make The go-to wood was quartersawn white oak.
2
out in the open. One feature that
distinguishes Arts & Crafts furniture from
other styles is the use of exposed joinery.
Shelves in the bookcase above have long
through-tenons that are held in place
with wedges. On the settle at right,
tenons on the rails protrude through the
corner posts.
a few words of introduction 3
Arts & CrAfts,
old And new
Gustav Stickley, Harvey Ellis, the
Greene brothers, and other crafts-
men and designers established
Arts & Crafts in this country
more than a century ago. Today,
their work is still valuable and
has inspired new generations of
cabinetmakers. The style has long
sYMBoliZinG A stYle. The Morris chair is
been a mainstay in the pages of
probably the most iconic piece of Arts & Crafts
furniture, and it has taken many forms over the Fine Woodworking magazine. Its
years. The Roycroft chair shown here has
carved legs. second issue included the article
on Stickley at top on the facing
page. Harvey Ellis was featured in
issue #45, shown below the
Stickley pages.
west CoAst VAriAtions. In California, the Greene brothers created a
distinctive style featuring exposed pegs and splines, prominent box joints,
and furniture with softly rounded edges. Contemporary craftsman Darrell
Peart perpetuates the Greene & Greene style, making pieces like this
sideboard.
4 a few words of introduction
a few words of introduction 5