Traditional Joinery
Solid Timbers Only
Timber is an amazing material: strong, beautiful, and sustainable. Its strength-to-weight ratio far exceeds that of other manufactured materials like MDF, particle board, and plywood. Traditional joinery techniques, developed and constantly refined over the last 300 to 400 years, are the most resilient and responsible way to work with wood.
Solid Timbers
There is a wide variety of select-grade cabinet timbers available, including plantation timbers as well as those from native forests. Frank will only use timbers that have been responsibly sourced from developed countries with good governance or plantations. Although timber is by far the most sustainable resource we have, it still needs to be used responsibly. A well-made piece of timber furniture should last 100 to 200 years. This is a far better option than the high-volume, low-quality, cleverly marketed disposable furniture that floods the market.
Dovetail joinery is commonly used for chests of drawers. The dovetail joint has been utilized for centuries, primarily for drawers, where its wedge shape creates a strong connection that resists the pulling force when opening the drawer.
In antique furniture, the joinery was never visible, while in contemporary pieces, it is sometimes showcased. On this chest, the gables are fully dovetailed at both the top and bottom.
A perfect fit
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Traditional joinery is often cut by hand. However it is also at times done in conjunction with machinery.
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Timber, being a natural material is subject to movement as it reacts to the relative humidity. Timber movement is not dimensionally uniform. Expansion and contraction is across the grain, while movement length wise is negligible.
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Joinery techniques developed over 100's of years work to accommodate this movement without splits and cracks developing.
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Frank's joinery is heavily influenced by English and European cabinetmaking which was at its peak during the 19th Century
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Frank prioritises mortice and tenon joinery. A lot of modern mass produced furniture will use dowel joints. Although dowels are faster and can be more efficiently streamlined into mass production, mortice and tenon joints are still the best option.
A knuckle joint from a Georgian mahogany sofa table. This type of joinery was often used on Pembroke tables, sofa tables, and drop-leaf tables.
One half of the hinge was completely replicated to replace the broken section, which also had borer damage. Old salvaged English oak was used.
The photo above shows the repairs made to a Georgian dining chair. The seat rails were badly infested with wood borers, so Frank made and fitted new seat rails out of solid beech wood.
Breadboards are an excellent example of how timber movement needs to be accommodated. Only the central mortise and tenon joint is glued, while the rest of the joinery is loose, allowing for timber movement.
Sometimes the existing joinery is completely gone due to wood-boring insects or mechanical damage. The photo above shows how Frank uses slip tenons to repair the broken and missing joinery. This non-invasive technique is strong and retains as much original material as possible.
Quality that lasts
There is something very satisfying about investing the time and effort to craft an object into being. It is a privilege to work with timber, which is such a high-quality material.