tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post8795670901169596681..comments2023-11-05T06:16:56.961-05:00Comments on the Carpentry Way: BCM Tansu Repair (III)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-51414230998983491482016-09-20T17:16:35.532-04:002016-09-20T17:16:35.532-04:00Roland,
the deflection argument doesn't make ...Roland,<br /><br />the deflection argument doesn't make sense in the context of a frame and panel cabinet. The panels only bear loads if they are horizontal, and they are supported by frame elements below. Take away the frame elements and the boards, all of 6~8mm thick, would not support much weight. The panels in the back of the cabinet, being vertical, could be employed to bear loads, but they are not, as there are ample gaps around the panel edges at the frame.<br /><br />I apply waxy/lubricant (Slip-It) to the sliding tracks and door lower tongues.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-7653844003172820732016-09-20T17:09:42.442-04:002016-09-20T17:09:42.442-04:00One reason I can think of to make the boards acros...One reason I can think of to make the boards across the short dimension is to minimize deflection under load. Given that the deflection scales with the third power of the span, it makes sense to make the span as short as possible. This would enable the maker to use thinner boards.<br /><br />I was wondering how old this tansu is? It has obviously seen a lot of use, but the label doesn't look that old. But if it was made in the period around WWII, materials and trained labor might have been in short supply.<br /><br />Is it usual to apply a lubricant to sliding doors? Before drawer slides were all made of metal or plastic we always kept some candle stubs on hand to rub on wooden sliders. Works pretty well, especially hard paraffin wax (beeswax is on the soft side).Roland Smithhttp://rsmith.home.xs4all.nl/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-56711593322898452292016-09-19T14:51:09.009-04:002016-09-19T14:51:09.009-04:00Steve,
thanks for sharing that. An interesting id...Steve,<br /><br />thanks for sharing that. An interesting idea.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-71212302009099238232016-09-19T13:46:27.345-04:002016-09-19T13:46:27.345-04:00I have made a few sliding doors, the action has ne...I have made a few sliding doors, the action has never been quite right it seems, either too tight or a little rattle. Recently while prowling through an antique store I came across an old cabinet with a set of sliding doors. A close look showed the track and the bottom door rail had a very slight bevel, so the door was just slightly snugged to the front edge of the track. Seemed to work nicely.Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-78576240742717207762016-09-19T04:29:02.082-04:002016-09-19T04:29:02.082-04:00Matt,
it's definitely an interesting switch j...Matt,<br /><br />it's definitely an interesting switch jumping from the new and precious materials which are hard to work and of which I have little to spare, to a dinged up older cabinet made from a softwood and with insect carcases all over. I'm enjoying the interlude - it's a nice mental break, and while I work on these tansu I am still moving the other cabinet along in a few areas. I've been patinating some hardware, making the central panels for the bonnets, etc.. I've also had another minor job mixed in too, which I have not blogged about.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-10558630142339785502016-09-19T00:53:49.571-04:002016-09-19T00:53:49.571-04:00This repair job seems like a low-stress vacation f...This repair job seems like a low-stress vacation from the high stakes world of curly bubinga!<br /><br />-MattAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-84880706610365115882016-09-18T21:30:57.902-04:002016-09-18T21:30:57.902-04:00That does sound very disappointing.
It seems very...That does sound very disappointing.<br /><br />It seems very similar to western work in that the top of the pile came out of a limited few shops that were working commissions for royalty and other important types and the middle work was nice looking on the outside by when you dig a little deeper it does disappoint in some ways since they did things to quicken up the process. I see stuff like 3" over-cuts on dovetails, or the giant boards nailed to the back of the cabinet that were allowed to split....rather than cut a rebate and keep the board intact and flat for years to follow.Brian Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06207345071092915936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-67909187547047164092016-09-18T20:02:36.071-04:002016-09-18T20:02:36.071-04:00Hi Brian,
hard to say. I haven't repaired lar...Hi Brian,<br /><br />hard to say. I haven't repaired large numbers of tansu by any stretch, but these are similar quality to what I've worked on previously.<br /><br />There's quality to be considered in terms of materials, design, and technical execution. Sugi is not, in my estimation, anything other than a run-of-the-mill material, compared to other choices that would have been available. Design has an aesthetic component, of course, but also from a technical perspective relative to the material used. One obvious shortfall I see in this cabinet, and I am by no means sure it is standard practice, is that the boards used for the floor, back and ceiling of the cabinet all run across the short dimension of the cabinet, not the long. This makes no sense to me, unless all they had access to were 2~3' long pieces of wood. Orienting boards across the narrow dimension of the cabinet means the effects of wood movement are going to be maximized, not minimized. And it is surely more work to cut and plane a larger number of small boards than a few longer boards.<br /><br />The ceiling boards are cut in random widths, and some are glued to one another and some are not. The framing up top provides convenient points of support at which one can terminate such ceiling boards, however the maker ignored them altogether and just ran the boards across such that the joints between boards fall in empty space and not atop a crosspiece. That makes no sense to me. They tacked on strips to cover the gaps - and I believe this is original to the cabinet - and those strips were held just by nails, which, like the rest, have rusted mostly away.<br /><br />Technical execution can be seen in various ways, like the choice of joints, visible tool marks, tolerances of fit, evenness of thickness in planed pieces, and so forth. I haven't found these cabinets too inspiring in that regard. Take for example the sliding door I knocked apart. The lower rail, to which I laminated new front and back pieces, had clear evidence that the groove for the panel above had been originally cut on the wrong side of the stick and was clumsily patched with an infill strip. I would have made a new piece myself if it had been my screw-up. I mean mistakes happen when you make things, but if you have to patch the error, the ideal is to do so sufficient that the error is impossible or difficult to detect. That's a matter of skillful work, not a quality level so much.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-65575484651627109632016-09-18T11:47:20.425-04:002016-09-18T11:47:20.425-04:00I wonder where this maker would have fallen in the...I wonder where this maker would have fallen in the quality spectrum at the time of production. I would think there are great variations in quality depending on probably both the maker and the client of that maker. Brian Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06207345071092915936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-24078663614867149832016-09-18T02:45:16.949-04:002016-09-18T02:45:16.949-04:00JL,
nice to receive your comment. I've genera...JL,<br /><br />nice to receive your comment. I've generally been able to study old furniture by looking at it within the context of museum displays, and it is much more informative to be able to delve into the 'guts' of a piece like this.<br /><br />After having spent a great deal of time working through designing a mizuya-dansu myself, it is interesting to come face-to-face with an example to see how they solved the same issues I mulled over. There were certain design aspects which I puzzled over, and now that I see how they were addressed in this particular piece, I come away from it with a rather diminished impression of tansu in general. <br /><br />Tansu like these ones seem to manifest, at first glance, a rather utilitarian framed box aesthetic, and one might conclude that their form is largely a manifestation of their function as storage devices. Now that I look into these examples further, I find the form is rather more contrived than that, and I guess I don't identify much with the idea that careful workmanship should only apply to surfaces which are seen.<br /><br />I don't really agree with the solutions they came up with for framing now that I have had a chance to look more closely.<br /><br />Take the matter of shelf positioning and framing. In a 2012 post called Mizuya (3), I was unsatisfied with the (perceived) limitation of placing shelves only where there were exterior horizontal framing elements which corresponded to she shelf height. On this piece here I see that they placed the shelf where they pleased and simply nailed the shelf ledgers right through the side panels of the cabinet. Not something I would ever do, and I do not admire that they did that, expeditious as it may be. <br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-30847825494249684252016-09-17T23:34:40.653-04:002016-09-17T23:34:40.653-04:00Thanks for sharing this Chris, studying old furnit...Thanks for sharing this Chris, studying old furniture like this is a great window to inform future, more durable designs. I can't help but think the product they are getting in return is most certainly "better than new!" JLElliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02167086468392378937noreply@blogger.com