![]() ![]() Look for the sort of materials that were available in the region and styles that was popular at the time. Do your research into the region and era, of a piece you are considering to acquirer. If the area is cleanly and evenly cut, with a smooth finish that doesn’t have any cutting or measuring guides gouged into the surface, then it would more then likely be a factory produced product and not something that was handmade. Have a look at the cut lines on the joints, and feel around for gouges and rough finishes. ![]() These joints are more looking to be clean cut and even, with a smoother finish. Joints made after the mid 1800’s, are more likely to have been produced using power tools and machinery to shape the timbers. This left the joints with rough uneven areas and their sizes would vary, sometimes even on the project. Handmade joints that were made before the mid 1800’s, were created using hand saws and chisels. The techniques used for making many of these joints have not changed that much, aside for the tools that the craftsmen use. Both variations while vastly different from one another, still followed the same principles, in that they would join the timbers in such a way that they couldn’t be pulled apart.Įven today, many of these joints are still in use and have remained popular among many cabinetmakers, builders, and carpenters. Other regions opted for brute force over fiddly designs, and would use a mallet to drive the pieces together or wedges and pins into place. Asian countries like China and Japan would often use such intricate designs that trying to assemble them yourself today, would be like trying to assemble one of these 3D puzzle toys. Just as with art styles, culture and fashion, each region of the world had their own joinery styles. It also allows use to determine what, if any repairs may have be been performed during the restoration process. We are able narrow down the time period for most antique wooden furniture, structures, equipment, and sculptures. Simply by looking at the quality of the cuts and the techniques used to assemble the piece, to the style of joinery and the materials used to hold parts together. While this means that we may have lost many of the skills of old, it does make it easier to identify the potential era a piece of carpentry was made in. Sadly this is a skill that has been lost to time, thanks to our reliance on modern tools and machinery and less on an individual’s skill.Īs we entered the industrial age, we transitioned away from hand crafted carpentry, to more mass produced machine based manufacturing. Many of these carpenters were skilled enough to even be able to create works of art without the need for nails, wedges or bindings. Skilled carpenters of old were able to craft beautiful structures and objects all by hand. Enter joinery – various joining methods that utilize shapes, wedges, and bindings to apply enough force/pressure to hold two or more different pieces of wood together. Ever since we first started to build structures and objects out of multiple pieces of wood, we have had to find innovative ways of binding the pieces together. ![]()
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