Little Wheels Go Round and Round

Teapoy Upside Down on the Bench

I have taken apart tens of thousands of antique pieces of furniture in my time.  One thing I hold dear is respecting original hardware.  Furniture hardware takes a beating.  Metal and wood do not live well together and are constantly at odds.

For example, how many outdoor decks have you seen with the nails sticking up?  Ever wondered how that happened?  Little elves in the middle of the night sneaking around with crowbars and lifting the nails little by little?  Same thing with wood screws.  They always are a bit loose after some time.  Do these elves also have screwdrivers?

These are the things I occupy my time with, when I am trapped in elevators, or waiting for my turn in line at some place.  I am not normal, I have been told.

Naturally, the obvious conclusion is that the wood hates the metal and wants to get rid of it, or the metal hates the wood and wants to get away.  That makes perfect sense to me as they are not from the same species.  Wood grows in nature and iron is man made.

On the other hand, perhaps the wood dimensions change as a function of humidity and, by expansion and contraction, there is a force which just pushes out the iron.  Just another thought...

In any event, when I find a screw, or hinge, or other piece of hardware which has stood the tests of time, the environment and the whims of ownership, I tend to respect it and leave it alone.  It is, after all, the absolute proof of age and cannot be faked.

If a screw is blunt and made before 1850 and has never been touched, then the antique is before 1850.  See my earlier post "Respect the Screw," for more on this topic.

Today I am posting about wheels.  I have seen a lot of wheels on furniture.  The earliest wheels were made with leather rollers, held on each side by brass washers.  Then brass wheels appeared, followed by porcelain, iron and then wood.  Each of these materials had their advantages.  The leather was soft enough and quiet but quickly developed flat spots.  The brass rolled smoothly but distorted under pressure.  The porcelain wheels were clean and added a decorative color but could be broken if sharply hit.  The iron wheels worked well, but would rust if wet.  The wood wheels were the cheapest, and depending on the species of wood, lasted for a fairly long time.

A basic problem with all these wheels on furniture is the shaft which held the wheel.  If it got bent then the height of the wheel changed, and the piece of furniture became unstable.  Most of the time, when I deliver a piece of furniture with wheels, I need to instruct the owner to take the time to rotate the wheels until the piece is level and stable on the floor.  It's frustrating.

Not until this week did I realize that there is a solution to this problem.  For the first time in my experience I found a set of wheels that were made by an unknown genius.  There is no name or patent date on these wheels, but they certainly would qualify.

I was restoring an English rosewood teapoy from around 1850.  It had never previously been repaired or restored, so I was the first person to take it apart.

You need to realize that tea and the tea service is one of the most important social habits of the English lifestyle.  It is not uncommon for the wealthy to spend a lot of money on the tea as well as the furniture and materials used in storing, mixing and drinking tea.

This teapoy has a circular lift top which contains 4 circular containers for the tea.  Two wood containers with lids, lined with lead foil, for the tea and two cut crystal containers to mix the blend for consumption.

Hand Made Cast Brass Hinge

As the circular top is rather heavy and there is only one hinge, it needs to be sturdy.  The builder reinforced the area around the hinge with custom brass plates, and the hinge itself is hand filed from thick blanks of cast brass.  Modern rolled sheet brass hinges were new at the time, as several exhibitors at the 1852 exposition included them in their display, but they were not as strong as this hinge.  It is massive.  It also shows that the brass hardware on this teapoy was made by a craftsman who understood design and engineering stresses.

Minor Veneer Damage

Look At How The Veneer Was Added

Some 40 years ago, when I was at Winterthur, during the Summer Institute of 1978, I was approached by Don Fennimore, then a curator who was a specialist in silver, but had been asked to include furniture in his duties.  He was curious if I knew why there were small cut marks under the plinth where the veneer was stuck in the corners.  I pointed out that it made sense to saw a bit deeper in the corners so you could jam the veneer into place, thus holding it secure during glue up.  It was obvious to me, as I had been doing this at work.  However, in his position, he needed to complete a stack of paperwork before he could even remove a single screw.

The pedestal is a carved spiral post in solid rosewood, and the plinth is a shaped flat platform with carved scroll feet.  The veneer is thick sawn Brazilian rosewood veneer.  As the finish had become completely opaque and black over the years, I decided to refinish it to show off the rosewood.  This wood is endangered and it is a visual pleasure to see the quality of rosewood which used to be available some 150 years ago.

Wheels and Screws Made before 1850

As the wheels were carved into sockets under the feet and all the screws had become loose I removed them.  They were original and blunt, so they will be returned to their places after the restoration.  My goal was to clean the dirt and oxidation from the wheels.

To my surprise, as I began cleaning the wheels, I found something I had never seen before.  There was a second, very small wheel, which actually served to carry the load.  This unique design allowed the primary wheel to carry the load without bending the iron shaft, thus keeping it level over time.  This system was in perfect condition on all three wheels, and after cleaning it appeared that these wheels were unchanged and unaffected from many years of use.

Big Wheels and Little Wheels Make It Work

I need to respect the craftsman who designed and built something like this, knowing that it will survive many generations.  Unfortunately, much of the human energy spent on building objects today is wasted, as nothing really is expected to survive for long.

The basic philosophy today is make it last "until the check clears."

COPE'S Patent?

Who is Mr. COPE?

I have posted several times about the importance of identifying original hardware as a primary means of authenticating antique furniture.  See my recent post on "Respect the Screw."  It is always a moment requiring thoughtful consideration as I work on antiques, whether I should remove a screw or other metal element which has never been touched before.  It is easy to x-ray furniture, and in the future, as they search more and more for period furniture which has survived, it is obvious that they will resort to x-rays to see the type of screw thread under the wood, without disturbing it.

In addition, during the 19th century, there were numerous design patents issued in several countries which are a matter of record, and it is common that the owner of the patent would mark his hardware accordingly.

Undisturbed and Original from 1825

I found it interesting that two different pieces of furniture came in for restoration at the same time, each with plate castors marked "COPE'S PATENT."  I searched briefly on the web and found lots of English Regency and early Victorian furniture with the same castors, but could find no real reference to the patent or its dates.

Marquetry Chest

The first piece which came in was purchased in France, and is a very interesting marquetry chest.  The inside is upholstered in tufted, floral fabric, and there is a large engraved key plate, which is very unusual.  The hinges which fasten the top are fixed with blunt screws dating pre 1846, but the wheels, marked "COPE" are fastened with later pointed screws, so they may not be original.  It is possible the round feet were added at some point.

In any case, it is not clear if this chest is English or Continental in origin.  The highly developed marquetry surface is a unique form of "jeux de fond" which includes a 3 dimensional pattern incorporating the cube in a grid.  Really interesting and creative.  I know of no other pattern like this in my experience, and I am dying to copy it on something.  The main veneer is Brazilian rosewood, and I suspect the chest was made around mid century.

English Rosewood Tilt Table

The next week I picked up an English Regency tilt top center table.  I was pleased to note that it had its original castors, also marked "COPE" and each fastened with original screws which were untouched.  In fact, this table is in fairly original condition, also made of rosewood, with gilt trim.  It appears to be from around 1830 or so by its style.

I wanted to post this and ask if anyone reading this has more information about these castors.  It would be great if I could find out more about Mr. Cope and his wonderful wheels.

Respect The Screw

Absolute Proof of Authenticity

I refinish and restore antique furniture.  I have taken apart and repaired or refinished over 10,000 pieces of antique furniture in my 45 years.  I am fortunate to see the "guts" of some amazing pieces.  I get to see the tool marks and construction details up close.  I get to examine the nails, screws, hinges, pulls and all sorts of other interesting hardware that exists on these pieces.

Over the years I have developed a deep respect for original hardware which is still in its place and has never been removed.  I think it is certainly one of the most important clues as to the actual age of the piece.  Fakers are usually more concerned with the wood elements and hiding the new wood or cut wood edges with fake patina and stains.  Until recently, they have not been so concerned with using period and appropriate hardware.

In fact, it is possible to recycle old hardware onto newer reproductions, but more difficult to find enough old hardware from the same period that matches.

When I look at antique tables, the very first thing I look at are the hinges and screws.  Iron hinges went through a very clear evolution during the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, as did the screws that held them in place. Until the industrial revolution fully took over this job, all furniture hinges were made by blacksmiths.

The earliest iron hinges were straps of iron bent around a pin and forged together.  These hinges clearly show the smith's work and have a distinctive taper to their thickness.  It is pretty hard to break one of these hinges, since you would have to break the pin or tear the iron.  Not going to happen.

Soon they added rivets in iron to hold the straps together.  On all these hinges the bevel for the screw head is hand cut and irregular.  In fact all the holes are where they end up.  Nothing is even or symmetrical.  Just not important, since they were not seen in the finished product.

Note Scribe Lines For Axis Alignment

Note Saw Cuts For Creating Mortise

Eventually, around 1850, a tool was developed that could form the iron or brass into a circle to hold the pin.  There was no longer a need to make hinges.  These "butt" hinges, as they were called, were cheaper and all made the same, which made installation faster.  However, if you pulled strong enough on the door or leaf, the metal would just unwrap and pull open.  Not too strong, but it works under normal conditions, so it prevails.

The screws went through a similar evolution, from completely hand filed to cast to the invention of the modern pointed gimlet screw in 1846.  There is a wonderful research pdf from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, by Christopher White online which illustrates the different periods of screws.

A Thing of Beauty

You can see it here:  Wood Screws in North America

Nothing Touched Since 1820

It is important to recognize that modern screw drivers should not be used on period screws.  Period screws were fastened with two tools, a gimlet and a turnscrew.  The gimlet was used to create the pilot hole, since the early screws were blunt and not tapered.  The turnscrew is the original name for the screwdriver, but the tip was not square.  The tip was tapered, like a "V."  The reason the tip was tapered was because the slot in the head of the screw was not flat bottomed.  Being cut by hand with a blade left the slot slightly tapered.  Therefore, using a modern screwdriver, which has not been modified, will cause the tool to slip out of the slot, damaging the oxidation on the head of the screw.  This is how you can recognize original screws which have never been removed compared to original screws which have been removed and reinstalled using the wrong tool.

The photos of all 6 hinges on this post were taken from the same table.  It was made in Baltimore around 1820 and is in two sections, each with drop leaves.  Each leaf has three hinges, all completely untouched by modern woodworkers.  Although the table was refinished some years ago, the refinisher had the good sense to not remove the hinges.  I would like to thank him for his knowledge and consideration.

Bottom line: when you find original evidence of age, leave it alone.  The future collectors will thank you.

This One Had A Loose Screw