1. It is the business of the cabinet-maker to manufacture particular
kinds of household furniture, such as tables, stands, bureaus,
sideboards, desks, book-cases, sofas, bedsteads, &c., as well as a
certain description of chairs made of mahogany and maple. Many of the
operations of this business are similar to those of the carpenter and
joiner, although they require to be conducted with greater nicety and
exactness.
2. The qualifications of a finished cabinet-maker are numerous and of
difficult acquisition; so that they are seldom concentrated in any
single individual. He requires not only a correct taste, but also a
knowledge of drawing, architecture, and mechanics, besides the
abilities of a good practical workman.
3. A knowledge of drawing is especially useful in designing new
articles of furniture, or in improving the form of those which have
been already introduced. It also enables the artist to determine with
accuracy what would be the general effect of furniture, were different
pieces of it placed in any proposed apartment; and, combined with
architectural knowledge, it enables him to adapt the style of his
wares to that of the building for which they may be designed.
4. In general, the principles of this business are fixed, so far as
relates to the mode of operating in the execution of the work; yet
continual changes are made in the form and construction of its various
articles, so as to keep pace with the advancement of correct taste, or
with the caprices of fashion. In fact, the shapes of furniture are
almost as changeable as those of female dress; and this causes many
expensive pieces to fall into disuse, while others are introduced,
which, for a time, are considered indispensable to comfort, and which
in turn enjoy but a temporary favor.
5. The cabinet-maker uses various kinds of wood in the manufacture of
his wares; but those which are most frequently employed in the United
States are pine, maple, poplar, cherry, black walnut, white oak,
beach, mahogany, and rose, all of which are abundant in this country,
except the last two. Mahogany is brought in great quantities from the
West Indies and South America; rose-wood is obtained chiefly from the
West Indies and Brazil, although it was first introduced into notice
from the island of Cyprus.
6. The applicability of mahogany to the manufacture of cabinet-ware,
was accidentally discovered in London, about the year 1724. A
physician, named Gibbons, received a present of some of the planks
from his brother, a sea-captain, who had brought them from the West
Indies, chiefly as ballast. The doctor was, at that time, erecting a
house, and, supposing them to be adapted to the purposes of building,
gave them to his workmen, who, on trial, rejected them as being too
hard to be wrought with their tools.
7. A cabinet-maker was next employed to make a candle-box of some of
it, and he also complained of the hardness of the timber; but, when
the box was finished, it outshone in beauty all the doctor's other
furniture. He then required a bureau to be made of the same kind of
material; and this, having been finished, became the subject of
exhibition to his friends, as a piece of remarkable beauty. The wood
was immediately taken into general favor, and it soon became an
article of merchandise of considerable importance.
8. In giving the reader a view of the operative part of this business,
we have selected the bureau as affording the best means of
illustration. The material which composes the frame and drawers of
this piece of furniture, is commonly some kind of soft wood, such as
pine or poplar; and this is faced with thin layers of mahogany in
those parts which are to be exposed to view.
9. The materials for the frame and drawers are first marked out, and
the several pieces reduced to the form and dimensions required, with
planes and other instruments. Thin pieces of mahogany are firmly fixed
to the surfaces which require them. This part of the work is called
_veneering_. The workman prepares the surface of the soft wood for the
_veneer_, by cutting it into small contiguous grooves by means of a
small plane, the cutting edge of which is full of little notches and
teeth.
10. Melted glue having been spread upon both surfaces with a brush,
the parts are placed in contact, and firmly pressed together by means
of _hand-screws_. Before the screws are applied, the surface of the
veneer is covered with a piece of heated board, termed, in this
application, a _caul_. One piece of this kind commonly serves a veneer
on each side of it at the same time.
11. The mahogany thus attached to the softer wood, is afterwards
wrought with the _toothed-plane_, and others of the common kind. It is
then scraped with a flat piece of steel, having edges which act upon
the surface in the same manner as pieces of broken panes of glass. The
polishing is finished, so far as it is carried at this stage of the
process, by the use of sand-paper.
12. The several pieces which compose the frame of the bureau are put
together with the joint called _mortice_ and _tenon_; and those which
form the four sides of the drawers, with that called _dove-tail_. The
bottom is united to the sides on the right and left, and sometimes in
front, by the _groove-and-tongue_, and its rear edge is fastened with
a few nails. The _bearers_ of the drawers are fastened on by means of
nails.
13. The joints are made to fit not only by the accuracy of the work,
but by the application of glue previous to the union of the parts;
this is especially the case with the mortice and tenon. The back of
the bureau is composed of some cheap wood, such as pine or poplar; but
the panel at each end is most commonly plain mahogany through its
entire thickness.
14. The parts which are to be exposed to view are next to be varnished
and polished. The material for the former purpose is called _copal
varnish_, because one of the principal ingredients in it is a kind of
gum called copal, which is obtained from various parts of South
America. This kind of varnish is made by melting the gum with an equal
quantity of linseed-oil and spirits of turpentine or alcohol.
15. To give the work a complete finish, four coats of varnish are
successively applied; in addition to these, a particular kind of
treatment is used after laying on and drying each coat. After the
application of the first coat, the surface is rubbed with a piece of
wood of convenient form; after the second, with sand-paper and
pulverized pumice-stone; after the third, with pumice-stone again; and
after the fourth, with very finely powdered pumice-stone and
rotten-stone. A little linseed-oil is next applied, and the whole
process is finished by rubbing the surface with the hand charged with
flour.
16. Some parts of several pieces of furniture are turned in the lathe;
and, in large cities, this part of the work is performed by professed
turners. The veneering of certain kinds of work of a cylindrical form
is, also, in some cases, a distinct business; but, in places distant
from large cities, the whole work is commonly performed by the
cabinet-maker himself.
17. Mahogany is brought to market in logs hewn to a square form; and
persons who deal in it, commonly purchase it in large quantities, and
cause it to be sawn into pieces of suitable dimensions for sale.
Formerly, and in some cases at present, slabs were sawn into thin
pieces for veneering by hand; but, within a few years, a more
expeditious method, by the circular saw, has been adopted. In
performing the operation by this means, the slab is placed upon its
edge, and shoved along against the teeth of the rapidly-revolving saw.
It is kept in the proper position by holding the right side of it
firmly against an upright plank, called the _rest_.
18. Mahogany is either _plain_, _mottled_, or _crotched_;
nevertheless, the different kinds expressed by these terms are met
with in the same tree. The variegated kinds are found at or near the
joining of the limbs to the trunk; and these are used almost
exclusively for veneering. The plain sort is employed for more common
purposes, and in those parts of furniture required to be less splendid
in appearance. It may be well to remark, also, that plain mahogany is
often veneered, as well as the softer woods. Black walnut, white oak,
rose, and several other woods, are likewise used for veneering,
although not so much as mahogany. Our native woods will be hereafter
more used in this way, since mahogany is becoming scarce.
19. In Europe, particularly in England, the business of the
cabinet-maker is commonly united with that of the upholsterer; and
this is sometimes the case in the United States. All, however, who
make sofas and chairs, intrude enough upon the latter business to
cover and stuff them; or they employ a journeyman upholsterer to
perform this part of the work.