English oak was in plentiful supply when the demand for home furnishings began to grow in the 16th and I7th centuries. This hard and durable wood was not easy to work finely with the tools of the time, and was mostly madeinto heavy, solid furniture. The logs were ‘malty cut or split vertically into quarters and hen each quarter riven radially — like ever-nner, elongated slices of cake. Straight sawn planks would tend to warp across the grain. This quartering process also produced a better grain pattern, or figure, than straight cutting. Adze marks are often seen on earlyoak furniture, where the wedge-shaped planks were roughly hewn with a trimming tool.

Antique Collector MagazineBoarded construction — planks, sometimes slotted together, then simply joined with iron nails or wooden dowels — was common in the Middle Ages for items such as trestle tables, chests and stools. The 16th-century frameand-panel construction was both lighter and more versatile. The corner pieces were joined hy mortise-and-tenon joints, without glue; the tenon was secured by a peg or dowel made of split willow. In cupboards and chests particularly, the panels may be coffered (thinner than the framework) or fielded (as thick or thicker hut with chamfered edges)and set into rebates (grooves) in the frame.

Rounded parts, such as bedposts and chair legs, were shaped with a pole-lathe, whose shaft was turned by a treadle and wound back by a springy pole. By using a lathe with a sliding rest for the cutting tool, the ‘barley‑sugar twist’ legs for tables and chairs that came into fashion about 1660 could be made.

Decorative Effects

After painting in the Tudor period, the main method of decoration on early oak and other solid timbers was various types of relief carving, sometimes heightened with basic colours. Some fine carving was done from the 16th century onwards, including the cut-out, interlacing patterns of strapwork, and linenfold, which resembles flat folds of cloth.

Scratch carving was incised on the surface with a gouge, while fluted vertical lines, made with the curved edge of a gouging tool, are known as gouge carving. In sunk carving the background was removed to leave a relief pattern and then stippled with a punch or pointed tool. Chip carving — in which the design was chipped out with a chisel — often forms a roundel enclosing a geometric pattern drawn with compasses and set square.

The fretsaw, introduced in the late 16th century, enabled slivers of wood to be intricately shaped and sunk in grooves and recesses in solid timber. This inlay was laid in patterns or strips with other materials such as bone or mother-of-pearl. Holly, boiled to preserve its whiteness or stained to various colours, poplar (white with a pink or brown tint) or box (yellow) could be contrasted with red-brown yew, stained sycamore, black ebony or bog oak. Inlaid decoration was popular for the borders of cabinets and tables in the 16th and 17th centuries, and was revived by the Arts and Crafts movement.

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Furnishings in the 16th and I7th Centuries, Oak and Country Furniture