Reloading bench

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Nice touch!

Always amazes me what a simple stick of millwork in your peripheral vision can change what you see in everything else. Makes your eyes see the whole work rather than focusing on a single detail.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
looks really good BW.
mine looks just like the guys took our old kitchen cabinets in the other room and I brought some more home I found on the curb and then built a bench on top of them.
it looks like that cause that's what I did.

I still haven't figured out why I drug the cabinets in there and the counter top ended up as the bench in the garage, but here we are.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Thanks guys.Two things y'all need to know;

"Breakfront".... if you look in the last pic,the center part of the entabliture is outside the plane of the sections over the two side cabinets. Think over your kitchen. The two places "it happens" is..... over the sink,and over the stove. The term/notion is generally accredited to Thos. Chippendale..... here's his theory,some of which isn't in print.

First,black mouldings make zero sense.... I do it because of latent arsehollness. But the reason is..... you can't see the "lines" in a mould that is dark in colour because there ain't any shadows. White is the preferred colour.... think churches. The reason for breakfront is similar. If you're standing looking at the lines of the mould..... that's all they are.... lines. It's not until a "return" is introduced that the "profile" ever gets seen other than at corners.

So there's reason one "Chip" comes up with it. Well,that's close enough that it should begin your journey. The 2nd part of reason one is that it hides mistakes..... remember,in 1750 there ain't no power tools. By laying over,the number of perfect cuts gets a substantial reduction. Reason two,part 1 is it lessons the requirements for long pcs of mould.... again,think 18th century. And frankly it's the same thing today. Part 2 is that by utilizing shorter pcs. we have less waste in the bigger picture.

Reason three is a breakfront is a "natural" demarcation in the way the eye behaves looking at an "element" ( as mentioned by Jeff above).... that's a two way street Jeff. It can be used to draw the eye AWAY as well as towards something. Which leads to another thing,in this case it IS in print....

"Theory of Mouldings"... is a very well done,some say the best,treatise on the subject. C. Howard Walker,author. Get this book..... short read,prolly explains 90 or so % of what's needed for students and practitioners. Written in the 1920's.He was the dean if Harvard's architecture for like 50 years or sumthin. Makes a cpl VERY small mistakes. Great section on how your eye reacts or behaves whether you're looking up,or down at certain profiles and why.
 

Intheshop

Banned
"The good stuff" .Beautiful, inspired,excellent book on "American" furniture. I give these away as Christmas presents to folks.Buy'm used online. Looking at <20$ to the door.

This is a classic breakfront.One of my personal favorites. Folks get so wound up about the Rhode Island "school" of furniture. Uhhhh,may want to do a bit of reading? For every Goddard,or Whelen family in the N, there was whole blocks of Charelston,estimated at "hundreds" of cabinet makers in this Southern port city. But look where books are traditionally printed..... in the North. Such is life.Screenshot_20181003-053541_Chrome.jpg
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I'm learning here.

I've always been more of an Arts & Crafts/Shaker/Mud Fence kind of builder. The ornate stuff has never appealed to me even as much as I respect the art and the craftsmanship thereof. Starting to think I could have learned a LOT from it even if not in the application of the actual aesthetic.

Now, you've got me back on a visual faux-pas I created for myself in my kitchen which has gone unattended for three years now.

OK, sorry folks. Back to reloading rooms.

Thanks ITS. This has given me something to study.