How did they thickness the boards before the advent of machines

[thetyreman]

they used huge frame saws, pit saws which are very good at cutting through thick pieces of wood, a two man job, then scrub planes followed by a jack and smoother, also benches were a bit lower to make up for the 4 inch high wooden planes, which is the only way to work 10-12 hour days without dying lol

 

[Jacob]

I enlarged the throat on mine. Works faster and deeper! We've been here before: Plane sharpening advice needed

 

[tibi]

I enlarged the throat on mine. Works faster and deeper! We've been here before: Plane sharpening advice needed

Thank you Jacob for reminding me of this thread. If I only remembered everything that I have asked in the past

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Use boards wisely. Use the thickness you have - for example, there is no need to smooth plane the underside of a table top. And the top does not need to be boards of the same thickness. There is no rule that says a case should be made of 3/4" or 7/8" boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[tibi]

Use boards wisely. Use the thickness you have - for example, there is no need to smooth plane the underside of a table top. And the top does not need to be boards of the same thickness. There is no rule that says a case should be made of 3/4" or 7/8" boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you Derek,

I always try to use what I have instead of milling half of the material away just to get a random desired thickness. So if the thinnest board yields 7/8, all remaining boards will be this thickness. I will not mill them to 3/4 just for the sake of it.

 

[Jacob]

Use boards wisely. Use the thickness you have - for example, there is no need to smooth plane the underside of a table top. And the top does not need to be boards of the same thickness. There is no rule that says a case should be made of 3/4" or 7/8" boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Well yes. In fact there are table tops made from thick riven boards where the top has been flattened, the visible edges reduced to an even thickness of an inch or so, but the back of the boards out of sight behind the aprons untouched, leaving them several inches thick.
And vice versa - bowed boards may be flattened on the convex side leaving an untouched sawn surface in the middle of the other side, out of sight.

 

[Jameshow]

I think that technique was normal, maybe not always with a pit but when I visited the Chatham dockyard this was how they cut logs down. The new guy got the job below and one day he would progress and get the nicer job above.

Probably 10years later!!

 

[Ttrees]

Which brings up the point the goalposts may have moved since then though!

Probably 10years later!!

That was the hard work

 

[Freddyjersey2016]

I suggest you read the Village Carpenter by Walter Rose, published in 1937, it includes accounts of hand pit sawing and preparing stock by hand. His account of sealing a two part wooden pump together with molten lead whilst down the well is interesting. It is available on Kindle

 

[ey_tony]

Saw pits were often used to cut off and thickness boards from larger pieces of timber before the age of mechanisation. They had to be fairly accurate in their cuts too so as not to expend energy with other tools finishing to the required thickness.
Not a job I would have enjoyed but it was done nonetheless.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Just as interesting is how they used to make sewer pipes from elm logs - without machines.
Cut a section of large diameter elm
Get a chisel and mallet
Give it to a small ( usually ) child
Start at one end and keep going until you come out the other end
That's how they did it in UK ( shudder ! )
Many of those original elm sewers are still in service under London today. Now petrified !

 

[mancmc]

Back at school which is 42 years ago. The woodwork teacher taught me……. Plane face side, test it, mark it. Plane face edge, test it, mark it. Gauge to thickness, plane. Gauge to width, plane. Remember this still for all planing to the correct section. Hard work I must admit no matter how large or small.

 

[Jacob]

Back at school which is 42 years ago. The woodwork teacher taught me……. Plane face side, test it, mark it. Plane face edge, test it, mark it. Gauge to thickness, plane. Gauge to width, plane. Remember this still for all planing to the correct section. Hard work I must admit no matter how large or small.

Me too. That's how everybody was taught.
Still is taught, still is essential.

 

[MikeJhn]

There are quite a few roads named "Saw Pit Lane/Road" around Kent, but none not many near Chatham dock yard strangely enough, the one I drive down regularly is near Doddington in Kent.

 

[TRITON]

Some of the replies on this thread, well I must say

If you want to partake in rough joinery, then go for it, but such practices will never be the order of things in fine furniture.

Maybe its down to laziness

Yup, sure, I've worked on antique cabinets and the like, and beyond the facade of mahogany or walnut, we find pine, and other cheaper timbers, but I've yet to see any of it left rough as in off saw.


Question was how did they thickness boards before the advent of thicknessers.

A: They sweated.
Or rather the apprentices sweated
But in that graft they learned their trade, muscle formed memory, the eye became accustomed, knowledge and a sense of pride was gained.

One of the lecturers at our college, himself an age old Joiner told us to beware of the tradesman who says, "Thats good enough", because it never is.

 

[Jacob]

...... I've worked on antique cabinets and the line, and beyond the facade of mahogany or walnut, we find pine, and other cheaper timbers, but I've yet to see any of it left rough as in off saw.

It's very common even on high class pieces. You need to look behind and under etc. Chippendale and others were business men and wouldn't miss a trick!
Being unnecessarily over-finished is also a sign of amateur work.

 

[TRITON]

It's very common even on high class pieces. You need to look behind and under etc. Chippendale and others were business men and wouldn't miss a trick!
Being unnecessarily over-finished is also a sign of amateur work.

No it isnt. And on the likes of Chippendale all parts are finished to a high standard. THAT is what separates the men from the boys in the world of fine furniture.
Sure I can agree that some internal boards are left unfinished, or maybe a coat or two, more to seal than anything but all will have been dressed.

 

[Jacob]

He even used nails! "Most of Chippendale's original pieces featured some irregularities because they were completely handmade. Carvings from one side of a piece to the other will not match exactly. Joints are irregular and often display tool marks. When used, nails were handmade."

 

[g1_lo]

Hello,

I have a rather small project (kneeling chair), which I designed for myself (PC work & lower back pain). I would like to do it entirely by hand, as it would be a good practice for me.

I would like to ask how did they thickness boards before machines were used? Did they marked and thicknesses each individual board to become coplanar and parallel and then they found the thinniest board and thicknessed all remaining boards to this minimum thickness? For a machine it is easy to run all the boards again through a thicknesser and set it to the lowest thickness that was measured from all the boards, but if I have to layout the perimeter around each board according to the thinniest board found and plane every board to that thickness, then it seems to be a lot of work.

And before making all the boards coplanar and parallel, I cannot estimate the greatest common thickness, that will yield coplanar results from all the boards.

Thank you.
View attachment 136785

this really makes you appreciate the skill of the craftsmen when you go into some of our historic buildings.

 

[ivan]

Village carpenter - EXCELLENT!
Top sawyer was "top dog" and the one in the pit the "under dog".
Once had the luck to stay in a genuine Arts/Crafts country house (B&B was very reasonable). The hand made doors were panelled in style. Those to walk in cupboards, store rooms etc had finished rails and styles, but the less-seen inner side of the panels showed diagonal passes of a scrub plane.