A Joiner in England Rosie is a really good high class Carpenter who works on a bench....mostly they make bespoke peices....My dad can pass as one and I use to be able to as well .......I use to help him and made many bits and peices....lol
Wow! Did I ever mention to you that my grandfather owned a woodworking shop in Highland Park Michigan? It was called "Paris Woodworks" and he was a real artist. He made chairs and tables for fancy hotels. He used the technique called Marquetry for tables. Inlaid woods. He "painted pictures" using only wood. From a distance they looked like oils. Up close you could see the various woods used for things as delicate as eyelashes, fingernails, lips. Of course the colors were limited to natural woods. I have a chair he made for which my grandmother did the needlepoint. A family treasure. I remember going into his shop as a little girl and smelling the wood shavings. I always loved the smell of them. You know what they smell like of course. What is "bespoke? pieces D? I guess I could have Googled it or looked in the dictionary but could you tell me? Working by your dad's side is something I would have loved doing as well with my grandfather. But I was just 3. We moved to California not long after and my grandfather and grandmother followed a few years later. I've gone to woodworking shows with Jim and I'm always drawn to the marquetry because I think it's so very lovely. I also love stained glass and parquet floors and beveled glass and oriental rugs. That was a typical Armenian home when I was very little and we lived in Michigan. It looked so opulent and grand. A far cry from the Ikea idea of furnishings which is Swedish Modern I think. No warmth to it at all. Thank you for your reply! :).
Bespoke means a one off hand made peice of what ever design....... Marquetry is just covering wood with very thin veneers of very rare expensive woods....Rols Royce dash boards were covered in Walnut burrs and looked amazing.....Rolls Royce still carry the veneers of ever car ever made by the so they can repair and match and damaged car dashboard....
East London had until the ninties so many different Veneer's that stocked everything....there was also many many hardwood specialist......
The last one D.J Symonds of Hackney Rd is just about to close as the grand kids would rather sell the place for its land value that work the old firm.....
I use to go round them all with my dad....from a tiny cheeky tot I was always made a fuss of every where my dad took me.....lol
its saddens me greatly that they are all but gone now......
There was a place called The London Turners ......they turned everything on a two hundred year old lathe....
The guy that used the lathe was about four feet eight inches tall and in his nineties.....I use to watch him attack six feet 4 inch sq hard wood Newel Post with a vengeance......he would turn the most complex designs in minutes.....What a Cleaver talented man he was.....
My dad does Parquet floors ,any hardwood floors....I've helped him lay loads to...
Leaded light windows are not that hard either.......again there were quite a few in east London.....I think one is still there...the lead is very easy to solder together ,you just need the right tools abd a steady hand.....cutting old glass is more the problem......France still makes all the old glass colours......they are all expensive now though...
I think your talking about French Polishing Rosie ......that to is not that hard .......hours and hours of hand and arm work each layer laid on with a wad and and French polish......
Most exotic hard woods are toxic to our skin ,eyes and lungs when sanded or machined......respirators and overhals are very important.....get mahogany or oak dust on your skin and you will scratch yourself until you bleed....
Oh my gosh D. Did I ever tap into a goldmine with you. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for filling in so much about something I have always loved since I was a tiny little girl and still do. I surely wish I could have joined you and your dad on your travels together. I am not remotely artistic but I am a world-class appreciator of talent...especially the talent your dad has and my grandfather had. Right now I'm gonna pause and take a shower sweetie. But I'm leaving this on the screen and when I get back I'm going to read your superb answer again. SLOWLY this time. I raced through it because I was so excited to read what comes next. I'll be back. ((hugs)) Thank you my friend for taking so much time and providing me with so much information! You are a keeper D! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at February 27, 2018 10:41 AM MST
My dad had a hand in all trades Rosie......He does every thing from lead burning ,natural slate roofing ,I don't think there is any trade he's not competent at doing.... He does weird things too....He's a fibre hand ,does Granite and marble ,most any steel construction....
He enjoys mostly making stairs and any weird things to do out if wood.... My three brothers follow in his footsteps and he's taunt me to do so many of the things he does..... I loved it all and would still work with him full time..... I miss so much working with my dad and brothers .....the guys who work for him are pretty amazing to....I've known most of them since I was tiny......I use to drive them mad with the crazy things I use to do to them..:)D
You are SO LUCKY honey! Seriously! I have NEVER been jealous or envious of anyone in my entire 80 years but I would have loved to be you! You know what amazes me D? We are a continent and an ocean away. You are quite young and you know I'm quite old so we are decades apart in age. Yet in my entire life you are the FIRST PERSON I could ever talk to who understood and could appreciate my grandfather's art. Now I ask you what are the odds of that? Of course it took us a really long time to discover that. On the other hand we kept at it and here we are. I'm still trying to process it. Thank you for your reply D. Maybe in another life we worked together on such things? I dunno. :)
Modern Architects think they are something special Rosie........The builders of the Pyramids in Egypt were far in advanced than ever imaginable...... There is something like two million blocks of stone weighing many many tons moved eight hundred miles to build the Great Pyramid....roughly 6 million tons of stone and mortar ...they say there is enough blocks to go around the world twice over....
In Florence Italy there is a famous church....the church was built but no one could build the spire ...it was one hundred years later that Filippo Brunelleschis took on the task of building the worlds largest brick built unsurported hexagonal spire...... To this day no one knows how he managed it....it has something like two million hand made individual bricks in it....
My dad collects old tools......An old pattern makers plane can be worth a five thousand pounds now ...he buys them to use ,not to look at.....
There were some very talented people back then when everything was so hard to accomplish..... My great grandfather was a bricklayer ......if a bricklayer couldnt keep up on the line he was given an hours pay and sacked.... They were expected to lay two thousands or more bricks a day ...........you had to be good to keep your job.....the conditions they worked in were horrendous as well....
Picasso was a brilliant artist they say yet he couldn't sell his art.....so he started doing modern art and made a fortune....what he made his money at I'd be embarrassed to put on my fire......more's the fools for people that buy it I think.......lol
Nice Jugs 