Elijah Galusha Rococo Revival Sideboard

3 comments

1. VictorianJunkie December 24, 2009
   Three questions: 1) What is the wood? I can't make it out through the old/dark finish. 2) Do you think the upper shelf supports were originally angled? Maybe it is just the picture, but the bracket/shelf juncture look a little awkward. 3) Is there a name for that undulating ribbon/like trim at the top of the base skirt? I have often seen it on rococo-style furniture. Phil
2. John Werry December 24, 2009
   Phil: 1) Rosewood 2) I see what you're saying - it's almost as if it was chopped off - not sure. 3) I've heard it referred to ripple or wave moulding. I was trying to publish an article here on RV about that style moulding from another author, but the email exchanges on arranging it ran dry. I love the stuff.
3. woodwright December 24, 2009
   I too love the ripple moldings seen on Rococo & Gothic furniture. I have seen a lot of new and old machinery read tons of articles on woodworking, old books, etc. I've been a cabinetmaker for 26 years, and can make almost anything. But I've never seen anything that gave me a clue how ripple molding was made. I've thought about it a lot - but don't even have a good guess. Probably used some kind of a stylus that followed a pattern sort of like a carving duplicator. I'm 100% positive it was made by machine - not hand carved. It's always so perfectly spaced and uniform. Extremely hard to do by hand and make it perfect and uniform - also no tool marks like you would see in hand carved work - it would be incredibly time consuming and expensive to hand carve it. It was not made with a rotary cutter like a shaper, router, table saw, etc. - the inside corners where the pattern repeats is always sharp and crisp - it would be rounded to match the radius of the cutter if done by a rotary cutter. If anyone knows more about how it was made, or the machine that made it - I'd love for them to chime in and share what they know about it. woodwright