Heart of the Wood
Specializing in reproductions of 17th century furniture and woodwork

About Joined Furniture

Joined furniture takes its name from the mortise-and-tenon joints which are the basis for the assembly of the basic unit of construction in this work, the frame and panel.  This system, in which wide panels are set into recessed grooves on the inner edges of the joined framework, is what gives joined work its distinctive appearance; it is characterized by a varied, broken surface, in contrast to the broad, flat surfaces typical of  cabinetmakers work.    The mortise-and-tenon joints are then fastened with wooden pegs - a form of construction of great strength and durability, attested to by the fact that thousands of pieces made three and four hundred years ago still survive today.

For about 200 years, from the mid 16th century through the early 18th century, joined furniture represented the best and most fashionable furniture available, desired by both the rising "middling sort" and, in its more elaborate forms, the upper classes as well.   Joiners emigrating to America began very early to create work in this style for the growing local population.   Surviving examples of their work run from the standard chest form, to side chairs and armchairs, to the more elaborate, stylish and costly press cupboards and tester bedsteads.   You will find examples of all of these styles in the joined furniture pages.

Over the course of the 17th century, various forms of decoration were applied to joined pieces.  Low-relief carving is the earliest decorative style, employing geometric, foliate or architectural patterns, often in combination.  In the later Anglo-Dutch mannerist style, applied moldings and turnings become more predominant, replacing much or all of the carved decoration.  Throughout its heyday, paint was also an important decorative device used to enhance joined furniture.  Unlike the dark and brooding effect evinced by the original pieces as they appear today, joined furniture when new was characterized by contrasts between light and dark woods, painted and natural surfaces, and the highlighting effects of shadow moldings.  While we are happy to recreate the look of old surfaces, we specialize in bringing back to life the original appearance of these striking pieces.

One interesting feature of joined construction is the fact that it does not require the use of seasoned timber; being made up of many small parts, a joined piece is unaffected by the shrinkage that the wood undergoes in the drying process.   This characteristic allows the joiner to work with his materials when they are fresh from the tree, and consequently much easier to work with handtools.  This ability to work in 'green' wood has its most interesting application in the work of colonial American joiners.  Study of these early American pieces has revealed that joiners in 17th century America worked up their stock directly from the tree, through a process of splitting oak logs into pieces appropriate to the work at hand (for an illustrated description of this process, click here).  In this way they were able to avoid the heavy labor of sawing.  They could do this because American forests provided an abundance of oak trees of the highest quality - mature trees grown in virgin forests, providing straight, long, limbless trunks of great girth.  The splitting process, exploiting the natural tendency of oak to cleave easily along radial lines, provides a dimension of timber called 'quartered', notable for its dimensional stability, and for the peculiar nature and beauty of its grain. 

The fact that we follow the exact same processes when reproducing American originals, is one of the things that sets our work apart.   We, too, work from native red and white oak logs which we meticulously select - only those logs which are near perfect are suitable for this process - splitting them with wedges and working each individual piece by hand from the fresh wood.  There is no other way to truly reproduce the look of the originals without following this process, and it is what makes our work, inside and out, in every detail,  true reproductions.

If you would like a list of books with good illustrations of 17th century furniture for further visual reference, check our bibliography page.