“…the Emperor Tiberius had a table that exceeded four feet in diameter by two inches and a quarter, and was an inch and a half in thickness: this, however, was only covered with a veneer of citrus-wood, while that which belonged to his freedman Nomius was so costly, the whole material of which it was composed being knotted wood.”
-Pliny the Elder, on the Roman craze of tables made of Thuya burl[1]

Thuya burl dice and bowl, Artisan Dice (seriously aren’t these cool?)

Carpentry and Woodworking

This 11th edition of the Crafting Complexity Journal will focus on turning timber as a resource into crafted items. On the ruder end of craftsmanship, saplings or split wood may be lashed together with rope or vines. More permanent constructions may be accomplished through carpentry, roughly shaping timber to lumber and nailing or pegging the boards together. This journal will focus on the finer end of craftsmanship, or what is commonly called woodworking (with the understanding that this is the work of an artisan and not a laborer). Woodworking is a complex craft, requiring not just wood and a great deal of knowledge, but an array of complex tools, as well as glues, fasteners, and finishing compounds.

Oftentimes multiple parts of the same tree may be used for different purposes in woodworking. To take one famous example, a cypress from the arid hills of the southwestern Mediterranean was widely used by both Greek and Roman artisans. The Greeks called it thuon after the use of its needles as a kind of fragrant incense in sacrificial fires, and used its wood in fine crafts. Pliny called it citrum, and reports that the fondness of Roman men for furniture of this wood was a standard defense by Roman wives for their own extravagance in pearls or other jewelry. Valuable then, the wood remains sought after today, and under the modern name thuya is prized for its root burl. Uncommon for a conifer, the thuya tree can be coppiced, and a great many vertical trunks grown shrublike from the same stump. The tree is actually a kind of cypress, and secretes a resin as many conifers do. The resin, called sandarach, may be harvested without harming the tree, and was widely used from antiquity on into the Renaissance for preparations of varnish (mixed with linseed oil). The tree then provides both the wood for lumber and the resin to protect the finished article.

Tools

The tools of the joiner, illustrated by Moxon

The tools of woodworking have hardly changed in 2000 years: the axe for rough shaping, the saw for cutting to size, the chisel for carving, the awl for drilling, the plane for smoothing, the square for matching corners, and the level for truing beams and columns were all known to the ancients. Romans refined the production of glue and invented iron nails, and took woodworking to unprecedented heights. Japan presents a case that fascinates modern woodworkers and casual youtubers alike: a history of quality bladesmithing and a lack of abundant iron coupled with an extremely detail-oriented culture to result in a tradition of building with amazing joints rather than nails. This kanawatsugi beam joint is but one example of Japanese craftsmanship.

Bentwood

Oregon White Oak Kayak, Zena Forest Products

Where strength is important and complex or rounded shapes are desired, artisans throughout history have turned to steam bending. The application of heat and a little moisture is enough to pull a straight-grained hardwood such as elm into a circular form, as the ancient Egyptians did with imported lumber whilst building a fleet of chariots on steam-bent wheels. The effect of steam temporarily softens lignin, the “glue” that holds the cellulose fibers of wood together, and renders it pliable enough to pull or clamp into forms where it is held until cool and dry. [2] Boat builders will bend and shape ribs of oak to support the planks that turn into hulls, and hunters and trappers will turn locust or ash round and lace up their snowshoes. Those luthiers looking to craft wooden musical instruments will doubtless value steam bending of exotic tonewoods for violins or beech for drums.

Adhesives

Dried cubes of raw hide glue, Paleotechnics

Glues and natural adhesives have joined wood for thousands of years. Ötzi the iceman was found in the Alps with a five thousand year old copper axe glued to a yew handle with birch pitch and lashed with leather straps. Animal glues were developed by 2000 BC in Egypt, and reached a high level of refinement in the Roman era for use in veneer and inlay work. Gelatin-based glues are excellent for any item designed to be repaired, as they can be loosened by wet heat or split with a simple knock square on the joint whereas most modern glues cannot be separated under any circumstances. There is a bit of flexibility to the glue as well, which keeps the sound true in a well-made wooden instrument.

Finishes

Resins and lacs: sandarac, copal, blonde shellac, seedlac, garnet lac

Sealing and protecting a wooden article is the last and often most crucial element of creation. It is here that all the hard work is made to last, that the well-chosen grain and contrasting woods shine out for the first time, and the item made fast against the elements, be they wind, weather, or spilled wine.

Oil and wax

The simplest wood finish is none at all. Constant use will soften and shine the wood with body oils, or wood may be rubbed with wool to leave behind a film of waxy lanolin, while citrus and nut oils penetrate and scent the wood. Beeswax is slightly more protective and imparts a dull shine to the natural color of the wood, and may be mixed with oil to assist in penetrating more deeply into the wood. Carnauba wax, harvested from the leaves of palms, is a hard, high melting wax that can produce a durable finish when mixed with beeswax and perhaps thinned with turpentine (distilled from Aleppo Pine or similar conifers).

Varnish

Varnishes are a combination of a “drying oil” and a resin, usually with a solvent to thin the mixture for uniform application. Shellac is a specific type of varnish in which the resin is obtained from secretions of the lac insect that is native to southeast Asia (India and Thailand) and typically contains no drying oil. Drying oils like the flax-based linseed oil and the tree nut tung oil will chemically react and permanently harden on prolonged exposure to air, as oxygen allows cross-linking of the oil molecules into something like plastic. This cross-linking is promoted by the presence of certain metal compounds such as lead oxide, and this effect was likely discovered unintentionally when boiling linseed oil in pewter or lead pots to prepare varnish.

Lacquer

Yuan dynasty lacquered dish at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Some plants and trees produce natural oily saps that have the ability to harden much like a varnish and are used in similar fashion. The best known is the Chinese Lacquer Tree, whose name shares a linguistic root with shellac and the insects from which it is derived. The sap of this tree is rich in urushiol, the same irritating oil found in poison ivy and many other toxic plants. Brushed onto wood, the sap will dry and darken from milky white to dark brown, but centuries of craft in Asia have produced a wide range of colored lacquerware. Bright red articles containing cinnabar as a pigment are the most famous, and black and yellow are possible with appropriate processing of the sap and addition of pigments. [3] White, green, and blue were rarely found, however, as the acidic urushiol would destroy the pigments of those colors known to the ancients, although gold, silver, and copper leaf and mother of pearl were often used as inlay in lacquerware.

Room to grow

The craftsman has many options of wood, of joints, and finishes, but only the rare figure will cut through the means of production to grasp the soul of the craft. Who will see the beauty in buried roots and start a worldwide craze of tables and couches? Who will find the perfect straight grained oak and bend it to master the seas? Who among the Brudvir will travel towards the hot equator to trade in the resins and oils and rare lumbers that will set apart the woodwork of his pack above all the rest?

Further reading

[1] Pliny the Elder, “The Natural History,” John Bostock, Ed. 13.29 Link

[2] E.C. Peck, “Bending solid wood to form,” Forest Products Laboratory USDA Report No. 1764 (1955) Link

[3] O. Vogl, “Oriental lacquer, poison ivy, and drying oils,” Journal of Polymer Science A 38[24] (2000) Link

If you found this post interesting and informative, please check out the series!