Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Finial Restoration
e
>Got the 100+ years of paint off and then re-assembled the old 4"x6" finial to get a model for new ones.
it was fun drawing this up and thinking about the original turner. i'll probably be paid less than the original cost.
but now these new ones will sit on top of the newels of this local restored victorian.
Re: Finial Restoration
Ruth Niles
>e,
I think you did a terrific job of reproducing that finial. I've turned a few exactly the same, it probably was a popular shape 100 years ago.
Re: Finial Restoration
e
>thanks ruth ... couldn't find any examples of this style in current production ...
Re: Finial Restoration
John Lucas
>e
I turned a whole bunch of parts for a clock several years ago. The gentleman purchased the clock with the movement but it was missing all the turnings. We did a lot of research on the web and found a bunch of the clocks. I sketched the designs from that and they came out great. We basically built the clock from scratch except for the carcass.
Matching the color of the stain was the hardest part.
Re: Finial Restoration
e
>hi john ... seems as if there's lots of examples of furniture finials, but i didn't find many examples of exterior newel finials from old houses ... must not have been looking in the right place.
these will be painted white so i used an epoxy to seal them.
Re: Finial Restoration
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Nicely done. Since they are Victorian, the originals were most probably mass produced in a factory, on some sort of duplicating lathe. Probably, the original turner didn't have nearly as much fun as you did.
I've also turned several finials to replace some lost from the eaves of a Victorian house, but they were exterior drop finials, and very much weather beaten. It is a challenge to try to figure out the original pattern.
I've seen the tooling Lie-Nielsen uses to turn knobs for their hand planes. They have a scraper blade gound to the correct profile, so all they have to do is mount the blank on the lathe, turn it on, bring up the tool, and stop when the final diameter is reached.
I've also turned replacement Victorian stair balusters. There must be hundreds of buildings in this area with ballusters and newel posts all originally made in the same factory (but probably not the factory that made yours), because they are all of about two different designs. I could just about turn one in my sleep, even without a duplicator lathe :^) It helps a lot to have several pairs of calipers, one pair set for each critical diameter, if you are going to turn a few of them by hand and eye.
Re: Finial Restoration
John Lucas
>e
I bought a book called Victorian woodturning and woodworks. It has all sorts of finials and stair rails. I also make sketches when I go to antique stores.
Re: More info?
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>Do you have more detailed info on the title, author or publisher of that book? I couln't find it via abebooks using the title you provided.
Re: Finial Restoration
RonZ
>Nice job!. You probably got paod the same but the original turners dollar went farther. =o)
