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How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

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How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby AndyT » 07 Apr 2021, 12:18

Just to clear the disappointment right at the start, this isn't a wip build project, but it might be of interest to anyone wanting to build something similar. A little while ago, my wife and I repainted our bedroom, which meant that we had to empty and move our big wardrobe, which doesn't happen very often. I think it's an interesting design, so I took some pictures of how it works and thought I would share them with you.

I don't know who made this wardrobe or what age it is, and calling it Edwardian rather than Victorian is only a guess. It's clearly hand made, with great skill, at a time when quite modest furniture was still made in small workshops without a lot of machinery. I think it hits the sweet spot of looking smart where it matters without wasting effort where it doesn't. The fancy parts are made of ash; internals are mahogany and subsidiary parts are pine.

It's quite large, with three doors, so it comes apart into pieces that are small enough to carry upstairs and fit through doors.

You start with a strong base, which has decorative split turnings glued on to the front.

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You add a box to hold four drawers

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and the drawers themselves

with_drawers.JPG
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An upper section fits on top. Originally this had four shallow sliding trays. It now has just one, as I have fitted a hanging rail in the upper part of the space.

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A tall, narrow hanging space is provided in another box which fits alongside, shown here with the door on.

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Here's the inside of that part. It originally had a box with a sliding lid at the bottom, which was for dirty washing. I must chuck out the rest of those ties, unworn since retirement.

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The left hand door is hinged onto the sides but the centre door - which has a mirror on the outside - is held by knife hinges with lift-off pins.

Here it is, from the back:

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To keep it in place, you put this cornice in place first, unfixed

cornice.JPG
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lift it up enough to ease the door onto its pins, then screw it down. That gives you the whole thing, like this:

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I rather like the look of it, but what makes it extra interesting is that I also have the instructions on how to build it. These are from Cassell's Woodworking, edited by Paul N. Hasluck, published in 1912. The diagrams show a slightly smaller piece with a different pattern of doors, but the rest of the design matches pretty closely.


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If anyone is interested, I shall add some more details of the construction which show the original maker's approach to the job.
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Phil » 07 Apr 2021, 12:23

Interesting, thanks for posting.
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Mike G » 07 Apr 2021, 13:43

I've not seen one like that before. It clearly smacks of the small-workshop version of mass production......some form of batch production. You can imagine them making 50 cornices over a day or two, then a whole lot of side panels, then a whole lot of drawers......and so on. Final assembly would be a matter of one from this pile, 4 from that pile, a couple from over there, then a final tiffle and out the door.
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Andyp » 07 Apr 2021, 15:59

I like the style and practicality of that piece. Although I do not understand why one would but doors in front of drawers.
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Woodbloke » 07 Apr 2021, 18:02

Andyp wrote:I like the style and practicality of that piece. Although I do not understand why one would but doors in front of drawers.

It's a hidden mystery thingie Andy :lol: I did a cabinet in elm a few years ago with eight legs :o and a pair of book matched doors in the middle, behind which was a set of 5 drawers with burr elm fronts. It's now been purloined by SWIMBO where she keeps her collection of silk scarves - Rob
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby AndyT » 09 Apr 2021, 10:16

Mike, yes, suited to small batch production. Afaik, that was they way until recent machinery came in - with the benefit being that hand workers could switch from one piece to another without downtime to retool or reconfigure.

Andy, Rob - I think once you have put on a full length door for the hanging side, then a full length mirror in the middle, it would look odd not to have a full length door on the left. But there were endless variations, with doors in front of drawers or drawers exposed. For example, here's a smaller wardrobe with drawers and trays but no full length drawers. (From Modern Cabinet Work, Wells and Hooper)

doors_and_drawers.jpg
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One of the consequences of making this stuff commercially by hand is that you don't waste time on unseen surfaces. Those readers who like everything planed and sanded all round might like to close one eye before reading further...

The men who made this wardrobe certainly could finish surfaces nicely. This is the inside of the upper box which held the sliding trays. The left hand side is solid ash, as seen on the outside of the piece. The right hand side is pine, edged with a thin strip of ash at the front, as is the horizontal surface at the bottom, which sits over the drawers. The ash is two boards to make the 19½" width, as is the pine.

tray_box_interior.JPG
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You'll also notice that the housings to hold the trays are dead straight, parallel and of even depth.

Here's the exterior of the left hand end, to show (just) the join in the width and, more obviously, in the stacking sections. (If we lived next door, this end would face the wall!) You can't see any gaps in the glued-up edge joints or any flaws in the planed finish. No lack of skill here.

left_side.JPG
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This is the back of the same sliding tray box. Backs are not expected to be on display, but this is reasonably tidy.

lh_box_back.JPG
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A close-up in sunshine reveals how the panels have been bevelled to fit in the grooves. Quick work, by eye, not by jig or special tool.

panel_bevel.JPG
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But if few people will see the back, even fewer will ever see the 'internal sides' of the boxes. This is where the scruffier bits of wood can be used and where there is no need to do more than run the jack plane over until the surface is flat enough to work with. Raking light shows all the flaws, but this is not smooth nor was ever meant to be!

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To me, this sort of thing doesn't detract from the piece. I think it's more interesting, showing how sensible short-cuts were made, to speed up production and keep the price down. Any fool can make a wardrobe if they have unlimited time, but a professional needs to make them well enough to function and priced to sell.

More later.
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Woodbloke » 09 Apr 2021, 12:10

AndyT wrote:

To me, this sort of thing doesn't detract from the piece. I think it's more interesting, showing how sensible short-cuts were made, to speed up production and keep the price down. Any fool can make a wardrobe if they have unlimited time, but a professional needs to make them well enough to function and priced to sell.

More later.


Interesting Andy, to see how the interior surfaces of the piece have been left; functional and workmanlike but not finished.
A couple of years ago, I went to the new furniture gallery up in the gods at the V&A (well worth a visit next time you're in 'le smoke') where they had one or two fantastic baroque cabinets from the 18cent which were incredible to view on three sides. However, go round to see the back and it was simply rough pine boards (as I recollect) nailed into place. That said, it had lasted for a few centuries - Rob
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby AndyT » 09 Apr 2021, 17:36

Ah yes, I agree with you there Rob. It's several years since my last visit to the V&A - won't it be nice when we can do that sort of thing again!
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby AndyT » 11 Apr 2021, 13:05

Let's have a quick look at some of the joints.

Unsurprisingly, the neatest dovetails are on the fronts of the drawers, which are mahogany all round, veneered with superior mahogany on the fronts. Nice, slender "London pattern" pins, still as tight and functional as when they were made.

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drawer_lap_dovetails.JPG
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Elsewhere, the outer cases that make up the various boxes are also dovetailed together. These are on the top of the upper left hand box. You can see the usual overcutting, which I believe was to make excavating the cavities that bit quicker, with no need to fiddle about with skewed chisels in the corners.

tight_carcase_dovetail.JPG
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At the internal junction between the right hand side of one box and the left hand side of the other, the intermediate side is softwood, not ash, and is a bit thinner. Appropriate economy, but it looks like these dovetails must have released their grip a little over the years. I'm sure that those matching round wire nails and hammer head scars would have been inflicted when it was in the Stokes Croft junkshop I bought it from and were never part of the original build. Nevertheless, they hold together ok.

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Where the framed up back is fixed to the box sides, it's simply nailed on. These are original, square-section nails.

back_nailed.JPG
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I've got textbooks that suggest secret mitre dovetails as being appropriate for plinths and cornices. Maybe that's true on really high grade work, but in this case the makers used a different approach.

If you nail together pieces of softwood to make those parts, not only can you use the rattiest bits of wood, it can still look ok if you use solid hardwood in relatively small sections to make the mouldings and veneer the flat parts to match. Here you can see the square edged boards at the back, veneered over a butt joint with a reinforcing block.

cornice_corner_nailed.JPG
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But the show side looks much nicer! There's a tiny bit of damage to the veneer just below the middle moulding, revealing what it is.

cornice_outer_veneered.JPG
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Back on the bits that show, here's the bottom tray. I have kept this in place, even though it doesn't really serve any purpose, just so I can admire the quality of the work and of the timber - wide, flat boards of solid wood only a quarter of an inch thick don't crop up very often these days. This is a front corner - not actually the neatest of joints in this case but the easiest to photograph. It still slides smoothly.

tray_corner.JPG
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tray.JPG
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I still have the other three trays, in the loft. I don't need them, but can't bring myself to re-use the wood for anything else!
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Cabinetman » 11 Apr 2021, 17:15

I reckon the Edwardian period was the high point for top quality English furniture, I have a display cabinet with marquetry on virtually every surface, superb workmanship.
Andy that mahogany draw slip reminds me of when I was a little boy being taken into a posh clothes shop and all the shirts and underwear were on pullouts like that, - behind the counter of course, with an assistant to serve you. Very difficult to find anybody to ask anything now, and even rarer do they know the answer. Ian
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby Woodbloke » 12 Apr 2021, 07:08

Cabinetman wrote:...a posh clothes shop and all the shirts and underwear were on pullouts like that, - behind the counter of course, with an assistant to serve you. Very difficult to find anybody to ask anything now, and even rarer do they know the answer. Ian


When I was a student and for several years afterwards, I had a Saturday job working in a posh mens outfitters in Woking (place called Hugh Harris, which closed in 2106 after 102 years trading) selling Daks suits, Chester Barrie cashmere jackets, Church and Grenson shoes etc - Rob
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby AndyT » 21 Apr 2021, 15:09

Just to finish this one off, a few notes on the sort of things you will need to find if you want to match the doors. Ash is still plentiful, so there should be no problems, at least for the stiles and rails. It might be a bit harder to find suitable stuff for the panels though - the lower ones are single pieces of wood, about a quarter of an inch / 6mm thick, and 15" / 380mm wide.

rh_door_outside.jpg
right hand door, outside
(115.31 KiB)


inside_door.jpg
left hand door, inside
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I thought at first that the top panels were single pieces too, at 18" wide, but it seems that would have been too much of a stretch even back when this was made. They each have a central join, cunningly concealed by the decorative beading.

The mouldings are, I think, quite attractive and are also quite simple, as they run straight through without any fussy mitres at the corners. The beads are all about the same size. I think the beads across the panels must have been done with a moulding plane. It would have been the most practical option - a spindle moulder could not have reached to the middle of a wide panel, and the shape is a difficult one for an overhead router.

I have a single bead plane marked 3/16" which fits quite nicely.

plane_and_beading.jpg
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beading_plane.jpg
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but with most of the beads being double, it's likely that a double beading plane would have been used.

Each stile and rail also has a combination of a shallow cove flanked by a pair of beads.

moulding_details.jpg
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This could have been built up in three elements, but again I think it's far more likely that a dedicated plane would have been bought to make the whole shape in one pass - it would have been hard enough getting a batten in the right position to make parallel cuts without multiplying all the set-up by three.

I don't have such a plane but I'm pretty sure I have seen one or two on eBay.

On the insides, the panels are held by small strips of beadings nailed in place, and patched up over the years. Good for a while yet!
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Re: How to build an Edwardian Wardrobe

Postby fiveeyes » 23 Apr 2021, 00:50

Thanks for that, Andy. Those old, loose dovetails, look like my present day attempts. :lol:
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