New Port Shell

[walter connolly]

Is there more than one style?    http://web.me.com/walterc530/www.woodworking_woodcarving.com/Welcome.html

[frangallo]

Yes there is, in short. I believe it is important to put ourselves in the position of the craftsmen of the day dealing with clients of the day, even before looking at the extant pieces that represent the time. Imagine yourself negotiating the price and the details. If we minimize the central emblem to a simpler representation of the sheaf we could save X dollars. If the detail of the crown is diminished it is X dollars less. The veining around the convex shell is X dollars. I have seen so many of these pieces in my travels that I can tell you there is a huge variation in how the shell is carved, especially the central emblem. Add to this the treatment of the bonnet as it was reproduced and bastardized throughout the northeast and you get the impression that almost anything goes. My best advice is to get a good book on Townsend's work and take it from there. My own approach was to glean from my research a sense of how the shell should appear and adjust this basic idea to my own carving abilities. If you would like you can visit my web site at www.townsendreproductions.com and see what I did. Not the be-all-and-end-all but there it is!

[frangallo]

Here's a great resource which may help you.
John Townsend-Newport Cabinetmaker
Published by Yale University Press
ISBN 1-58839-145-0 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
0-300-1017-X ( Yale university Press)
I can also cast my shells for you if it is preferable.
Fran

[rchampagne]

Fran,
Nice website--you do beautiful work. 
Rob

[frangallo]

Thank you very much. I wish I had more on the site but, believe it or not, I delivered quite a few pieces without taking pictures. Stupid as stupid gets, but for a long time I couldn't afford a camera! Such is the life of the craftsman.

[frangallo]

Anything I can do to help you is my pleasure. Consider me at your service.
Fran

[rchampagne]

Fran,
I just completed my first piece with a carved Newport shell.  I was very impressed by your photos.  I was wondering how deep the lobes on the concave shell are typically cut.  Obviously shells vary widely, but I was wondering if there was any type of uniformity here. The shell in your picture looks to have pretty deep lobes, while others I've seen look to be less so.  I also noticed that the lobes in the shell you picture has fillets.  I have seen this on convex shells, but hadn't noticed them on concave shells.  Is this typical?
Thanks, and again, nice work. 
Rob

[frangallo]

Hi Rob,
The deepest cut on the concave carving is 9/16". You're right about the fillets, they aren't always carved into the concave shell. Try it and you will quickly discover why not. Sometimes they are not on the convex shell either. One interesting note is that the fillet was usually cut in at an angle, not coplanar to the surface. I hope that's understandable. The book I mentioned previously has some great photos if you are not able to get somewhere to have a look yourself.
As far as the variation goes, well, it would be nearly impossible to criticize any variation of the shell. I have my way, it fits the tools I like to use and it pleases me. I did, however, see one shell carved into cherry that had a high color variation between the summer and winter growth. Don't do this. It's impossible to look at without risking an attack of vertigo.
Thank you for your compliments.
Fran

[dkeller_nc]

Walter - Perhaps I'm missing something, but what does the link you included have to do with Newport shells?

[frangallo]

One more note on the shell. I prefer not to carve the veining around the concave shell. Enough is enough. If you do use this detail make sure you lay out the shell with the volute of the veining in mind relative to the first and last member of the adjacent convex shells.
Tinkerty-tonk
Fran

[walter connolly]

Thank you Fran for your professional insight in to the subject of the New Port Shell. Your work is an example of the highest quality and craftmanship.

[frangallo]

I thank you, Walter, for your kind words. There is  more to be discussed about this wonderful piece of furniture much of which can be found in extant publications. My own knowledge is the result of an almost obsessive need to execute the secretary in a manner that would honor the original creators. We must keep in mind, however impressed we might be about a reproduction of Townsend and Goddard, that these men and the people who carried out much of the fine craftsmanship we see in the originals, did so without electric light, planers, routers or even sandpaper. From that perspective one might reflect on how easy it might be for someone such as myself, a modest man with much to be modest about, to recreate one of the finest pieces of furniture in our nations vast catalogue of decorative arts. To maintain that I have attained some pinnacle of accomplishment here is false. Many hundreds of thousands have attempted this piece and almost as many have succeeded. That is not meant to diminish their efforts, nor mine, only to remind us that we are not without precedent nor antecedent and our true responsibility lies in our efforts to nurture and support those willing to brave the same undertakings. In these days of car seats and open container laws, to quote Lyle Lovett, the importance of the art we profess (or pretend) to practice is invaluable.
I bow to every one of you who has taken even the smallest step to keep alive this fine tradition. You give life to this great nation and our heritage. Keep up the good work.

[Mark Maleski]

This thread got me to pick my copy of "John Townsend-Newport Cabinetmaker" back up, and it does indeed provide several examples of different styles of Newport shell.  For example, it shows an early/simpler style with a fleur-de-lis in the center of the carving.  Most interesting, the appendix has some side-by-side examples of differences between John Townsend's and other Newport cabinetmakers - including one section on the differences in the shells.  That section highlights well some of the differences that were seen in the center C-scrolls (which I hadn't really appreciated before now) as well as some of the different ways the rays could be carved.  It's not an exhaustive look, but very illustrative.

What other sources of information are out there on this topic?

Mark Maleski
Herndon, VA

[Mark Maleski]

"You're right about the fillets, they aren't always carved into the concave shell. Try it and you will quickly discover why not."

To my eye, it's worth the extra trouble!

[frangallo]

Hi Mark,
Jeffrey P. Greene has a short but very well thought out treatise on the blockfront secretary in his book American Furniture of the 18th Century (ISBN 1-56158-104-6). There is a photo of an original secretary in Verna Cook Solomonsky's publication Masterpieces of Furniture (ISBN 0-486-21381-1) with some good drawings along with a brief description. Eugene Schultz produce some beautiful measured drawing which were published in Fine Woodworking in the 1980's. Some nice construction details are found in Gottshall's Making Antique Furniture Reproductions (ISBN 0-486-27976-6) though I would never carve the shell as he illustrates it. If you are ever in New England the best sources are the pieces on display in various locations most notably New Haven CT. and Newport R.I.
You are absolutely right. The shell is unfinished without the fillets in my opinion.