If you’ve stopped by Level 6 of the Denver Art Museum’s North Building this summer, you might have noticed some chairs sitting unusually high. Using special mounts made by our conservators, we raised six chairs spanning two centuries to showcase their legs. While other Arrangements (on view through October 11) throughout the museum focus on blooms, Check Out These Stems! pays special attention to what’s underneath the flower—the stem. Bright upholstery or elaborately carved back rests are quick to grab attention, but it’s the often overlooked legs of a chair that carry some of the most important clues about its origin. Here are three things we can learn about a chair from its legs: 1. When it was made. Before chair-making became its own profession in the 1800s, chairs were made by joiners, craftsmen who also crafted doors, tables, and stairs. Joiners used a specific kind of joint–a mortise-and-tenon joint (see diagram at the link). Based on the type of joint, the type of wood, and other clues, we can tell this chair was made between 1675 and 1700 in England.
Jacobean armchair made in England, 1675-1700. Denver Art Museum: Simon Guggenheim Memorial Collection, 1954.82. This Jacobean armchair has blind mortise-and-tenon joints, which means that the tenon does not go through the mortise member, in this case, the leg. Even though it’s hidden, we can tell this chair uses a mortise-and-tenon joint by the presence of two wooden pegs on each side. The joiner drove the wooden pegs through the leg and the hidden tenon to hold the joint together, and they have held this particular chair together for over 200 years! Detail of Jacobean armchair made in England, 1675-1700. Denver Art Museum: Simon Guggenheim Memorial Collection, 1954.82 2. Where it was made. Sometimes, aspects of chair legs and feet can help us determine where they were made. Legs are particularly telling in American chairs made during the Rococo period (mid- to late-1700s). A popular style for chair feet during this period was the ball-and-claw motif. Craftsman in different cities along the East Coast used characteristic motifs in their ball-and-claw feet.
Side chair made in New York, 1765-75. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Purchase, The Sylmaris Collection, Gift of George Coe Graves, by exchange, 1957. Chairs with ball-and-claw feet made in New York typically have their toes evenly spaced (at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions) around a spherical ball, like this example from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Side chair made in Boston, Massachusetts, 1760-90. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library: Museum purchase, 1954.0532. Ball-and-claw chairs made in Boston usually have their side toes raked back, as seen on this example from the collection of Winterthur Museum. Rococo armchair made in Philadelphia, 1750-85. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Mary Kendal Atchison, 1998.246. Craftsman in Philadelphia, the epicenter of American Rococo style, carved slightly flattened, squat balls into their ball-and-claw feet. The shape of the ball on this armchair at DAM is closer to a tomato than a sphere. Detail of Rococo armchair made in Philadelphia, 1750-85.
3. How it was used. Think about the chairs in your home or office. Most probably have four straight legs, but some might have wheels or a swivel mechanism. The base of the chair is designed for its intended use. Thomas Warren’s Centripetal Spring chair is an early example of an ergonomic chair, which means it is intended to provide comfort by responding to the body of the person sitting in the chair. This might seem obvious now, but in the nineteenth century it was a relatively new concept. Thomas E. Warren (American, active 1840-60), Centripetal Spring Side Chair, about 1849. Manufactured by American Chair Company, Troy, NY. Denver Art Museum: Funds from DAM Yankees, 1989.91. The eight springs under the seat allow it to rock slightly in response to the weight and position of the sitter. Thanks to the central bolt underneath, the seat rotates and is springy in all directions. The chair also can roll across the room on its four casters. This was one of the first American chairs designed with a cast iron frame and one of the first designs to take the comfort and movements of the sitter into consideration.
As a precursor to the modern office chair, this chair allows the user to swivel, roll, and move freely while seated. Be sure to visit Check Out These Stems! before it closes on October 11 and learn more about chairs from the ground up.Compare Furniture Hardware Tapered Wood Metal Sofa Legs Wenzhou M And C Foreign Trade Co., Ltd. US $1-2 500 Pieces Transaction Level Everyone has sat down at a family dinner or friend's house and found themselves with that most familiar of furniture woes: chairs with loose legs. It's something that can be embarrassing for both the sitter and the owner and even, in certain circumstances, be dangerous. For that reason, this article will address common chair leg types and simple tips to tighten them down.Dowel-Style LegsMany living room furniture legs are attached with wooden dowels that fit into a hole in the base of the chair and glued to secure the fit. These tend to be the strongest of the joints, but on occasion they either don't get enough glue during production or have worn down.
To fix this problem, first see if the dowel has begun to wear down. Fit the leg into place and if it seems to be a tight fit then your solution is easy–just add some glue to both the dowel and the hole, fit the dowel in the hole and wipe off the excess glue. If the fit seems sloppy, you will need to make a shim for it to tighten that fit. A shim can be as simple as a layer of paper around the dowel, or a match book cover cut to the size of the dowel or you can cut thin wood shims to place around the dowel. All it needs to do it take the play out of the fit, then add the glue and wait. Hanger Bolts AssembliesThe second leg assembly often seen in living room furniture is the hanger bolt and t-nut. This is a really nice set up: a double-ended bolt (one end has wood screw threads and the other end has machine threads) fits into the leg and the t-nut (a nut that sits flush in the frame of the furniture and has sharp teeth to hold it in place) receives the hanger bolt. The nice thing about this set-up is that when a leg comes loose, all that has to be done is to tighten the the leg up by spinning it.
If it continues to come loose, however, an easy fix is to get some locking bolt gel from your local hardware store and apply it to the threads, then tighten it in.Legs with Pocket ScrewsThe third common fastener system for furnitue legs are pocket screws. These are screws that are drilled in at a hard angle between the leg and furniture base, and usually countersunk. Often when they become loose it is from wear and tear, on the furniture that opens the screw hole larger. A quick fix is to get a larger-diameter screw and replace the loose one. A more involved fix, if that doesn't work, requires you to drill out the hole larger and use a dowel and wood glue to fit inside the hole, making the leg and frame one solid piece. Corner PlatesThe final fastening system we'll cover is corner plates. These are usually made of wood and have either screws or bolts attaching them. These plates attach to the sides of the frames at a 45-degree angle and then are fastened directly to the leg. As long as the plates themselves don't break, either tightening the bolt or repairing it similar to the pocket screws is the easiest fix.