Wood screws are one of the least understood clues in establishing the date and authenticity of antique furniture. They are especially valuable for dating country and primitive furniture. The stylistic techniques used to date formal furniture such as Chippendale and Hepplewhite simply do not work for American country and primitive furniture; screws can tell a story about the history of a piece. Wooden screws — screws dating from wood — date from antiquity. Metal wood screws — for fastening into wood — appear to have originated in the 15th century.

Screws are relative newcomers to the production was dating ages where furniture screws did not become a common woodworking fastener until more efficient tools were developed around the end of the 18th century.

As furniture increased in complexity and sophistication, and the use of brass hardware, locks and concealed hinges became more popular, there was a need for a fastener that could hold two surfaces together without having to penetrate the back surface click here the second piece.

Early screws differ significantly from their modern equivalents, both antique how they look and how they were produced. Handmade screws of afraid, senior dating cape town essence 18th century started out much as the handmade nails of the period did, as square iron nail stock produced in a rolling mill.

In the American colonies, these iron rolling mills existed all along the Atlantic coastline, turning out nail stock for the blacksmiths in the growing settlements. Many times, the smith who made the nails occasionally made screws, leaving personal traces of the maker.

Lacking a cold hardened steel die with which to cut the threads, the dating had to hand cut them himself using a file. Screws produced by this technique can vary significantly in their shape and the thread pitch. They are most easily identified by the profusion of file marks in many directions over the surface.

SHOP FOR SCREWS

Also, on the top screws the screw, evidence of handwork is abundant. In most cases, the head is not perfectly round and is not centered perfectly on the shaft. The hand-cut slot is seldom perfectly centered on the off-center head. Dating to the individual nuances and variables in the handwork process, no two handmade screws are identical. The first screws of a manufactured screw was in England in The patent outlined the use of a lathe and a set of metal-cutting tools, which were repeatedly run over the shank of the screw blank to cut threads, facilitating hand production.

Many of these screws were flat bottomed, until it was realized that a pointed end worked better as a fastener.

How to Date Antique Furniture Hardware

Screws made from about through the mids were partially machine made, giving the threading a more even appearance. The introduction in of the completely machine-made gimlet screw, with a tapered shaft and a pointed tip, marked the beginning of the modern era in screw production. For the first 10 years of production, machine-made screws were made with no slot in the head.

Like those made earlier, the heads were still finished with hacksaws to add the groove to fit a screwdriver, so no two are exactly alike. Country furniture made with these screws can easily be dated to the year period to Around the antique of the Industrial Revolution, aboutthe methods of making nails, screws, hinges and latches, and of milling lumber, changed often. Each change dating documented, and most are patented. The style of nails changed a dozen times, hinges changed four times, screws changed three times and so did latches and pulls.

The methods of working wood also changed during this time. The saw changed, molding styles changed, mortising changed. Country furniture indeed has its regional styles. The French and the Irish built cupboards with bold moldings, raised panels and bright colors, while New England cabinetmakers built simple unadorned cupboards painted in dull colors.

But using styles to determine the construction date of country and primitive furniture is challenging, since regional styles remained unchanged for most of the 19th century.

Unable to use style, dealers and collectors have turned to the telltale antique left on the furniture itself https://telegram-web.online/funny-dating-blogs.php tools and by construction methods, screws identifying screw types.

This system is remarkably accurate to within a year period. Buyers should be aware that hand-finished screws in a piece of furniture may dating be original. One clue is to look at the slot in the head. Marks made by a screwdriver turning the screw in a counterclockwise direction indicate that the original screw was removed and possibly not replaced. With the exception of the materials used and the various types of heads Phillips, Torx, square recess, etc. Since Phillips-head screws were introduced in the late s, their presence indicates either that the piece was made after the late s or that they are not the original screws.

Examine examples of old screws very carefully. They provide valuable clues to their origin and perhaps to the origin of the furniture in which they are found. Michelle Galler is a Georgetown-based antiques dealer, design consultant and realtor. Her shop antique in Rare Finds, in Washington, Virginia.

Reach her at antiques. Author Michelle Galler Screws all posts Share via:. I recently won a box of old screws at an auction here in central Pennsylvania, a wooden box with about 25lbs of pre ish screws all hand cut blunt tip. This is such an excellent paper. Helped me in dating a ministers lecturn antique from the dirt cellar of a church in CT built in The wood is mahogany and pieced together by dowls no nails and these antique blunt end screws with hand cut slots.

Will never paint this. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The screw on the right was machine made inits head cut by a machine. Share via: More. Michelle Galler. The Latest Dish ». January 16, at am. Alister Ruddick says:. March 7, at pm. George Perry says:. March 24, at pm. August 7, at pm. August 25, at pm.

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