Nicholas Bailey Fine Furniture

American White Oak

American White Oak is widespread throughout Eastern USA. White oak is similar in colour and appearance to European oak. It is mostly straight grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than red oak, resulting in more figure.

Ancient Murray River Redgum

These trees are fossils from Redgums which grew on the banks of the Murray River at least 5,000 years ago. The fossils were formed after the ice age when these great gums were buried under the banks of Australia's largest river - the Murray. Over thousands of years the trees became impregnated with rich minerals from the gravels of the river bed. The action of the river transformed the redgums into the dramatic black fossil wood.

Art Deco

Art Deco was a popular design movement from 1920 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film. This movement was, in a sense, an amalgam of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked during the Roaring Twenties. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, functional, and ultra modern.

Baluster Carved Columns

Balusters are carved columns supporting a hand rail. Baluster columns continue to be made in various artistic designs and can incorporate intricate carvings.

Book Matching

Book matching is a veneering process that yields nearly identical half pieces that are typically joined along a centre line. Book matching is aesthetically pleasing and more importantly provides predictability in terms of expansion and contraction characteristics of the finished component. The best book matched stock comes from re-sawing material that is perfectly quartersawn. Types of Veneer Matching include: Bookmatch, Slipmatch, Centermatch, Balance match, Book & butt match, Herringbone match, Diamond match, Reverse diamond match.

Brass Toe

Brass toes can be used to add a vintage touch of style to bureaus, desks, dressers, file cabinets, office chairs and more. Brass toes can be used to protect furniture and can be used in a range of designs.

Breadboard Ends

A breadboard end is a narrow piece of timber which is joined to the end of a larger panel. The purpose is to support and maintain the rigidity of the panel, while allowing the panel to shrink or expand across the grain. Breadboards are an elegant and practical way to keep desktops and tabletops flat. Breadboards can be attached by splines, tongue and grooves, and mortice and tenons. Breadboards of the highest quality have separate tenons with a stub tongue.

Breakfront

A bookcase or china cabinet with a centre section projecting forward from the two end sections. In bookcases, the lower part of centre section can contain a desk.

Brigalow

Brigalow or Spearwood is a type of Acacia that grows throughout the inland to central west areas of eastern Australia. The heartwood varies in colour from a dark reddish brown through to the more common dark brown. The sap wood of Brigalow is yellow and quite distinct. The timber is relatively straight grained as well as being close grained. Brigalow is a strong timber which is often used for structural purposes.

Brush box

Brush box grows in rainforest areas in Australia from Newcastle in New South Wales through to pockets in North Queensland including Blackdown Tableland, Mt Dryanden, Mission Beach and Mossman. The timber colour ranges from pink-brown to red-brown with the sap wood being pale in colour. The grain is close and even textured and often features a curly interlocking grain.

Cabriole Legs

The name given to chair or table legs in the style of the first half of the 18th century. A curved leg with outcurved knee and incurved ankle. The foot is usually a club, a claw-and-ball, a paw or scroll design. Modelled after an animal's leg, the S-shaped cabriole leg gives furniture a more intimate, human quality. The cabriole leg is also extremely practical; the balance it achieves makes it possible to support heavy pieces of case furniture on slim legs, without the use of stretchers.

Cherry Wood

Cherry is grown throughout Eastern USA predominately in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and New York States. The colour varies from rich red to reddish brown and will darken on exposure to light. In contrast the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform straight grain and smooth texture. Cherry is easy to machine and produces an excellent smooth finish.

Chest on Chest

A chest of drawers made in two sections, with the smaller section on top the larger section.

Chippendale

Chippendale is one of the most well known names associated with antiques and furniture. The Chippendale style dominated furniture until the 1770s. Known by its exquisite and extensive carving, it takes its name from Thomas Chippendale, an 18th century cabinetmaker, whose furnishings reflected popular English tastes of the period incorporating English, Gothic, and Chinese motifs.

Club Foot/Pad Foot

Foot with a slightly pointed toe, usually thick and substantial. Found especially in William and Mary, Queen Anne and Chippendale styles.

Cock-bead

A cock-bead is semi-circular in profile and stands proud. It is often used on drawer fronts in furniture construction. It provides additional character and personality to a piece of furniture.

Console Table

Originally a console was a large bracket supporting a shelf, but in furniture parlance it refers to any group consisting of a table or cabinet with a mirror hung above it. The term is also used for any wall table.

Dovetails

A dovetail joint or simply dovetail is a woodworking joinery technique. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart, the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front. A series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape. Once glued, the joint is permanent, and requires no mechanical fasteners.

The dovetail joint probably pre-dates written history. Some of the earliest known examples of the dovetail joint are in furniture entombed with mummies dating from First Dynasty of ancient Egypt, as well the tombs of Chinese emperors. The dovetail design is an important method of distinguishing various periods of furniture.

Drum Table

Drum tables have a heavy circular table with a central support, which was introduced in the late 18th century. The deep top, commonly covered with tooled leather, was fitted with bookshelves or drawers, some of which were imitation. The support was sometimes in the form of a pillar resting on four elegantly tapering legs terminating in claw feet.

European Oak

European Oak is grown in Europe, parts of West Asia, and Northern Africa. The large trees provide long wide boards and good workability for the maker. The timber has a straight, long grain and a silvery grain structure. The colour ranges from light brown to dark tan.

Farmhouse Table

Farmhouse tables are based on late 18th Century French provincial design. Farmhouse Tables are raised by block legs and united by an "H" stretcher. Some farmhouse tables are fitted with a frieze drawer.

Finishing

Wood finishing refers to the process of embellishing and/or protecting the surface. The process starts with surface preparation, either by sanding by hand, scraping, or planing. Often, the wood's colour is changed by staining, bleaching or using a number of other techniques. Some woods such as pine or cherry do not take stain evenly, so barrier coats such as shellac or "wood conditioner" is applied before the stain. Once the wood surface is prepared and stained, a number of coats of finish may be applied, often sanding between coats. Commonly used wood finishes include wax, shellac, drying oils (such as linseed oil or tung oil), lacquer, varnish, or paint. Other finishes called "oil finish" or "Danish Oil" are actually thin varnishes with a relatively large amount of oil and solvent. Finally the surface may be polished or buffed using steel wool, pumice, rottenstone and other polishing or rubbing compounds depending on the shine desired. Often, a final coat of wax can be applied over the finish to add a slight amount of protection.

French Polishing

French polishing is a method of applying many thin coats of shellac using a rubbing pad, yielding a very fine glossy finish.

French provincial Extension Table

French provincial style table on paired pedestal legs featuring additional leaves. French Provincial extension tables come in a range of designs and styles including oval, D-end or rectangular.

Georgian Card Table

Georgian card tables feature a range of designs usually with a folding top sitting on a frame. Support for the frame may include elegant cabriole legs, or a central graduating fluted column with extensively carved base.

Hepplewhite

Hepplewhite is a neoclassic style characterized by a delicate appearance, tapered legs, and the use of contrasting veneers and inlay. It is named after British designer and cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite. The style is lighter with more delicate grace than Chippendale. This style was reproduced in the United States particularly in the Carolinas, Maryland, New England, New York, and Virginia. In America, the Hepplewhite style is considered a sub-style of Federal.

Lacquer

Oriental lacquer is a high dense finish acquired by tedious padding up and rubbing down of many coats of sprits shellac. This has nothing to common with modern lacquer, which is a compound of cellulose derivatives. These dry so rapidly that they must be sprayed by compressed air. Such lacquers now posses many qualities not found in varnish or shellac finishes, such as the resistance to heat, moisture, and acids. It can be rubbed to a clear satiny finish that emphasizes the beauty of the wood; it is also made opaque, like paint, and tinted to any shade.

Low Dresser

Low Dresser designs from the United Kingdom date back to early 17th Century. Low dressers often feature 3 drawers raised on cabriole or turned legs and traditional brassware and metalwork.

Lozenge

A lozenge is a decorative panel such as an overlay or a motif, usually in the shape of a diamond.

Mahogany

Mahogany has a straight grain and is usually free of voids and pockets. It has a reddish brown colour which darkens over time, and displays a beautiful reddish sheen when polished. It has excellent workability, and is very durable and slow to rot. These properties make it a favourable wood for boat making, furniture making and musical instruments.

Mortise and Tenon Joints

Simple and strong, the mortise and tenon joint has been used for millennia by woodworkers around the world to join two pieces of wood, most often at an angle close to 90°. Although there are many variations on the theme, the basic idea is that end of one of the members is inserted into a hole cut in the other member. The end of the first member is called the tenon, and it is usually narrowed with respect to the rest of the piece. The hole in the second member is called the mortise. The joint may be glued, pinned, or wedged to lock it in place.

In traditional Chinese architecture, wood components such as beams, brackets, roof frames and struts were made to interlock with perfect fit, without using fasteners or glues, enabling the wood to expand and contract according to humidity. Archaeological evidence from Chinese sites show that by the end of the Neolithic, mortise and tenon joinery was employed in Chinese construction.

Partner’s Desk

A partner’s desk is a type of desk form which is basically two pedestal desks constructed from the start as one big desk joined at the front, for two users working while facing each other. This massive piece of furniture was first conceived in the United Kingdom to accommodate the work of banking partners. These gentlemen were usually senior bank officials who wished to do teamwork while keeping the convenience and the prestige of a pedestal desk.

Most partners desks made in the 19th century were built of high quality woods such as oak, mahogany or walnut and finished with tooled leather inserts on top and brass fittings all around. Many reproductions have been made in the 20th century.

Pedestal Table

Pedestal tables feature tall, narrow, floor-standing columns designed to support the table top.

Planes

Hand planes are woodworking tools from a long past era. Working with hand planes can create a finish better than sandpaper, or cut edge joints that are nearly perfect. For thousands of years woodworkers have used hand planes to work timber. Hand planes provide a finish not seen in mass produced furniture.

Queensland Maple

Queensland maple grows in north Queensland and is limited in its availability due to the Queensland forests in which it grows being heritage listed. The heartwood is pink to brownish pink while the narrow sapwood band is coloured white to pale grey. Queensland maple is an outstanding furniture timber that is also used in veneers, joinery, boat building, and instrument making. The timber is easy to work with and results in a smooth surface.

Queensland White Beech

White Beech is found in the rainforests along the east coast of Australia. Other species are also imported from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. The heartwood and sap wood are consistent in colouring and range from pale straw to light grey-brown in colour. The timber is firm and close grained and sometimes has an interlocking grain.

Rails

Horizontal members of framed furniture, including the long sidepieces found in beds and the framing that holds the sides in casework.

Refectory Table

Long narrow tables which are named after the refectory or dining room of the monks in ecclesiastical institutions of the Middle Ages.

Rock Maple

Rock Maple is found in New England, Great Lakes states and Eastern Canada.It is a heavy, hard, strong and close-grained timber. Rock Maple polishes to high luster and wears evenly. Rock Maple often features curly or birds-eye figure.

Rosewood

Rosewood refers to a number of richly hued timbers, brownish with darker veining. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for flooring, furniture, turnery, musical instruments, and wooden chess sets (black pieces). Some species become canopy trees (to 30 m high), and big pieces can occasionally be found in the trade.

Rough sawn timber

Rough sawn timber is timber which has not been gauged, planed or dressed.

Satinwood

Satinwood is the name for a hard and durable wood with a satin like sheen, much used in cabinet making, especially in marquetry. It comes from two tropical trees of the family Rutaceae. East Indian or Ceylon satinwood is the yellowish or dark-brown heartwood of Chloroxylon swietenia. The lustrous, fine-grained, usually figured wood is used for furniture, cabinet work, veneers, and backs of brushes. West Indian satinwood, sometimes called yellowwood, is considered superior. It is the golden yellow, lustrous, even-grained wood of an evergreen ( Zanthoxylum flavum ) found in the Florida Keys and the West Indies. It has long been valued for furniture. It is also used for musical instruments, veneers, and other purposes.

Shellac

Shellac is a brittle or flaky secretion of the lac insect Kerria lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. Once it was commonly believed that shellac was a resin obtained from the wings of an insect found in India. In actuality, shellac is obtained from the secretion of the female insect, harvested from the bark of the trees where she deposits it to provide a sticky hold on the trunk. The natural coloration of lac residue is greatly influenced by the sap consumed by the lac insect and the season of the harvest. Generally in the trade of seedlac there are two distinct colours; the orange Bysacki and the blonde Kushmi. When purified, the chemical takes the form of yellow/ brown pellets. Shellac is a natural polymer and is chemically similar to synthetic polymers, thus it is considered a natural plastic. It can be turned into a moulding compound when mixed with woodflour and moulded under heat and pressure methods, so it is classified as thermoplastic.

Sheraton

Sheraton is a late 18th century neoclassical English furniture style that was coined by 19th century collectors and dealers to credit English furniture designer Thomas Sheraton. The Sheraton style was inspired by the Louis XVI style and features round tapered legs, fluting and most notably contrasting veneer inlays.

Sheraton style furniture takes lightweight rectilinear forms, using satinwood, mahogany and tulipwood, sycamore and rosewood for inlaid decorations, though painted finishes and brass fittings are also to be found. Swags, husks, flutings, festoons, and rams' heads are amongst the common motifs applied to pieces of this style.

Sycamore

Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The sycamore (or sycamore) of the Bible is a species of fig, Ficus sycomorus, the sycamore fig or fig-mulberry, native to the Middle East and eastern Africa. This tree was used in Ancient Egypt for medicine and mentioned in Egyptian mythology.

The sycamore of Britain and Ireland is a European maple tree, Acer pseudoplatanus, also called Sycamore Maple.

The sycamores of North America are members of the genus Platanus. There are several species, including the American sycamore, and the California sycamore.

Tapered Leg

Tapered legs are usually found on Hepplewhite pieces. Tapered legs are raised, tapered designs with the foot superimposed on the existing leg referred to as the "spade" foot.

Tasmanian Myrtle

Myrtle is the dominant tree of the Tasmanian rainforest. It is found in wet gullies, predominantly in western Tasmania. Myrtle from Tasmania belongs to the same family as the beeches of Europe. Tasmanian Myrtle is primarily golden brown and brown in colour, the best is highly figured. Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle has black streaks running along the grain, and is very spectacular.

Trestle Table

The table is from late 17th Century to early 19th Century Spanish or Italian Library or Trestle Table, where the stretcher is supported by the legs. A trestle table is a structure with two frame-based legs (the trestles) over which a tabletop is placed. Such tables were known to be commonly used as early as the Middle Ages. The table is popular for dining, as those seated are not inconvenienced by a table leg at each corner. The trestles are held in position by a brace that passes through them and is pegged into place.

Varnish

Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss sheens by the addition of "flatting" agents. Varnish has little or no colour, is transparent, and has no added pigment, as opposed to paints or wood stains, which contain pigment and generally range from opaque to translucent. Varnishes are also applied over wood stains as a final step to achieve a film for gloss and protection.

Veneer

A veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 millimetres. Veneer layers are usually glued and pressed onto core panels of different materials (such as wood, particle board or medium density fibreboard) to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and side panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry. Plywood is made up of a number of layers of veneer, each layer glued with its grain at right angles to adjacent layers for strength. Veneer beading is a thin layer of decorative edging that can be placed around objects like jewellery boxes. Veneers are obtained either by "peeling" the trunk of a tree or by slicing large rectangular blocks of wood known as flitches. The appearance of the grain and figure in wood comes from slicing through the growth rings of a tree and depends upon the angle at which the wood is sliced. Many craftsmen cut their own veneers in their workshops.

New Age Veneer is a brand of man made veneer comprising of reconstituted wood fibre. New Age are high quality, unique and modern veneers.

Walnut

Walnut is grown throughout eastern USA with the primary growth area in the central states. Walnut is one of the few American species which is planted as well as naturally regenerating.

The sapwood of walnut is creamy white, while the heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, and can feature a purplish cast and darker streaks. The wood is generally straight grained, but sometimes with wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative figure.

Writing Tables

A writing desk is any flat top desk or any table type of proper size for writing. Writing tables are usually fitted with drawers or desk compartments. The original desks or "bureaus" was merely tables with cloths called bure.

X Frame Chair

The X Frame chair is an ancient type of chair based on the folding chair. It was known in Egypt and Rome, and appears in the Middle Ages.