Jump to content

Amusing Carpentry Capers


Recommended Posts

An interesting thing happened to me recently:

 

I went to a local auction house for fun (with no actual intention of buying anything) and ended up buying a hideous mahogany bureau. No one else was bidding on it and it was going for £15 "hey that is solid mahogany!" I thought. Despite the nice mahogany the bureau was so hideous that purchased it and I plundered it for wood. You can see in these image how one drawer front was divided up to make blanks for many anglo concertina hand rests. Though I do not finish my concertinas in mahogany these blanks are going to be used for ebonised hand rests. Reuse and recycle!

 

The concertina pictured has some hand rests made from this drawer. It is a Jeffries which had solid metal hand rests (also pictured). The owner of the instrument found them to be uncomfortable so requested some new ones to be made - a completely reversible procedure which caused the original parts no damage. Less can be said for the bureau.

 

Jake

post-4305-0-78959900-1521725785_thumb.jpg

post-4305-0-32832000-1521725830_thumb.jpg

post-4305-0-16679000-1521725971_thumb.jpg

post-4305-0-13149400-1521726052_thumb.jpg

post-4305-0-45094100-1521726126_thumb.jpg

Edited by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary doesn't know "buro" either - though it does know "burro"!

It gives "bureau" as (among other things) a form of writing table, with the comment "chiefly Brit."

 

As to contempt for the "speling polise," there's a general consensus that you can spell anything any way you like, as long as you accept the fact that not everyone will always understand you correctly. :P

 

Cheers,

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Merriam-Webster online gives

Buro

plural -s
: bureau 3b
Curiously, Merriam-Webster online gives only two definitions for "bureau"; there is no 3b!
Well, I suspect that's because the online version of M-W is the abridged edition, so the unabridged edition (which is a paid service) has 3b and more.
More curiously, M-W online gives the etymology of "buro" as being
French "bureau" -> Russian "byuro" -> English "buro"
You never know where you'll find Russians these days... :unsure:
Finally, I'll note that M-W gives broad statistics about word popularity. "buro" is in the bottom 30% of words (looked up on M-W, I think).
Unfortunately for us, "concertina" is also in the bottom 30%! :o
Life could be worse: "melodeon" is in the bottom 20%! :P
Edited by wayman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

...French "bureau" -> Russian "byuro" -> English "buro"...

 

And as I thought at the time, also German - Büro, though it has the rider 'unusual translation' attached. I would have thought a direct

German-English route would be likely? But then I'm not an etymologist.

 

...As to contempt for the "speling polise," there's a general consensus that you can spell anything any way you like, as long as you accept the fact that not everyone will always understand you correctly. :P..

 

Presiceli! I assumed that this was an ironic poke, not so much at the spelling police, but at the spelling police when they

apparently get it wrong?

 

Roger

Edited by lachenal74693
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colin Dipper managed to get an excellent piece of mahogany furniture via the British museum at one time that found it’s way into concertinas. It is a fairly stable wood that has a history of use in action pans of larger instruments. For instruments of a local nature, you should definitely consider a higher use than hand rests. Sadly, it is not CITES friendly.

Dana

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colin Dipper managed to get an excellent piece of mahogany furniture via the British museum at one time that found it’s way into concertinas. It is a fairly stable wood that has a history of use in action pans of larger instruments. For instruments of a local nature, you should definitely consider a higher use than hand rests. Sadly, it is not CITES friendly.

Dana

Depends which species it is (the wood from lots of different trees has been sold as 'mahogany'). For example Meranti isn't Cites listed and is sometimes described as Phillipine Mahogany. The trouble with reclaimed wood is you probably won't be able to positively identify it if it comes to an disagreement with a customs inspector.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea about the exact breed. I did wonder if "vintage wood" was exempt - I know there is a similar thing relating to ivory over a certain age being legal. Though I will read into it.

 

Dana - that is what gave me the idea, my friend chris has a concertina supposedly made from that old cabinet. Some of the pannels I have would be suitable in size and cut for action boards or even reed pans perhaps.

Edited by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...