Curly or What ?

[Graham Skinner]

Hi Guys.

I just thought I would share a few photo's with you, that I took at a recent visit to the Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto Canada a few weeks ago.
I found this cabinet in one of the house's, it is supposed to date from the 1860's, would you call it curly or flame maple? sorry I did not have my tape measure with me to take the size's but it was at least 5' 6" tall by about 4' 6" wide.
Also got some photo's of old four poster beds, and some 1860's woodworking benches that I found in their cabinet makers shop, I will try to post them over the next few days if you would like to see them.

Anyway hope that you like the figure.

Cheers...Graham....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Maybe "tiger" maple? Wow that has somethings going on in it! Gorgeous wood.

[John Keeton]

That is some beautiful wood, however, to me it does not seem to be the best use of it. Too much! A more judicial use as an accent or focal point is more attractive in my opinion, particularly when used with another species.

Flame maple, curly maple, tiger stripe maple, fiddleback maple - are all appropriate terms. Although I doubt there is an official ruling on this, seems the terms are used in the above order as the stripes become tighter with the tightest stripe being used in the backs of fiddles.

That looks to be some really consistent and tight grain. There are various grading scales from suppliers, but that would be near the top in quality.

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks for posting the photo Graham, and please post the workbench photographs.

I'll check out the cabinet next month when I'm at Black creek Pioneer Village for the Ontario Woodcarvers competion and show, October 25 and 26.

Regards, Rod.

[Montgomery Scott]

tiger maple. A relatively poorly executed piece, though. I'm sure many members here would come up with a better one using that wood.

[Graham Skinner]

Thanks for the replies Guy's.

I think that this piece my not have been a stand alone unit, as the wood on the gable's is not of the same high standard as the front, I think that it may have been some kind of kitchen storage unit, and had another unit tucked up against it (also it is on display in a kitchen in one of the houses at Black Creek).
I agree that it has very heavy use of the curly/tiger maple on the front, but I think that they had a lot more of that stuff 150 years ago than we have now, and that the maker use what he had at hand at the time.

Thanks again...Graham....

[Gary Herrmann]

Overuse of the figure? Probably. Is the figure amazing? Definitely.

[Jack Briggs]

That's what we luthiers call "fiddleback" maple.

[Lee Hingle]

I wonder why they ran the grain vertically in the bottom panel and horizontally in the top panel?
Lee

[Eric Larsen]

The sad thing is, that's probably the only wood the original builder could get his hands on at the time.

I like the way the bottom half of the piece flows horizontally. The vertical orientation of the top half is a distraction for me.

tiger maple. A relatively poorly executed piece, though. I'm sure many members here would come up with a better one using that wood.