Richard Findley looks at how to identify different shapes commonly found in turning. Today’s furniture is typically mass-produced by high-efficiency machines and their operators. It’s simply cheaper and more profitable to do so. Their straight, minimalist lines do little to excite the former craftsmanship that hewed such pleasing details into older styles of furniture. Antiquated pieces often present an interesting silhouette of curves and carvings, typically venerating features of nature, such as birds and vegetation. In times gone by, such complexities often contributed to the aesthetic motifs of the time – think Art Nouveau and Art Deco – and celebrated the maker as a mark of excellence at the forefront of contemporary taste.
The three types of woodwork shapes
I have looked at the techniques of turning various different shapes into timber, whether that be spindle work or faceplate turning. I thought it might be interesting and useful to look at how to identify some of these shapes by name. It is commonly quoted that there are only three shapes in turning.
- Beads: or positive curved shapes
- Coves: or negative curved shapes
- Straight lines: positioned at any angle
This is correct. However, these shapes can be stretched, squashed and combined to make new shapes. They are still based on the basic bead and cove, but have different names that help to distinguish them from each other. Here, I will attempt to show each of these shapes with their names, and explain where they can be commonly found and used. Many of the shapes are closely related to the traditional mouldings that can be seen in most houses in one form or another – whether on the skirting boards, dado rails, picture rails or simply decorating the edge of a shelf. They will vary in complexity from a simple bevelled edge, bull nose or round over, to ovolo or ogee mouldings. Routers have cutters that will produce most of these shapes on the edges of timber.
Why do you need to know this?
In short, I suppose you don’t. That said, it is always good to expand your knowledge. It can also be useful to know the names of these shapes when designing, or when watching a demonstrator. If they throw in a technical name of a shape, you will know what they’re talking about!
Positive shapes
So, a bead is a bead, right? Well not quite. If it’s a narrow bead, it is known as a ring. If it’s stretched out, it can become a bobbin or a sausage. This is illustrated in the pictures here. A bead will tend to be slightly narrower than it is tall. When a bead becomes very small and narrow, it becomes a ring. This is not to be confused with a captive ring, which is parted from the main section of timber, and is free to rattle and move around. As a bead gets wider it will reach a point where it clearly becomes a ball. Once it is stretched further, it becomes a bobbin. Continuing to stretch it to the point where it has a straight face with rounded ends, it becomes a sausage.
Negative shapes
By altering a shape, it often gets a new name. While there are fewer variations for hollow shapes, there are still distinct differences. ‘Cove’ is the most common phrase used for these hollow shapes – much like ‘bead’ is the common name for rounded shapes. Coves can be almost any size. They are called coves until they are stretched out to form a long hollow, which is known as a reel. In the image, you will see two reels separated by a quirk – I will come to that later. A scotia is best described as a lopsided cove. A cavetto is a half cove, often seen with a small fillet either side of it, with a central bead that has a fillet each side. It is followed by a cavetto and another fillet.
Straight lines
Straight lines are usually used to break up and define other, more bold detail – especially in the case of fillets. Without fillets, beads and coves will flow into each other in a very ill-defined sort of way. The definition that this tiny detail brings is surprising, and important to traditionally turned designs. Collars are wider straight sections that appear usually at the top of a turning. They are often used on mass-produced turnings to put working room between a square pommel and the first turned detail on stair spindles and furniture legs.
Hand turners don’t need this detail as a sharp skew will cut details very close together. However, a copy lathe will not be able to produce this level of detail with the large scraping cutters that are used. V-cuts are quite self-explanatory, used on things like meat tenderisers and foot massagers to create crisp V-shaped details. When a small V-cut is used to separate or define another detail, such as between the reels or as on the legs of my oak (Quercus robur) stool, this is known as a quirk.
Good use of a fillet
Sometimes you will notice a fillet is slightly tipped back towards a neighbouring bead. This is sometimes quite subtle, and at other times obvious.
Why? Fillets look best when they are set at less than 90º to the detail next to them. If a bead finishes at an angle to its base, to maintain an angle less than 90º and make it look its best, the fillet will traditionally be cut at an angle.
Combinations
The combination of beads and coves is how more advanced shapes are created. An ogee, for example, is a hollow shape that flows into a rounded shape to form a flowing S-shaped curve. Done well, an ogee is a beautifully graceful shape that is incredibly versatile. It can be found in both spindle and faceplate work. It can be stretched out wide for the underside of a platter, or stretched up tall for a deep bowl or vase form – as seen in the work of the late Bert Marsh, who was known for his beautiful ogee forms.
Getting technical, an ogee comes in two forms which are recognised by their Latin names of cyma recta and cyma reversa. Cyma is the overall ogee or S shape. The recta and reversa refer to the balance of the shape. The recta has the hollow or concave portion at the top of the shape, whereas the cyma reversa has the rounded, or convex portion at the top of the shape. A combination commonly found in many spindle turnings is a tulip shape, which is once again a combination of a rounded and a hollow shape.
Other common details
Bird’s beak
You may come across the term ‘bird’s beak’. This could be confusing, until you see the turned shape next to an actual bird’s beak! Below you will see a turned bird’s beak, used on the oak lamp, next to an eagle.
Necklace
A necklace detail is one used near the top of a spindle, just set down from the top detail, as shown on the softwood spindle in the picture. It usually involves a bead of some sort. There are also other terms used to describe a bold feature detail on spindle work, such as trumpet shaped, heart shaped, onion shaped and urn shaped – all of which are literal translations of common forms used as wood turned features.
Glossary of names of shapes
- Ball: A spherical shape
- Bead: Rounded shape usually slightly narrower than it is tall
- Bird’s beak: A half bead combined sharply with a scotia to form a shape similar to a bird’s beak
- Bobbin: A wider, stretched version of a bead
- Bullnose: Sometimes known as a round-over is a held bead shape, usually found at the base of a turning, such as the oak lamp pictured above
- Cavetto: A hollow shape that is a half cove or quarter of a circle
- Cove: A hollow U shape
- Cyma recta: An ogee shape where the concave part is at the top
- Cyma reversa: An ogee shape where the convex part is at the top
- Flute: A cove that usually runs along a spindle – this is currently under Reed, but should appear under its own heading
- Necklace: A detail set down from the top detail on a spindle, often a bead, fillet an small scotia
- Ogee: A flowing S-shape
- Ovolo: A moulding similar to a bullnose but usually used as an edge mould, with a fillet either side of it to give definition – used as the edge mould on the four lids of my oak jewellery box
- Pommel: The square section often found at the top of a furniture leg and at both ends of a stair spindle
- Quirk: A V-shaped cut that separates and defines details
- Reed: A group of narrow beads that usually run along a spindle
- Reel: A stretched shallow cove
- Ring: A narrow version of a bead
- Sausage: A stretched bead shape with a straight portion and rounded ends that resembles a sausage
- Scotia: A lopsided cove
- Tulip: A shape made up of a combination of a round and hollow to form a shape loosely resembling the flower of a tulip
Three common curves
Summary
By profiling some common examples, I hope this article has given you some interesting insight into the various shapes that are used in woodcarving. If so, this should help provide guidance and definition to your own woodwork projects. Adding detail is an enjoyable process and a great way to add interest to your finished article. I recommend you review this article and take notes on the salient/relevant points to you, so you can reference with ease when in the throes of a woodworking project.