Since my trip to White Water Shaker Village, the anticipation of the poplar cabinet build has been building. The cupboard, out of the four pieces we studied, has the most need for a furniture detective; A missing crown moulding, and the fact that the cupboard base isnt raised off the floor, caused raised eyebrows and a good deal of conversation on how the piece may have looked back in the day.
It is clear that, at one time, there was a crown moulding on the front and sides of the cupboard. The moulding is long gone, but 5 cm below the top edge is a line of demarcation in surface finishes. This shows exactly where the moulding ends. We needed a replacement design.
How can you create a moulding design similar to the one on this cabinet? This is how to do it. But therein lies the problem. White Water was not a village that made furniture for outsiders. Pieces built in the village were made for community use, and I know of no examples of crown or cove mouldings that were used on White Water furniture. So I had to look elsewhere.
The closest Shaker community to White Water was Union Village, near Lebanon, Ohio. Although there are many Union Village furniture pieces, I have found only pieces that have crown mouldings. The pieces attach to the top of the furniture and push against the moulding while being nailed along its bottom edge.
There are no indications (nails, screws or otherwise) that any pieces were attached to the top of the White Water cupboard.
We concluded that the moulding was not nailed to its bottom edge but was free of support at the top, with the exception of some blocking pieces. We designed a cove that has a flat top edge and a broad cove. This is where we will scratch a line to simulate a second piece above the cove.
Below is a drawing. You can see the cupboard with the newly designed crown moulding in place. You can also see that the first cupboard in the drawing has feet, while the second one does not. Next time, I’ll explain the difference and show you why it was another area that needed good detective work.
