Dougal Charteris, master craftsman furniture maker,antique restoration, conservation and repair specialist and teacher of fine furniture making. Offering classes in Markinch, Fife, Scotland

A small selection of previous work.

Newport Kneehole Desk.
From the 18th Century Newport RI. craftsman John Goddard
The Newport furniture makers were among the best of early American furniture makers and the block front kneehole bureau by John Goddard is a masterpiece of American furniture.
The pictures are of a pair I made in natural cherry wood. The fall-front top drawer contains a fitted writing bureau.
By far the most demanding piece I have ever made: the basic joinery has the rails dovetailed into the carcass and the bead around the drawers is on the rail and carcass creating a mitered bead and a dovetail on the join of the rail and carcass. Over 95% of the front of the piece is carved or shaped.
The pictures below show the bureau in various stages.

Goddard Corner Chair
John Goddard, Newport RI. produced the original of this corner chair in the year 1776. I made the production models, the hard maple masters for their carving machines and 24 showroom samples of this piece for the "Sutton Collection" for Century Furniture in North Carolina in 1988.

Split pedestal table and chairs The table top size that fitted the room and 6 chairs was to small for two pedestals and to big and tippy for a single pedestal so I split one pedestal in two and joined them with a rail reflecting the design of the top rail of the chair set. The result is a table with ample room for 6 chairs and plenty of free leg room beneath. The picture below shows the table pedestal under construction, standing on the top.

3 Tables
On the left a Writing Table in Mahogany. On the right an octagonal Drum Table and a Satinwood Sofa Table


	Step Chair Or Library Chair. if it’s sitting at a writing table like the one above, in front of a large bookcase, like the one below. This chair type came in many forms, since it is such a handy thing to have around the house., Unfortunately I had to stop making them in the USA for fear of litigation; step ladder makers have been sued rotten, the chairs would have to be covered with non removable warning labels.

Chipendale Style Breakfront Bookcase.
A great way to make a large wall space look more interesting.
Hardly used for books any more since they make excellent display and storage cases for art and collectibles.
The one on the left was distressed to look 18th century for a client, and showed up in the late 1980’s in a double page spread in a special edition of the UK magazine “Interiors”. The caption below the picture read: “In the library, a Chippendale style breakfront bookcase circa 1860”. It was in fact made in 1982 in Markinch, Fife

Sea Chest Cocktail Cabinet.
Desinged for small boats and runarounds.This piece featured in the Small Boat Jornal in the late 80"s.
The cabinet contains 3 decanters, mixers, cocktail shaker, ice chest with a drain on the bottom, a marble chopping block and glasses on a gimble in the leather lined top. Large brass handles (not shown) are on the sides for easy lifting on and off your boat.
The chest is constructed with dovetails running from the back edge to the front of the curved top.
The pics below show the chest under construction.

Folding stool
Based on an example from the tomb of Tutankhamun with a Goddard corner chair in the background.
The stool is in maple and is a work in progress, this example has more modern looking dolphin heads than the King Tut one, (see detail below) the leather/canvas seat is not shown.

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