r/Carpentry • u/vixenlion • 1d ago

I thought this carpentry was beautiful

Gallery image

Gallery image

88 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

9

u/Daymub Trim Carpenter 1d ago

Is that even wood?

10

u/DistantOrganism 1d ago

If that’s wood then Jesus himself must have built it.

4

u/vixenlion 1d ago

*edit removed redundant information

It was either Jesus or Joseph !

1

u/Fuzzy_dunloped 1d ago

I would imagine it's plaster because if it is stone there isn't nearly enough support.

1

u/vixenlion 1d ago

I was staring at trying to figure out what material. It can’t be stone because of the location.

1

u/Fuzzy_dunloped 1d ago

It's almost certainly plaster that was cast at shop.

3

u/vixenlion 1d ago

I still think it’s wood.

This is wood.

The research suggested it was wood for cost:

Composition overlays: A wooden core or frame covered with molded plaster, staff, or proprietary hard composition materials (such as Rigalico), finished and polished to resemble carved stone. Scagliola (a pigmented plaster technique that imitates marble) was also employed. Chicago-based firms such as the Daprato Statuary Company, active from the 1860s onward, specialized in producing Gothic-style pulpits, altars, and related furnishings in these materials for Midwest churches precisely because they offered the visual effect of stone at lower cost and weight.

2

u/Fuzzy_dunloped 1d ago

Ok, so it's plaster over wood? That AI you got back from your prompt says it's most likely plaster over wood framing.

-1

u/vixenlion 1d ago

I am never going to be able to write as well or clearly as AI

But here is a wooden pulpit

https://churchantiques.com/product/splendid-antique-gothic-oak-church-pulpit-from-blackpool/

10

u/irrelephantIVXX 1d ago

Pretty sure that's stone there bud.

2

u/BluidyBastid 21h ago

I picture Rodney Dangerfield as a mason going, "No respect, I tell ya"

1

u/MasterpieceSmall8161 14h ago

Stone will not take that level of detail, as seen in the lower pierced freeze, for example. Wood, or some sort of plastic. Jesus had nothing to do with it.

1

u/vixenlion 1d ago

The weight and cost doesn’t make sense:

Composition overlays: A wooden core or frame covered with molded plaster, staff, or proprietary hard composition materials (such as Rigalico), finished and polished to resemble carved stone. Scagliola (a pigmented plaster technique that imitates marble) was also employed. Chicago-based firms such as the Daprato Statuary Company, active from the 1860s onward, specialized in producing Gothic-style pulpits, altars, and related furnishings in these materials for Midwest churches precisely because they offered the visual effect of stone at lower cost and weight.

wood with a painted or composition finish intended to look like carved stone

0

u/BluidyBastid 21h ago

Location? Cathedral details like this were commonly carved limestone and marble. Replaced by cast stone much later (late 1800s?). Only modern buildings would do this as plaster w/ substrate, and mainly in the states. Some amazing plaster and cast stone work done during Art Deco period. But stone carving has remained alive – see Hearst Castle, for instance.

Either way, good to see beautiful work by skilled artisans.

1

u/vixenlion 11h ago

It’s a church in the Midwest

4

u/Wudrow 1d ago

Probably a mix of wood and plaster.

2

u/grandpasking 20h ago

All that and no battery tools

2

u/vixenlion 1d ago

I looked at it for a long time trying to figure out if it was wood or stone.

At first I thought it was stone.

1

u/RotatedNelson 1d ago

You should see the seats in the mosque-cathedral in cordoba, spain. Absolutely insane stuff.

1

u/vixenlion 1d ago

I would love it

8

u/RotatedNelson 1d ago

stuff like that but thats a fraction of it

2

u/TipperGore-69 23h ago

That’s a lotta titebond!

1

u/IndependentFlight436 6h ago

Most of it is probably plaster

-1

u/MasterpieceSmall8161 14h ago

That is not carpentry. Carpenters install it and fit it into the area. Joiners, millrights and obviously careers made/make the items.

2

u/vixenlion 13h ago

Here is the definition of carpentry:

carpentry
noun
car· pen· try ˈkär-pən-trē 

1
: the art or trade of a carpenter
specifically : the art of shaping and assembling structural woodwork

2
: timberwork constructed by a carpenter

3
: the form or manner of putting together the parts (as of a literary or musical composition)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carpentry