A Mecca for Oval Turners

Drechseln Magazine (Turning Magazine) Number 2, Summer '98,Page 12
German Turner Newspaper
Kettler Printing Company, Bönen
Internet: http://www.drechsler.org/drechseln/   (This web site is in German)

Unterwegs (En Route)


First they hung in American mansions, on farms, and also in solitary sod huts on the prairie: photo-portrait-frames from The Old Schwamb Mill. Johannes Volmer visited the former frame mill near Boston.

The Old Schwamb Mill is a frame factory which, circa 1860, was founded by two German immigrants, Karl and Friedrich Schwamb, in Arlington near Boston. It was built on a mill brook on which saw and grain mills had already been operated for 200 years, as was the case in many places in New England. About 1970, after the frame factory had ceased activity, a farseeing energetic woman preserved it (before having a plan) and kept it as a working museum. It gives evidence of American machine technology, the work tools, and work techniques of the previous centuries. Above all, it is a Mecca for every enthusiast of oval turning. One can see and study there the machines on which elliptical and round picture and mirror frames and forms were produced en masse by hand. In Germany also, there were such fabricators, even in regions that were not among the centers of woodworking, but probably nothing remains of them. Oval frames went out of fashion, and "overmilling" and copying displaced the ovalwork from the German turners. Among turners, the highly paid oval turners were made superfluous. Also, that did not help the Union of Ovalframemakers founded in Leipzig by 1920. A few German turnmasters always have oval works (see DRECHSELN Number 1/1997, page 24) and use them at least for bringing them out in order to recall this high skill of turner handwork.

         The Schwamb Mill had a powerful overshot water wheel 3.6 meters wide and 5.5 meters in diameter, then a Hercules water turbine, and later a steam machine for water-poor seasons. It stood at a firesafe distance. Its driveshaft came across and under the street into the workplace. And finally there were electric motors which powered all machines through a "transmission" [of pulleys and leather belts]. The Schwambs bought up oval lathes and woodworking machines and stored them carefully in order to be soon back in production in the event of fire damage. Actual evidence of this policy may be seen. In the cellar the special visitor climbs over oval spindle stocks and many an oval enthusiast has vainly searched there for something to acquire. Most interesting are the four workready, oval-turning machines for the various frame sizes. The largest machine is in the cellar built into the supporting components of the building and bound into the foundation. It receives gigantic frames of 1.5 by 2 meters diameter. Although the machinery is well designed, the wooden building vibrates when the machinery runs. One can understand that when the over 100 mm wide leather belts are shifted by lever from the idler pulley to the drive pulley and the machines are thereby engaged. School children, and also grown visitors, stand astonished and ask about the pounding. In the second half of the last century, the Schwambs had favorable business conditions for their oval frames, especially after the Civil War, for sad mementos and as portrait photography developed. Patterns and catalogues for a gigantic quantity of different frame profiles are preserved and also templates for frame quarters which are cut out of planed boards with band saws. For joining the pieces together, the Schwambs developed a special prong saw. Dark native walnut wood was preferred, special for fine portrait frames with gold liners, and cherry, birch, and maple, as well as West Indian mahogany. Fully gilded frames were also made out of North American basswood. Old photos show giant wood supplies on the storage site. A special drying room was at hand.

         Schwamb frames for portrait photos were a conception of their time. Hundreds of thousands were sold. They hung in wealthy homes, farms, and also in solitary sod huts on the prairie. With the great number of frame profiles for pictures and mirrors, there were all kinds of lacquering and polishing, gilding and metal inlay. Everything required hand completion – which today is seldom done. The museum still produces frames to order and serves therewith restorers, palaces, and famous galleries where vermin have shortened the life of frames. The Old Schwamb Mill is in the National Register of Historic Places of the U.S.A. A preservation trust is responsible for the preservation of this manufacturing museum.

         Turner, come thee to Boston. Take thee time to find this memory of thy handwork and tarry there.

Address:

The Old Schwamb Mill
17 Mill Lane at 29 Lowell Street
Arlington, MA 02476
U.S.A.
Telephone: ++(781)643-0554
e-mail: schwambmil@aol.com

Open workdays: 10 am to 3 pm.

 

Photographs

Caption: Schwamb's frame factory in October 1873 --- still with a mill pond.

Caption: The middle-sized one of three ellipse turning machines in a row. How many hours did the ovalturner stand before it every day?

Caption: The workplace canopy hangs full of frames of all sizes and proportions.

Caption: The rough frame (ready for turning) is assembled from at least four parts.

Caption: Storage of profile patterns. All frame profiles were numbered and catalogued.

Translated 5 October 1998
by John A. FitzMaurice