Constructing this counter top

[richsc]

While recreating the counter of a thermopolium in marble and plaster is pretty straightforward, I was thinking of recreating the counter seen in the baker fresco from Pompeii (also redrawn in Connolly's "Pompeii")

[url:3u8b1jlm]http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/daily_life_gallery_02.shtml[/url]

But I can't see what those nails and front planks would be attached to, given that there are all those nice legs all around the counter. The planks seem set back from the legs, so what are they attached to? I was wondering just how much was under this counter in terms of wood that the planks would be nailed to? Or are they just decorative?

[Carlton Bach]

I expect the legs are wider behind than in fromt, with the planks being nailed or dowelled to the wider back parts, fitting between the thinner outer bit showing.

Does the forum do ASCII graphics?

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Like that. The legs look awfully thin to support a table like that, especially if the countertop is heavy.

[Carlton Bach]

Does the forum do ASCII graphics?

answer: not very well :/

[Tarbicus]

Are you completely sure there are legs in the painting at all? I know there's shading on the ground as if the planks are above floor level, but maybe that was discolouration of the ground at the base of the counter? I can see the suggestion of a raised plinth at the base, especially if you look between the two front figures.

Cheers.

[Northman]

The impression I get from the painting is that those "legs" are probably batten strips used to cover the gap where the ends of the planks meet. A decorative feature used in many places to give a more finished look - and allows for less exacting carpentry work.

Just my humble opinion to share. Now back to my blacksmithing where I am a wee bit more experienced.

Mike Ameling

[aitor iriarte]

I think that Mike is right, the horizontal planks are nailed to an inner and very substantial structure, if we can take the horizontal distance between nails as barely well depicted. The vertical elements are just decorative.

Aitor

[richsc]

That sounds quite plausible, minus any other evidence from carbonized wood at Herculaneum or elsewhere. I'll give it a whack and post the images.

[Antonius Lucretius]

I am no carptenter but those black spots don't look like nails to me. More like wooden dowels used for the "shell first" ship construction. They're far too big for nails.
In this case the "feet" would be the frame of the cabinet and the planking slid down a groove cut into the "feet"...
The counter top is then nailed to an horizontal frame linking the "feet" together.
See what I mean ?
Sort of an ancient version of the Ikea furniture... "Standard baker's countertop. Ref. 567/TK with pre-grooved frame and complete set of dowels.."
Sheeesh.. I don't have a scanner anymore.. I'd make a sketch of it :roll:

[richsc]

Almost too big, but I was looking closer at Connolly's Pompeii book, and one of the plaster cast doors has just that sort of large bronze 'buttons' on it that are apparenly purely for decoration, as they only have a short spike to attach them to the wooden door, and, they stand out away from the wood!

That said, the sliding down the groove explains a lot. That would seem to make a great portable table too.

[Antonius Lucretius]

Ancient furniture is far more resistant than modern furniture and can be taken down and put back up again as many times as you want..
I experienced that when I sold two old cupboards dating from the XVIIIth century. They were both constructed without nails of course, it was all dowel construction. I had seen these venerable pieces of furniture for all my life and I held them in utter respect.
Then the men from the auction house came up... With hammers... And in no time the two venerable cabinets were reduced to a pile of planks.
At the auction house they hammered the dowels back and in no time there had two old XVIII th century cupboards again..
That amazed me.
Try taking down one of those modern pieces of furniture delivered in kit form with the screws biting directly into the glued up sawdust they try to pass as wood and then putting it back up again..
Try, then order a new one.. In solid wood.. With dowels..