Period character guide: Decorative wood carving

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Carefully removing the wooden picture rail, dado rail and skirting board from a wall so a serious damp problem could be repaired made me realise just how important these moulded elements are. Without them the proportions of the room were all wrong, yet the moment I had replaced these features the proportion and character were regained.

In early buildings the structural timbers themselves were sometimes ‘moulded’ to provide decoration. These carvings denoted status – so a carved beam says a lot about the importance of a room and, indeed, a house. The grandest homes had ornate carvings and the greatest exponent of such work was Grinling Gibbons. His flamboyant cascades of lifelike blossoms, fruits, foliage, birds and fish dominated English interiors in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and can be seen today at places such as the National Trust’s Petworth House in West Sussex and in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

With the Georgians came the use of applied timber mouldings influenced by styles derived from classical architecture. The position on the wall of the cornice, dado rail and skirting board correspond to the key elements of columns. The mouldings were fashioned entirely by hand using a range of moulding planes and it was not until the mid-Victorian period that the use of machinery revolutionised manufacture.

Mouldings often serve a role beyond mere decoration. Skirting boards and chair or dado rails protect the walls while the purpose of picture rails is obvious. Architraves cover potentially unsightly joints and corbels act as supporting brackets.

The shape and proportions of mouldings changed with the prevailing fashion. The Regency preference was for delicacy and the dado rail disappeared along with the custom for lining chairs up against the wall. Larger, fatter and more elaborate mouldings dominated in early Victorian homes and, to balance the proportions of walls without dados, cornices became deeper and skirtings higher. Towards the end of the 19th century, the dado rail was reintroduced, the picture rail was lowered to create a deep frieze and plate rails were sometimes added.

Wood carvings

ABOVE (left to right): Detail of a 17th-century Grinling Gibbons carving at Petworth House showing the damage that woodworm has caused; Charles in his workshop; Bargeboards to help protect the exterior walls of a house, carved by Charles.

Carving tradition
Charles Oldham, a master wood carver based in Frome, Somerset, believes passionately in preserving the ancient skills he learned from an older generation of carvers. He explained to me that the wood he uses very much depends on the type of job. Generally for external work it is either hard-wearing oak or pine, although pine is most often employed as it is easier to work than oak, lighter in weight and has been traditionally used. For internal work, pine, oak, mahogany and lime – the easy-to-carve favoured wood – are all popular.

Sections of wood are often laminated together using glue to create a block of the required size. Charles told me how he works from architects’ drawings or photographs or he may copy an original piece and take rubbings or create a stencil that he transfers on to the wood.

In the initial stages he decides whether sections such as scrolls and other protruding highlights will be glued together after they have been carved. Next he uses a bandsaw to cut the rough shape of the carving out of the wood. Sometimes the wood is turned on a lathe before carving, as in the case of the ceiling bosses Charles made for Windsor Castle.

He sets out the exact dimensions, often drawing a centre line as a datum first to ensure accuracy throughout the job. Dividers and a height gauge are the main measuring tools he uses as he works and transfers measurements. With his carvers’ chisels and gouges, Charles ‘blocks out’ outlines by hammering or ‘malleting’ down using a brass headed mallet as it gives him more weight on the chisel. The high quality steel chisels he uses are Swiss and German and range through many different sizes and shapes – some 200 in all. He also uses rifflers which are small rasps used like a file.

As he works Charles first establishes the depth of the carving and then concentrates on the modelling, creating the flow of the work. As he progresses he refines the outline and adds the detail, in the case of foliage creating veining to the leaves. The last stage is the ‘backing off’ when he turns the wood over and cuts away from behind to create the delicacy of the relief carving.

Wood carvings

ABOVE (left to right): Grinling Gibbons was acclaimed for the detail in his flowers and foliage. In his traditionally carved lime wood flowers, buds and leaves, Charles pays tribute to the master; Egg and dart and foliate repeat mouldings in pine wood carved by Charles.

Repairs and reinstatement
Carving and mouldings are easily lost or damaged during building work. If removing them beware that they are easily split because, to fix them, nails were usually driven either directly into the masonry or into wooden plugs or battens. When carrying out work such as putting up stud walls avoid cutting through mouldings; instead shape the new work around them so that if it is ever removed the moulding will still be intact.

Repairing or creating carvings is a skilled job best left to specialists. New mouldings are available from timber yards and DIY stores but sadly these modern reproductions frequently lack the detail of originals. Alternatively new lengths can be machined to match original samples or detailed dimensional drawings but, unless large quantities are required, this can be an expensive option.

If you decide to go ‘shopping’ for mouldings it is worth researching how they were used and find the appropriate period style for your home. Remember that, even in the grandest houses, the most elaborate decoration was always in the rooms seen by visitors. The servants’ quarters usually lacked embellishment so never assume that, because there are no mouldings now, there would have been any in the past. Carrying out some detective work is worthwhile; stripping wallpaper may reveal the position of missing dado and picture rails since the nail holes will either have been patched, or paint that once overlapped the edges of the moulding may remain as parallel lines on the wall.

The true beauty of many mouldings is lost because the detail is often clogged with layers of paint. Removing paint from mouldings is much harder than from flat surfaces. Hot air guns and chemical paint remover can be used but be very careful not to ‘dig’ with scrapers. Another reason to be as gentle as possible when removing old paint is that not all mouldings were made from wood: plaster and other materials were also used and may be particularly fragile.

Wood carvings

ABOVE (left to right): Oak finials for curtain rails carved in the shape of acorns, an ancient symbol of new life; A mirror surround carved in the William Kent style by Charles; Exquisite capitals for topping off a column, carved by Charles.

Word for word: A glossary of wood carving terms
ASTRAGAL A semicircular moulding with a flat plane on either side and often decorated.
BRACKET For holding up a canopy – over a doorcase, for example.
EGG & DART Popular type of moulding featuring an egg shape interspersed with a dart shape.
OGEE A moulding made up of round and hollow concave and convex parts.
OVOLO A convex moulding – usually a quarter of a circle – sometimes ornamented with a pattern.
REPEAT MOULDING A stretch of moulding to be used as cornicing.
SCOTIA A concave moulding, generally forming a quarter of a circle.