'Forged' (Ahem) Hardware

If you like to see money and good effort get pooped down a rathole, you have found the right blog. There are many weird and false starts with a book. Here is today’s.

I’m still trying to work out what the word “peasant” means in terms of this book. Of course, it means that most of us toil to help the ultra-rich (I did my share from 1990 to 2011). But what does the word mean in terms of the furniture, hardware, techniques and the overall style of the pieces in the book?

Today I worked on the “hardware” portion of this question.

I needed a way to attach a tabletop to some legs and battens below. My first thought was to use big clenched nails. That seemed very peasant-y. So, I bought some 6" boat nails from Tremont (shown above). The price? Not terrible – about $30 (with shipping) to do the job.

When the nails showed up, I was impressed by the quality.…