Last week I spent 2 days teaching the Edenton style ball and claw foot at Ben Hobb’s workshop in Hertford, NC. Ben’s little “enclave” has several small houses that they rent out and various outbuildings (jail, dairy house, smoke house) that have been relocated and many are restored to their former glory – the buildings ranging from 1750s to 1850s. It definitely makes you feel like you have stepped back into another era.
The main difference with the Edenton foot is that the back talon has quite a unique shape where it is more like one large, sharp talon (claw) that stretches up the whole length of the talon (about 1-3/4 inches). The edge of the web is also different in that it comes to more of a point rather than a rounded shape. The web itself is also not as pronounced as a Philadelphia style foot.
Saturday, the SAPFM Tidewater chapter had their meeting at Ben’s shop. I demonstrated how to carve 2 shells on a Thomas White desk and also the details on the foot. Ben also spoke about the history of the desk and some of the building and finishing techniques he used to build his reproduction pieces.
I will be adding videos on carving these shells to my online school this month (starting this week). Each lesson will have 2 episodes and will be a total of about 1 hour long. These are great little shells to add to any piece of furniture or keepsake box.
Next weekend I’m off to Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking to teach a class on carving whatever you want to carve. I think there are still a few spots available.
And then I’m home for several months before the next season of teaching starts. Maybe I’ll clean up my shop… or maybe not…