Phil Langstaff Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Chest of Drawers (a)

An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Chest of Drawers by Phil 'Carthouse Furniture' Langstaff 1990. A very pleasingly simple but elegant design made to the expected high standard of one of the Yorkshire School makers. Featuring:

• Panelled back with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with pegs

• Panelled ends with four single plank raised fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with pegs

• Solid English Oak

• Three plank rectangular top

• Two short over two long drawers (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with lap and through dovetails)

• Well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative 'medullary rays' in its grain.)

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Width 920mm (3 feet)

• Overall Width 740mm (2 feet 5 inches)

• Overall Depth 460mm (1 foot 6 inches)

1990

Phil Langstaff ‘s recessed carved cartwheel motif

Very good condition with tight joints, smoothly sliding drawers and original finish. A few minor marks on the top.. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Phil 'Carthouse Furniture' Langstaff: The son of Divid Langstaff (former Mouseman craftsman who established his own Oak Leaf Furniture business in Easingwold) who established his own workshop known as Carthouse Furniture in Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk making items to a high standard in the Yorkshire School tradition

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength

The Yorkshire School of the Arts & Crafts movement started with Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's  transformation from jobbing carpenter to master craftsmen. By the mid-1920s he had adopted his trademark mouse (now world renowned as a symbol of quality furniture) and had his own workshop busily employing several men. As the workshop grew and over the years many of the craftsmen have taken their skills and branched out and adopted a trademark of their own, a fox, a lizard, a fish, a rabbit to name but a few, and whilst some have closely stuck to the Mouseman designs others have taken the style and adapted it. Other craftsmen, unconnected to the Mouseman workshop, have also chosen the classic Yorkshire Oak style as their own. Typical Yorkshire school items are in English Oak, with traditional pegged joints and adzed surfaces