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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Pssst...it's called a manchette

It's been a while since I posted about obscure furniture terms...but this term makes up for it, because it's about as obscure as they get. Raise your hand if you know what a manchette is.

In furniture-making, a manchette is a small upholstered pad on the open arm of a chair. The term is borrowed from the sport of fencing, where a sabreur/sabreuse wears a special glove on the weapon arm.

I'm assuming that the arm treatment on the black strap chair is considered a manchette, even though the covering is rattan rather than fabric. But I need to figure out what the small wooden piece is called that's frequently applied to a metal arm, like on the orange chair below. I'm not sure if it's considered a manchette or not. If you know, tell us!

Of course, that raises another valid question. What do you call the wooden pieces on open upholstered arms, like the ones on the Wegner Papa Bear?


vandm.com

nyshowplace.com

ebay.com - 69-daytona

cityissue.com
ebay.com - dos bananos

So what are wood pieces on metal arms called?
wanelo.com

Or wood pieces on the open upholstered arms of this Wegner Papa Bear?
The questions are pointless endless.
christies.com
This is exactly how research spirals out of control, and I find myself in front of the computer for hours when I should be doing something constructive.

9 comments:

  1. Cool. I want to use that in Scrabble.

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    1. That's probably about all these obscure terms are good for. I used one of them with our upholsterer one day, thinking he'd be so impressed with all the words I've learned since starting this silly series of posts, and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I guess it's safe to say the thing is officially called "an arm pad" in the trade...and that our upholsterer doesn't read my blog...LOL

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  2. P.S. I caught the "this is how research spirals out of control" comment. You are not kidding.

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    1. Man, does it ever! I suppose I have a natural predilection for research, since I was a teacher for 30 years, but this is ridiculous!

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  3. Research is the best! I love to flit about on the hindernet! Your search will be fruitful soon.

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    1. Flitting is healthy. "Burrowing in" is probably a little excessive...:)

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  4. I do the same thing...knowledge is important, but the computer is such a time vacuum/sucker.

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    1. Yes, it can be just as addictive and wasteful of time as the daytime soaps...only you can do it 24 hours a day. :)

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  5. OH BOY! I can't wait to us this in a sentence. HA HA! If you love to "talk shop" you might as well know what you're talking about. Thanks for doing the research Dana. Always good to be educated on matters of the "arm". I'm sure when I use it ... someone will think "man, she needs to get a life!". I'll be like .... "HEY, don't sit on the manchette... there's an entire chair here!". (laughing)

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