38
They also turned their ingenious thoughts to smaller items. A
brother at Watervliet experimented with the manufacture of pens from brass
sheet metal prior to 1819 and in that year shifted to silver as more satis-
factory. Regular manufacture was begun at New Lebanon in 1825--certainly
this was a vast improvement over quill pens.
Their chair was the most famous item from their woodworking shops.
It was made in quantity, it came in different sizes, either straight, armed
or rocker, with seat woven usually of cloth tape. They were carried in
stock by Lewis & Conger in New York City. Richard McNemar of Union
Village, Ohio, from 1813 to 1821 made 1463 chairs besides spinning wheels,
looms, etc. Almost as famous were their round and oval wooden boxes
that seem to outlast metal.
"There are still herb, pill, and spice boxes stronger now
(through seasoning) than they were a century ago; their metal
counterparts have become rusted and been discarded. The
Shakers used elm, maple and oak in their boxes, but considered
basswood too fragile. The T fingers T or lap ends of Shaker boxes
usually turn to the right because of a religious belief in the word
'right' which made the Shakers shun anything going toward the
left. It was contrary to order to kneel on the left knee first, to
put on the left boot first, or to step first with the left foot. Their
furniture was a masterpiece of T right angles/ TT ^
"Practically every household boasted a clock reel for measur-
ing off thread as it was spun ... The early Shakers made and
peddled these conveniences in great quantities, selling them to
stores or to individuals for as much as $1.50 to $2.00 apiece.
With such reels, women wound off skeins of woolen thread at
home--sometimes the storekeeper furnished the wool--and
turned them in at the local store for trade. The merchant then
passed on the yarn they had wound to knitting customers and
bought back the finished garment. "2"


25. Sloane, Eric. A Reverence for Wood, p. 66
26. Johnson, op. cfE p. 17