The term joiner, the one who assembles small pieces of wood, has covered various specialities over time: the huchier-joiner, then furniture carpenter, then cabinetmaker, to be distinguished from the building carpenter who makes frames, parquet floors and stairs.
The profusion of tools used by these wood craftsmen is used to measure and trace, to cut, roughen, flatten or smooth, assemble and engrave or mould furniture planks and legs.
At the end of the 19th century, some carpenter’s workshops or sawmills specialised in a particular production. This is the case of the wood wholesale and wooden crate factory Gerbeaud in Mussidan or the Montpon craftsman Francis Grégoire in 1907 which became the Grégoire joineries in Saint Martial d’Artenset in the 1960s.
Illustrations :
– Letterhead of the general carpentry company Jean Gras, in the 1910s. (Escarment Collection)
– Advertising of the general carpentry company F. Froidefond de Périgueux in 1920. (©Musée André Voulgre)
– Postcard of the Gerbeaud Establishments in Mussidan in the 1930s. (©Musée André Voulgre)
– Henri Gerbeaud’s letterhead paper, Bois business in the 1920s. (Escarment Collection)