Is it only ornamental? And why are they usually webbed feet (or at least they are in my experience)?

  • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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    24 days ago

    Decorative flourish for the most part. A lot of that old stuff was crafted by hand rather than a machine so it tends not to be designed for mass production.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      24 days ago

      The metal ones were quite often mass produced by casting, like in claw-foot bathtubs. Probably in imitation of older artisanal pieces, which were already antiques in, say, 1910.

      • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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        24 days ago

        Casting I would say is kind of a separate deal. You can still find somewhat ornate cast things today, although more often it’s injection molded plastic coated in paint.

        You could do this kind of thing with wood in a CNC machine, but more often it’s just some straight cut or moulded particle board stuff with no life in it.