Don Newton's Blog at LumberJocks.com http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:28:37 GMT Slant front desk #3: Slant front desk #3 - Writing surface/drawers http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5844 Well….I got back into the desk project. The most difficult part so far was getting the geometry right for the lid/writing surface. The hinge placement is critical. The dimension of the lid depends on the hinge placement. The whole thing is a Catch 22 situation but that is what mockups are for. The lid is 14” high from a single board of Honduras Mahogany with bread board ends cut from the same board and tongue and grooved to the lid.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I used a router to mortise the hinges. The hinges are from Horton Brass and made specifically for this application. I also ordered a desk lid lock from Horton Brass and will have to mortise it into the lid.

I have begun to dovetail the poplar drawer boxes. As you can see, I’ve started with the through dovetails (cut by hand) joining the sides to the backs, saving the difficult half-blind dovetails joining the sides to the fronts for last. Actually once I get the drawers dovetailed, I’ll pretty much have the fabrication done.

]]> Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:28:37 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5844 Don Newton Don Newton Slant front desk #2: Disaster http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5213 Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men…... Plan your work, work your plan. I was admiring the progress on the desk and thinking about starting on the lid when I noticed the error. It appears that the side didn’t project above the writing surface the way it was supposed to. This is necessary for the whole lid hinging thing.

I screwed up! AGHHHHH!!! What to do? Trash it? Take an axe to it? But, then again, maybe if I can think clearly there must be an obvious solution. Relaying out the drawer dividers wasn’t an option due to them being dovetailed into the sides. I realized I could correct the situation by cutting 1” off the entire front of the chest. So out came the circular saw (Skill), planes, rip saw and a partridge in a pear tree. After 4 hours of sawing, planing and sanding I was back to where I left off.
I did have to reinforce the spreaders since I cut 1” off of them they got kinda flimsy. Now to reinstall the feet and get started on the drawers.

]]> Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:47:03 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5213 Don Newton Don Newton Slant front desk #1: Feet and carcase http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5148 Let me start by saying this is my first blog and I hope I don’t screw it up too bad.
My current project is an 18th C slant front desk. The material is Honduras Mahogany. I came up with the design from various pictures in books about American Furniture, particularly “Master Craftsmen of Newport” by Michael Moses.
The starting place was the ogee bracket feet. Believe me these are a project in themselves! I used 8/4×5 1/2” material. All of the shaping was done on the table saw, band saw and cleaned up with a series of cabinet scrapers, files and sandpaper from 80 to 150 grit.

The carcase sides were glued-up and cut to size/shape. Then the sliding dovetail and dados were cut. The dovetails only go 3” back from the front with the rest of the side being dadoed 1/8” deep. The dovetails and dado will house the frames that join the sides together and support the drawers.

You can also see the glue blocks reinforcing the bracket feet. Care must be taken that the grain for the blocks is oriented the same as the mahogany of the foot (horizontal).
The mahogany top is joined to the case sides with a rabbet. The last thing that will be done after the drawers are installed will be to put the back on. More about that when the time comes.
The feet are attached to the carcase, to get it off the floor, and we finally have an idea of the proportions!

As you can see my shop is in my basement. It does get a bit challenging juggling for space but I have a wife that tolerates the noise, piles of wood and sawdust.

In my upcoming blogs I will describe the dovetailing of the drawers, fabricating the desk lid with breadboard ends and assembling the drawer sides with the fronts.

For now I have a piece of 8/4” mahogany that will be resawn to get all of the drawer fronts.

So far all of the material for this chest came from the same piece of material. The piece was 8/4×20” x 120” long.

]]> Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:35:53 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/Newton/blog/5148 Don Newton Don Newton