Well, last week I started a series of posts on my blog that will add to the article. This series is going to be ongoing (at least until folks tell me their sick of secret compartments). What I thought I’d do is start a blog series here as well. The posts here will either be a republication of a previous post from my blog or I may just throw in a special secret or two just for my fellow lumberjocks. If you’d like to read the first entry on my blog instead of here, then you’ll want to click this .

I’ve asked the readers of my blog to send me their pictures of their secret drawers. The intent is to add to my ever growing photographic library of secret compartments and hidden drawers. Eventually, most of the secrets will either be published through my personal blog, or this one, or in print. Since there’s so little written on the subject of secret drawers, I’d like to share my experience with as many people as possible. Considering the creative nature of all the Lumberjocks I’ve met in person or through this site, I figure you folks must have some great secrets to share with the world. If you’re so inclined, please email me the photos but please only do so if you have no objection to them being published in one form or another.

Without further delay I bring you, straight from my personal blog, the first installment of my secret drawers series. I hope you like it and find it inspriational.

Let me begin by saying that the article was meant to be more of a primer, or introduction rather than a treatise on the subject. There’s only so much one can cover in a four or five page article that includes photographs.

I started researching secret drawers and hidden compartments about two years ago for a presentation at the sadly defunct WoodWorks shows. Once I began the research in earnest, it seemed logical to me to make the leap to writing the article for the magazine. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my interest was shared by so many people.

Really, like most woodworkers, I’ve had an interest is secret compartments for as long as I can remember. Whenever I’m doing restoration work there’s always the hope of discovering a compartment or hidden drawer that hasn’t been opened in decades (if not centuries). Sadly, that has yet to happen for me but seeking out pictures of secret compartments has turned into a discovery greater than any I might have found in a piece of furniture.

Consequently, I’d like to begin something today that will take shape over the next few months. I’m going to post some pictures of a secret drawer that will be the first in a string of posts showing some of the secrets I’ve discovered. Not all the secrets will be unique. In fact, some will be rather common but they will all be interesting. The reason for this series of posts is simple. The single most common theme amongst the folks who took the “Secret Drawers” seminar at WoodWorks and the readers of “It’s a Secret” in Popular Woodworking is they’d like to see more examples of where secret drawers and compartments can be included in furniture.

First off, the idea of showing every conceivable secret drawer is impossible and rather contrary to the notion of secret drawers in the first place. If you’ve read the article, the idea was to leave you wondering a bit. The whole idea behind secret drawers is for you to use your imagination and creativity. I realize there isn’t much information out there on the subject but, hopefully, this series will broaden your view of where secrets can be included in pieces. The goal is to stimulate your creativity so you can begin to find new, and unique ways to incorporate secrets in your own projects.

If you find yourself puzzling out a place to put a secret in your next project, please send me some photos. I’m building a rather large collection of photographs of secret drawers and hidden compartments. Who knows? If I can collect enough photographs, I may even try to publish the collection so everyone can learn from this adventure. With that in mind, please don’t send me photographs if you have objection to their publication either on the web or in print. The whole idea behind this project is to help educate and stimulate. That can’t be done if I can’t share what you send.

Without further adieu, I give you the first installment of “The de-mystification of Secret Drawers”.

Our story begins with a simple tea caddy. For those who are unfamilar with what a tea caddy is, long before Thomas Lipton began selling tea in bags we, the little people of the world, needed a place to keep our tea leaves. We tried keeping them in our pockets but that just got messy. There had to be a better way. Enter the tea caddy, a small chest designed to keep the tea fresh and dry and all the while looking good sitting in a place of honor.

This tea caddy is in the collection of a friend. It’s a great little piece that shows off some pretty spectacular mahogany. As you can see from the first two photographs, it’s just a simple little box or chest. Keep an eye out for additions to our class schedule for 2010 since we’re going to be adding this project to our Journeyman Level Classes.!

The neatest thing about this little chest is the secret it contains. Sure, someone once kept tea in the two interior compartments but they’re noticeable as soon as you lift the lid. What’s not immediately apparent is that there’s a secret drawer. Even in such a small chest, the cabinet maker decided to show off a little and include a secret drawer. Without looking at the next photo, can you guess where the secret drawer might be? Go on, guess. I’ll give you five more seconds.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

That’s right, the right side slides up and reveals a secret drawer. Now, the next photo is a bit dark but hopefully you can see how the sliding side is constructed. Also, notice how the secret drawer is constructed. There’s no dovetail joinery here. It’s strictly a utilitarian drawer so it’s just nailed together. Lots of secret drawers lack the spectacular joinery techniques we’ve come to know and love. The practical nature of the makers took over in lots of these cases. The secret drawers were not going to be used by lots of people on a regular basis so why spend the time and effort making a dovetailed drawer?

Well, that’s all the time we have for today. Join us next time for the further adventures of (in my best booming radio announcer voice)”De-Mystifying Secret Drawers”!

Be sure to email us all your photos of your favorite secret drawers and don’t forget to drink your Ovaltine!

Glen Huey was out at my place last week teaching a class on the tea table he made for the June 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking. Amongst all the teaching, building and visits from Karson and David, we managed to squeeze in a bit of fun. The weather here last week was absolutely perfect. Each day we ate lunch outside. And each day, after an outstanding meal, the conversation turned to one particular bit of lawn ornamentation…a hammock.

Well, after class one evening last week, Glen was waiting patiently for my wife and I to decide where we were going for dinner. Somehow he managed to find his way out to that hammock. All I have to say is, a few clicks of the shutter button and an email to Megan Fitzpatrick (the managing editor) is all it took to get a little contest going.

If you head over to the PopWood editor’s blog (click here to get there) you’ll find the incriminating photo. Megan has turned this into a bit of a contest. It seems My friend Adam Cherubini has recently released a DVD on hand tools and such. Megan’s contest boils down to having the readers of the blog try to come up with the funniest caption for the photo. The contest ends this Friday at 2pm and the best caption, as chosen by Megan and her diet coke, wins a free copy of Adam’s DVD. Check it out if you get the chance. It’s good clean fun…mostly.

What I wanted to post about today was the fact that I’m being interviewed on Wood Talk Online tonight at 8:30 EST. If you’d like to read a little more about how this came about, check out my personal blog entry my travels over the last month or two.

In the interview tonight I talk about everything from how I got started in woodworking to the furniture I make and why I started a woodworking school. Hopefully, I’ll see a bunch of you there that I haven’t had a chance to meet at the shows (and those of you who I’ve met at the shows are more than welcome to check out the show tonight as well).

Thanks to Glen Huey and Chris Schwarz at Popular Woodworking for making the interview happen. Special thanks go out to Marc Spagnuolo and Matt Vanderlist for their willingness to include the interview on their spectacular show.