A Louis the XV Desk

I didn’t quite know where to put this so it’s going to be a short review.

Today when I got home from work there was a package from Italy waiting for me. Inside were copies of the first six issues of Italy’s first magazine for woodworkers called LegnoLab and their first DVD project showing the construction of the desk in the above image. I haven’t had time to go through all six issues yet but as far as the magazines go, there is a wide variety of topics covered from reviews of power and hand tools to basic woodworking techniques and up through more advanced stuff. In each issue there is at least one article on restoration of antique furniture.

So, back to the desk and DVD. They had a four part article in the magazine (one per issue) with lots of detailed photos and I assume good info in the text. Unfortunately, except for Spaghetti and a few other pasta names, my Italian leaves a lot to be desired.

The video is very nicely shot and the fellow doing the work, Giacomo Malaspina, appears to be quite experienced in this sort of woodworking. Except for using a bandsaw to cut out the legs, he did all the work with handtools. The table is quite involved. The legs and aprons are mortised and tenoned, the top is made of pieces of solid wood with splines in the joints between pieces. The frame around the top is joined with mitered mortise and tenon joints. The outside edges of the top boarder and the legs has a wood referred to as Bois de Violette applied to it which is trimmed flush to the base wood (a very light colored wood) and then radiused. then the rest of the table is covered with veneer referred to as Boie de Rose. It’s an interesting technique that hides all of the joinery. There’s a shallow drawer that has a leather topped lid and the central portion of the desk top is leather covered as well. Everything appears to be glued up with hide glue.

So, I don’t know if this DVD and/or the magazines will be available in the US but I think it would be worth asking at your local Barnes and Noble or Borders if they can get the magazine.

there are previews of the video here.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.