# Writing desk WIP



## gasman (25 Jan 2010)

The next project is a writing desk
I saw this one in a sunday colour supplement and thought it looked interesting - but it is £2000 to buy from Pinch!
http://www.pinchdesign.com/yveswritingdesk.htm. I liked the contrast in colours etc but we wanted it to be a lighter wood and I like using the ash / ebony contrast for stringing and inlays so we decided on ash for the main frame. 
I liked the curves on the legs, but I also wanted to give it a nautical theme and make the table top like a chart table to open up on hinges and have the whole width under the table top as storage.
So having chosen the wood (from Eynsham Park Sawmill has a kiln although I gather it is on the blink at the mo. - there is a good selection of oak, ash, beech, cherry, sycamore, chestnut, yew, walnut, holly in various thicknesses)
I really ought to learn sketchup but I tend to design things on the hoof and make it up as I go along
So first I cut wood for the legs and frame sides:





Then made a template for the legs:




and cut 4 legs using a 75mm long, 3/4 inch flush trim bit from Wealden 



. 
The legs are more complicated because they splay out slightly. This is achieved by having a 2 degree bevel on the top inside face of the leg which joins the frame.
I spent quite a long time working out the geometry of the joints and ended up with this 



. 
This was the best configuration which enabled me to put an 8 mm domino at least 20 mm into each side. I tried a few different ways of cutting this 22.5 degree bevel joint on each side of the leg - the trouble is it had to be referenced off the 2 degree bevel rather than the long axis of the leg - so I ended up using a jigsaw mounted upside down 



. 
You can also see I think how the leg is clamped such that it is 2 degrees off the table surface. I tidied the mating surfaces up with the Quangsheng block plane and a 1 inch chisel and checked everything carefully using the digital angle marker 




so I ended up with 4 identical legs 




Then the frame sides were cut at 22.5 degrees on the table saw and the domino slots cut carefully before the frame was dry-assembled to see how it looks:




Next stap is to taper and shape the legs properly...... need more time!
Thanks for looking and comments as usual


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## CNC Paul (25 Jan 2010)

WARNING

I tried Gasman's link above and got a virus warning.


Looking good, keep up the WIP.


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## gasman (25 Jan 2010)

Thanks for pointing that out Paul - I did not get a warning on my computer - but anyway I have edited the link to a different site with the same writing desk featured.


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## wizer (25 Jan 2010)

Love the design, looking forward to this one.


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## gasman (26 Jan 2010)

I did not get much done last night as I am having problems working out what to do about the top - I cannot work out whether to breadboard the ends of the desk top, or have a leather desk top which would enable me to use MDF for the top and have mitred pieces of ash for the edges. Also whether to make a 'chart-table' type hinged desktop or whether just to put another drawer underneath. Think I am heading more towards the latter.
I did use a thumb moulding cutter to round over the backs of the legs which I think worked well. Here's the 4 legs with the sides and the 8mm dominos which I dry-fitted them with




Then I cut 2 of 8 foot 1" olive ash boards in half lengthways and planed and thicknessed them down to 22mm and then brought them indoors to dry out a bit more before I start work properly on the desktop:


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## woodbloke (26 Jan 2010)

gasman":aq3fk1ur said:


>



That joint would be difficult to cut using conventional m/ts without using a complicated jig in the mortiser...clearly it's easy with a Domino - Rob


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## gasman (26 Jan 2010)

Rob I have followed your 'flirtations' with the Domino for the last few months with great interest. One of these days you will surely have a 'straw that broke the camel's back' moment and succumb to the inevitable! 
On a serious note though i agree it would have been very difficult without the Domino - I went through countless sketches of how to do those corners before settling on those 2 x 22.5 degree angles with an 8mm domino joining them. Cutting both sides of all 8 joints took about 5 minutes though!
Regards
Gasman


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## gasman (26 Jan 2010)

Actually though I am sure you noticed that I have only 1 domino in each joint - clearly it would be better if there were 2 in each - however the width of the base plate on the domino does not permit that... so I will be using my old fashioned 10mm dowel kit to reinforce the end of each joint further down (ie away from the top) prior to assembly


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## Chems (26 Jan 2010)

Why not use a 5mm domino in the opposite plane? As long as the rails are 18mm plus you should be able to get a 5mm domino in the end.


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## gasman (26 Jan 2010)

That's a great idea Chems thanks I will try later in the week - have long work days until saturday now
Also.... does anyone know a place to get reasonably priced desk leather from - the main place online (antiqueleather.com I think it is) want about £150-200 for a piece 48 x 24 inches


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## woodbloke (26 Jan 2010)

gasman":16hqon3b said:


> Rob I have followed your 'flirtations' with the Domino for the last few months with great interest. One of these days you will surely have a 'straw that broke the camel's back' moment and succumb to the inevitable!
> 
> Gasman


A perfectly feasible possibility...who knows :duno: ...but I do like them, and for this sort of application it positively screams 'Domino' - Rob


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## gasman (2 Feb 2010)

Slow progress I am afraid...
However, I finally settled on the design - it will be a fixed desktop, made from 18mm MDF with a 4cm mitred ash surround and a piece of black leather hide set into it. There will be a drawer underneath the desktop and also one above as per the original design
So I finished off the curves of the legs and after some thinking about final sizes glued up the ends of the desk base. 




By putting a loose domino in each of the slots for the front and back joints, I was able to bring equal pressure on both sides of my joints which otherwise tended to splay when pressure was put on them




However, after they were glued up I took them with the front and back rail to where the final position of the desk would be and dry-assembled the whole base. Bearing in mind that the desktop will overlap the base by 1cm or so all round, we decided (when I say 'we decided' I obviously mean my wife decided!) that the writing desk was going to be too deep, so I cut one leg off each side pair, removed 5cm from the side rail, cleaned up the joints on the legs carefully and recut the domino slots. I think that is one of the beauties of the domino - if you make a mistake, then provided you have only used the exact fitting setting on the domino, the hole can be completely filled with a glued domino biscuit and, when the glue is dry, the whole joint redone
Here is the pair of them after drying and cleaning up:




That was over the weekend - then yesterday it was still very cold but I wanted to get the base glued up so I brought everything inside and glued the 2 sides together with the back rail and clamped it all up. I only have one very long clamp - a massive rusty thing which has awesome power but which weighs over 30kg. That is on the table top, clamping from behind. The 50 inch panel clamp in front is just being used to maintain the squareness of the joints




The front rail has already been cut into 3 as it will have the drawer front underneath. Next I need to construct the side rails for the drawer and work out how it is going to sit
Thanks for looking. Comments welcome as always


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## wizer (2 Feb 2010)

ah yes I was wondering what happened with this one. Good idea to use the doms to clamp on. Coming on nicely. Do you have a finish in mind yet?


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## Qwibble (2 Feb 2010)

Looks promising Gasman. I'm watching and learning. 

Mind you it'll be a few more years before I've saved enough gold coins to consider a domino


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## gasman (2 Feb 2010)

Thanks for your kind words Tom
There will undoubtedly be some ebony stringing / decoration involved as I love the ash / ebony contrast. Then the finish will be sanded down to 320 or so, then cabinet scraper just to clean it up, then Fiddes hardwax oil 2 very thin coats 0000 wire wool between coats and then a wax coat -it gives a lovely deep sheen to the finish and is very hardwearing


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## wizer (2 Feb 2010)

have you used that oil on Ash before? Ash has a tendency to go a horrible urine yellow about 6 months after applying most oil finishes. I've tried a few, including Osmo, and so far they have all discoloured badly. I might suggest a clear shellac to seal it and then a matt wiping varnish. Apologies if this was an ovum engulfing tutorial


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## gasman (2 Feb 2010)

Thanks for pointing that out Tom - I agree it can go yellowish although I have done a couple of similar pieces finished in a similar way which have not yellowed. Perhaps you are right and I will use sanding sealer first...


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## Dibs-h (3 Feb 2010)

gasman":1lkrb0kp said:


> That's a great idea Chems thanks I will try later in the week - have long work days until saturday now
> Also.... does anyone know a place to get reasonably priced desk leather from - the main place online (antiqueleather.com I think it is) want about £150-200 for a piece 48 x 24 inches



Don't know the exact (or any to be honest) specifics for writing leather - but I can buy a whole hide for that (or less) and that's nappa as opposed to a split (which I suspect writing leather will be).


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## big soft moose (3 Feb 2010)

gasman":1o80kdse said:


> Also.... does anyone know a place to get reasonably priced desk leather from - the main place online (antiqueleather.com I think it is) want about £150-200 for a piece 48 x 24 inches



ive used these people http://www.leathersfordesks.co.uk/Measure.htm but that said they come in at 195 notes for a skiver that size

are you sure you need one so big , as its not usual to cover the whole desk top with leather just the imediate writing surface.


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## gasman (3 Feb 2010)

Thanks for that Dibs-h.... I have since found www.antiquedesktopleathers.com who have sent me a lovely sample of a hide which they will sell for GBP12 a sq foot which would work out at about 80 quid for what I need... so I think that would be more reasonable but if you have other better ideas that would be great.
I have a day off tomorrow and am going to make the desktop then
Gasman


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## gasman (3 Feb 2010)

Thanks Big Soft Moose for that - I has not realised Relics did them as they are just a couple of miles up the road from me - but as you say they are pricy and do not do a 'discount' if you do not need the tooling done which other places do... so I may stick with antiquedesktopleathers


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## Dibs-h (3 Feb 2010)

gasman":1qyxzxq4 said:


> Thanks for that Dibs-h.... I have since found www.antiquedesktopleathers.com who have sent me a lovely sample of a hide which they will sell for GBP12 a sq foot which would work out at about 80 quid for what I need... so I think that would be more reasonable but if you have other better ideas that would be great.
> I have a day off tomorrow and am going to make the desktop then
> Gasman



A hide is typically 45-50 sq feet and you can expect to pay anywhere from £70 upwards for a hide. You are looking at around £100 on average and nappas for double that - but I would have thought nappa would too soft for a desk inlay.

Try something like,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CREAM-LEATHER-HID ... _836wt_939

I'm sure the seller must do other colours as well and perhaps offcuts.

In the past I've used - http://www.yarwood.co.uk/ - they are very local and they will sell single hides to you and me. They are very helpful and would be worth ringing their sales people and telling them the application and they should be able to advise on the specifics.

Or find a local car retrimming firm - they may well have offcuts that are suitable (obviously not everyone has nappa leather used for interiors). From you price per sqf and total - I'm guessing you want around 6.5sqf - i.e. just bigger than 3'x2' - can see you not getting a suitable offcut.

HIH

DIbs


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## gasman (5 Feb 2010)

Some reasonable progress made yesterday with a full day in the 'shop
First I finished the basic framework of the base of the table - dominoing and glueing in the 2 'sides' as follows. This construction allows the width of the central drawer to be exactly controlled:





I have also reinforced the back corners and will do the same to the front corners
Then started work on the table top - I cut an 18mm piece of MDF to exactly 1150x560 inches then cut 4 pieces of ash as the sides which were 45x22mm and cut the mitres carefully on the table saw. The ends were dominoed with 8mm dominos whilst for the sides I used 5mm (Festool purists would say I should use 6mm but I happened to have alot of 5s and few 6s)




Glued this all up in one big go and clamped it - not enough long clamps so had to improvise




Then whilst this was glueing went back to the frame which was now dry and added the drawer supports




When the top was dry I unclamped it and cleaned up the a
ash - the mitres came out reasonably well




There is going to be a semi-circular beading of ebony on the bottom of all the vertical sides of this table which contrasts well with the ash so I set up a bearing guided bead cutter in the router table and cut 6x2 feet lengths of the bead








Finally I started thinking about the profile of the sides of the top part of the writing desk which will have a sigmoid curve on them down to the desktop - so I made a template from MDF




and then cut the two pieces from 22mm olive ash


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## MickCheese (5 Feb 2010)

Looking Great.  

Mick


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## TrimTheKing (5 Feb 2010)

gasman":1gxniqgg said:


> ...I cut an 18mm piece of MDF to exactly 1150x560 inches...


Are you sure? :shock: if so then this next pic means your assembly table is at least 95ftx46ft!!! 


gasman":1gxniqgg said:


>


I want your wokshop if it's that big 

BTW very nice work so far, can't wait to see it finished.


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## gasman (5 Feb 2010)

I knew someone would pick me up on that when I reread it after posting this morning! I originaly put down 45x22 inches but then realised I had some measurements in imperial and some metric and I thought I'd get told off for that too! Actually the shed is 17x11 FEET!


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## gasman (8 Feb 2010)

Steady progress again this weekend
First I decided I did not think the sigmoid slop of the sides was steep enough so I made another template and recut both sides - much happier with this version




Then for the back I used up some 'scrap' pieces of about 10mm thick which I jointed using, for the first time, the 4mm domino cutter and dominos in anger and it was very successful - needed to shim the domino out a bit as the stock is so thin




Then made the drawer for the base
Handcut dovetails (which I don't do very often)




Then a layer of sanding sealer on the inside of the 4 pieces after they have been sanded then scraped




I was moderately happy with the drawer - not perfect but OK




and it looked OK in the base once dry and cleaned up




Finally yesterday I sanded the front of the top down to the same profile as the sides using a belt sander, then the Rotex then a full sheet rotary sander until it was exact and dry fitted the whole thing as it is at present




I won't get much done this week - busy week at work
Thanks for looking


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## wizer (8 Feb 2010)

This is coming on nicely. I love the mixture of dominos and hand cut dovetails. It's nice to see dominos getting used on fine furniture. This is shaping up to be the nicest build we've seen for a while!


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## OPJ (8 Feb 2010)

I'm also liking this a lot. 

What do you pay for olive ash? To me, it just looks like the darker heartwood with none of the lighter stuff or sap? If that's how they cut it then, it's obviously more wasteful and, one would assume, more expensive.


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## gasman (8 Feb 2010)

Hi Olly
I pay GBP25 a cube for ash - Eynsham sawmills have alot of good stuff and if you are prepared to have a good sort through the boards, there is a goodish quantity of quartersawn olive ash, with crown cut etc as well. I do use the lighter sapwood but agree the darker heartwood is what makes the stuff lovely. This is the 4th table of various sorts I have made from the ash / ebony combo and I love the final results of the contrast with the pale wood
Thanks for your comments - just ordered the black leather hide today


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## Boz62 (8 Feb 2010)

Really impressive stuff. Enjoying this one 

Boz


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## gasman (10 Feb 2010)

I need some advice on a couple of things please...
The leather hide is being delivered today apparently - very exciting as I have been waiting for this before I decide what sort of decoration to do on the rest of the desk. 
Under the curved top piece there are going to be 2 drawers in the centre, 65mm high x 360mm wide x 200mm deep - ie occupying the central 1/3 of the back of the desktop under the cover piece (shown below). The drawers will be set back about 30mm under the lip. The drawer fronts are going to be cut from one piece of olive ash and there will not be any framework visible around them apart from the 2 vertical sides. At the moment I am thinking of the following decorative features - but I don't want this to be too fussy or 'busy' and would welcome your opinions




First, there will be the black leather top inlaid into the ash which will go back to either side of the central drawer unit
Second, I am definitely going to fit 10 mm semicircular ebony moulding all the way round the bottom of the vertical sides of the base - I have done this on a previous table and it looks good I think
Then I am down to 2 choices:
Either...a thin (1.6mm) line of ebony stringing inlaid into the curved top about 4cm in from the side all round similar to this 




... and then have the 2 top drawers with just a simple 10mm spherical turned ebony knob
Or..... no stringing on top but to put some more fancy inlaid work on the front of the drawers - perhaps something along the lines of this on a circular mirror I made previously. This can be done so it goes across both drawer fronts to 'disguise' the drawers




or perhaps something a bit more fancy along the lines of the inlay on the sewing box for the MIL which I finished last month (although obviously not with a sewing theme:




Finally, could I also ask advice about fitting the leather top - I believe one should use wallpaper glue to fix it - but it is going on to MDF - so I was thinking to seal the MDF first with sanding sealer - will that be OK? and how liquid does the glue need to be?
Thanks for advice
Gasman


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## WoodAddict (10 Feb 2010)

nice looking desk, I'm looking forward to the final pics


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## wizer (10 Feb 2010)

It's a hard call. You are obviously well skilled with inlay, so that doesn't have to be a consideration. Personally I like things to be understated and not fussy. Accent lines in ebony sounds good. I think the thickness of the inlay depends on the setting the table will sit. Thicker\wider lines would look more masculine IMO. Ultimately, it's your (and the client's) call.


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## gasman (10 Feb 2010)

Thanks Tom - but I am the client!
I was just asking for opinions as to which way to go


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## eoinsgaff (10 Feb 2010)

Gasman, 

I've no experience with leather and you may well have considered the following but:

When I was using Lino (I'm not sure why) in a similar situation (school computer desk top) I used the flexible floor glue to bond it to the MDF. I cut the Lino to fit perfectly and added a trim to close it off. 

For some unknown reason the top seemed to contract and lift at the corners. It may have been because I didn't seal the MDF although I cant see how. Food for thought though. 

How would contact cememt react with the leather? Would it be an option? Maybe not but there would be no fear of movement anyway...

I'll be watching this one closely to see how you get on with the leather. Its also shaping up to be a lovely table. I couldn't see where it was going until the curved olive ash sides were added. I now think it could be a spectacular piece. Best of luck with it and keep those templates in case you might have to mass produce it!!!

Eoin


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## woodbloke (10 Feb 2010)

Nicely done...this one is coming on well - Rob


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## JWF (10 Feb 2010)

Gasman

I recently replaced a leather skiver in a antique bureau and used wallpaper paste, granted it was onto wood and not MDF. I mixed the paste according to the packet and it worked well. I would suggest not to use a contact adhesive as does not allow any room for manoeuver. I wouldn't expect MDF to be a problem as the face seems to have a shiney finish and this may prevent the glue from soaking in too quickly.. Try a leather offcut first.
John


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## Mr Ed (10 Feb 2010)

I really like this Gasman - very elegant forms.

Ed


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## gasman (11 Feb 2010)

Thanks for your comments - and thanks Eoin for your suggestions about sticking the leather down. However I have searched Google extensively and virtually every place seems to use wallpaper paste to stick down the hide. It arrived yesterday and is beautiful. I ended up getting the slightly dearer, thicker hide which was £95 delivered for a 45x22 inch piece - I was happy to pay that as I think it is excellent quality. 
I am going to finish the base completely this weekend then think about the decoration of the top again. All the pieces of the 2 top drawers are ready to be assembled so virtually everything is in place. another week and it should be done.


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## gasman (15 Feb 2010)

Some progress but a busy day at work on saturday and a bit frustrating on sunday so I ended up behind where I thought I would be and do not think I will finish by this weekend
However, I started by adding the ebony semicircular edging to the sides of the desktop base 




and then cleaned it up
Bought it inside to cure the glue properly




Then finished off the small drawers in the top part and cut 1/8 inch grooves ready to take a 1/8th base using a new 1/8" downcutting spiral bit from wealden




The ash surround for the table top was quite difficult to plane - everything I tried resulted in tearout no matter how sharp the blade or from which direction. Tom L-N at Rycotewood was trying to persuade me that a low angle jack plane is the answer to all such problems - certainly it made a very good job of the piece of ash we planed on friday morning which had some tricky grain patterns too... perhaps I will have to save up some pennies! 
Anyway I ended up using a scraper plane which I had been given years ago and had never really used in anger until yesterday - it gave a fantastic result and the burr seemed to last for ages: It is the medium cabinet make's scraper plane with a 45 degree bevel and it was a joy to use once I had taken the corners off the blade with a fine diamond stone




Finally I put the leather hide on the table top just to see what it looked like - and I was not disappointed with it - but I will put that away out of harm's way until everything else is finished




Thanks for looking


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## gasman (18 Feb 2010)

It has been a frustrating week - late days at work and only able to get out for an hour or so after work each day.
First I finished and glued up the 2 drawers for the desktop




Then very carefully routed rebates in a thin piece which will act as the base of the drawer unit. 




Once this was done I could glue together the drawer cabinet in the desktop. This was domino'd with 8mm dominos




Once the glue on the drawers was dry, I cleaned them up and then 'dry-fitted' them into the cabinet. I have definitely decided on simple ebony spheres for the drawer handles




So I mounted a 100x25x25 piece of ebony in the lathe and turned a sort of triple dumbell shape (sorry forgot the photo) but I wanted the grain on the spheres to run sideways on the final drawer so I then cut the dumbell up into the 3 balls on the bandsaw, drilled a 3mm hole in the 'side' of each sphere and then inserted a stainless screw to mount the sphere. This was then mounted in the chuck on the lathe and the sphere finished off with 150 thru 400 grit paper so that I ended up with 3 spheres 20mm in diameter (1 is a spare)




Finally this week I started thinking about the inlay on the curved top of the desk... I am very loath to cut this with a router as I really want this to be a fine 1.6mm line and the router always tends to wander as it usually requires more than 1 pass to get the right depth when using such fine router bits. So I have been practising with my straight line inlay cutter which I have to admit is a home-made version of the Lie Nielsen cutter but at a fraction of the price. I tried it out on a spare piece of ash and the result on cross-grain was OK.




So my favourite job - inlaying - is finally approaching. I will find a time over the weekend when I feel calm and steady!
Thanks for looking
Gasman


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## Matt_S (18 Feb 2010)

Haven't enjoyed watching a WIP this much in ages.

The desk is looking really good, and your interpretation of the design is looking like an improvement!


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## wizer (18 Feb 2010)

Like the dumbells. Lots of pics of the inlay process pls.


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## gasman (18 Feb 2010)

Thanks very much for your kind comments
Tom I will do my best to take lots of pics. I just splashed out and bought a new blade for the inlay cutter from Axi and I hate ordering less than GBP50... so I bought the only other inlay tool I think I will ever need which is the Thicknessing Gauge http://www.axminster.co.uk/product....ie-Nielsen&name=&user_search=&sfile=1&jump=48. This will be extremely useful as at present I thickness the ebony down to 3mm or so on the Makita 2012, then cut thin strips on the upside-down mounted jigsaw, then thickness by hand down to the required 1.6mm thickness using a card scraper - which is very laborious. 
My mouse hand was hovering over the L-N fishtail chisels as well after spending time with one of then and Tom L-N at Rycotewood last week - but I think that would be extravagant as I have finished all the half-blind dovetails I will be cutting for a while - damn!
Cheers
Mark


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## gasman (20 Feb 2010)

Just finished inlaying the top and it went fairly well with no major cock-ups Lots of photos coming up (Tom you asked for them!)
First I opened up the inlay box which contains lots of appropriate goodies...




Then I took the ends of the desktop and ensured the sides were all straight and parallel before card-scraping it carefully




Here is the finished drawer unit with the turned ebony knobs. You can see the right hand side of the top drawer is not a perfect fit - really disappointed about this and I will do something about this tomorrow




The basic design was going to be as follows: with a line 20mm in from the sides all round




Here's the hand made straight line inlay cutter which looks remarkably similar to the L-N one...




I did however put the new blade on it - I can't believe they can charge GBP12 for this!




Then you just start very slowly and carefully, with the blade as high as it will go so the cut will only go about 0.5mm... then you go round the whole thing at that depth, then lower the blade and repeat, then again etc until the cut is about 2mm deep




All the straight cuts have now been made and there are just the 4 quadrants to cut




Here is the radius cutter, together with the extension bars (not needed for this tight curve, radius 30mm, and also a square of polycarbonate (from a festool jigsaw) which is stuck to the wood using double-sided tape and is used as the pivot for the radius cutter




So now the cutting is all finished and the inlays need to be made




First the corners and some of the lines need to be cleaned up - this is a Beaver blade which is a very fine scalpel and is very useful for this sort of fine work




Also at this stage I put on a pair of loupes - these are dental loupes which I bought years ago and which have a 4x magnification at a focal length of about 9 inches


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## gasman (20 Feb 2010)

So a 3mm thick sheet of ebony was cut up using the Proxxon small table saw into pieces just under 2mm thick




Then these are thicknessed by hand using a card scraper to the corect thickness of about 1.6mm - the L-N thicknesser I had ordered from Axi was not in stock - next time I will use that as hand-thicknessing with a card scraper is tedious
I use Titebond 3 in a 5ml syringe using an 18G drawing up needle to inject the glue directly into the groove. This is good as the glue stays for months in the syringe without going off. Here is the first quadrant done. I use a very sharp low angle block plane to clean off the material standing proud immediately after the piece is in just in case it has to be removed immediately. The quadrants took several attempts as for ebony this is as tight a radius as is possible without steaming the wood




After about 2 and a half hours I was done and, except for a sore back, it had gone quite well




So I think one more day and it will be done
Thanks for looking


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## MikeG. (20 Feb 2010)

Looking great so far. I am puzzled by how you prepared the ebony. Surely you didn't use it straight from the circular saw? Or.......penny dropping.....you use it on edge, with the sawn edges top & bottom........ 8) 

Mike


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## gasman (20 Feb 2010)

Mike the thicknesser I ordered from Axi has not arrived - so I cut it to 2mm on the little circular saw (which gives a great edge) and then thickness it by hand with a card scraper - that way you can make it with a slight wedge so it fits very snugly in the groove.
I guess the other thing I could do is double side tape 2 thinner pieces together and pass them through the thicknesser like that


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## Paul Chapman (20 Feb 2010)

Great work, gasman. Looking really good.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## chingerspy (20 Feb 2010)

Wow thanks for the WIP photos of the inlay process! Would love to try it sometime in the future.


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## Boz62 (21 Feb 2010)

Lovely. Wish I had your patience!

Boz


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## woodbloke (21 Feb 2010)

Good inlay stuff. Not something that really grabs me, but well executed none the less - Rob


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## Mr Ed (21 Feb 2010)

Really nice Gasman, I think the inlay adds a subtle definition to the shape of the piece. Its something I've been meaning to have a go at, ever since watching Garrett Hack at West Dean a couple of years ago.

Ed


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## MickCheese (21 Feb 2010)

That looks fantastic. A true craftsman.

Mick


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## woodsworth (21 Feb 2010)

When you cut with the grain does it tend to try following the grain? How much force does it take to make it cut a straight line with grain?


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## gasman (21 Feb 2010)

It does not try to wander provided you don't push too hard. The first shallow cut is the most important and the most risky if you like - but provided you go gradually, not exerting much pressure it is OK. 
Another trick I have learnt is to angle the blade slightly away from the direction you are going - so when I am using the straight line cutter right handed, with the wood on the left side of the cutter, I have the blade tilted back a few degrees to start with so I am dragging the blade rather than pushing it if you see what I mean. 
The thing which does complicate this slightly is that, if you look at the photo of the blade, you should be able to see that it only has 2 teeth - one which cuts the left edge of the groove and one the right - so that's why I end up cutting the intersections of lines by hand with the beaver blade


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## woodsworth (21 Feb 2010)

Thanks for the tips and freely sharing pictures of it in progress. I will keep this in mind if i get creative one of these days.


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## gasman (21 Feb 2010)

Another couple of hours free this afternoon which I spent glueing on the ends of the desktop, sanding / scraping all the surfaces, putting sanding sealer on the top and bottom and 'fettling' (wrong word I know) the drawers etc to make them fit more smoothly
It is difficult o put off anymore the major step remaining - cutting the leather to size! HELP very scary moment
However I just found this website http://antiquerestorers.com/LEATHERinstall.htm which goes through it in words of one syllable so will get wallpaper glue this week, inwardly digest this article and then do the cutting when I feel brave enough


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## wizer (22 Feb 2010)

Just caught up with this. Thanks for all the pics.  Really wanted to see this process and the result so far looks great.

I saw a jig somewhere recently for using a bobbin sander for thicknessing thin strips. Something I must make!


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## gasman (22 Feb 2010)

Tom I would be very interested if you can find this link - I would then have to buy a bobbin sander of course, but that's much cheaper than a drum sander


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## Mr Ed (22 Feb 2010)

gasman":1ft1lzp4 said:


> Tom I would be very interested if you can find this link - I would then have to buy a bobbin sander of course, but that's much cheaper than a drum sander



There was a guy at Harrogate demonstrating exactly this on his stall selling sanding drums, unfortunately I can't remember what company it was. As I recall his jig was nothing more than an adjustable fence that he moved up to the sanding drum and ran the piece through.

Ed


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## OPJ (22 Feb 2010)

wizer":24huu907 said:


> I saw a jig somewhere recently for using a bobbin sander for thicknessing thin strips. Something I must make!



As Ed says, all you really need is a simple 90° MDF or plywood fence, clamped to the table. Or, you could make an MDF sub-table (like Argee) and fix it to that.

If you've got cash to burn (!), MagSwitch's resaw fence would also work - without clamps - though, it's rather expensive if you don't already have most of the accessories.

What I'd like to know is how you can _make_ your own bobbin sleeves... I know you can buy them cheaper than at Axminster elsewhere but, sometimes I could do with some _really_ course abrasives on there... :twisted:


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## wizer (22 Feb 2010)

cheers I sort of remembered how it was done, would have been useful when making the splines for the jewellery box (which was a pita).

I'm sure the Carol drums could be 'hacked' to fit. Something along the lines of getting someone with a metal lathe to make you a 'bolt' to match the reverse thread of the bobbin and fix it to the carol drum somehow. Must be possible.


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## gasman (27 Feb 2010)

A frustrating week as very little is left to do but I have had no time
I completed the assembly of the upper part of the desktop by simply screwing the upper part from below the desktop - I know the purists would object to such pieces of metal being used in cabinet-making but this was definitely the easiest way for me. After sander sealer all over, I gave it 2 coats of Fiddes hardwax oil. This ash has taken on a lovely pinky colour - no urine in sight at all - hope it stays that way.





The drawers got one last bit of 'fettling' to get them to fit and slide properly and were waxed




The last things to do were to fix the desktop to the base which I did with small blocks of wood screwed to the underside of the desktop in slots to allow movement and then screwed to the inside of the sides
I also took 40mm off all the legs to get to final height (800mm)
I cut the hide with a new scalpel blade on an old table top




And here it is waiting to be glued - just need a wallpaper roller which I will get this weekend and then it will be finished




Thanks for looking


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## OPJ (27 Feb 2010)

That's interesting - why did you apply a coat of sealer before the hardwax oil? Desk is looking great.


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## gasman (1 Mar 2010)

Glued up the leather hide desktop late saturday night. 
Cut a lock in the drawer on saunday - finally finished the whole thing
Thanks for the helpful comments / suggestions over the whole project. OPJ thanks for your query about the finish.... I appreciate that Fiddes hardwax oil is meant to be used straight onto the wood but I have finished a couple of projects in this way now and I do think you get less colouring of the wood by using the cellulose sanding sealer first. Just my opinion
Annoyingly Flickr will not let me upload images for now - will post final images later today


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## gasman (1 Mar 2010)

OK Flickr started playing again - so here are 4 photos of the finished desk


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## TrimTheKing (1 Mar 2010)

=D> 

Very nice indeed. I really like the design, very moderne.


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## Paul Chapman (1 Mar 2010)

Nice job, gasman 8) The leather work seems to have gone well. 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Chris Knight (1 Mar 2010)

Great job - thanks for the photos and story.


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## Boz62 (1 Mar 2010)

A credit to you Sir . Very very nice. Ticks all the right boxes for me. 

Boz


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## Sportique (1 Mar 2010)

Beautiful desk Gasman, thanks for the detailed post. It has been useful 'cos I have to replace the leather on my own desk sometime.

Great

=D> 

Dave


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## gasman (1 Mar 2010)

Actually I got myself all worked up about the leather and it was a complete doddle in point of fact. I spent ages cutting it exactly to the mm... when in fact if it is within 5mm you can easily stretch / compress it to the right size as long as you use wallpaper glue - the website I found which gave the details of the technique was brilliant tho'. Thanks for all your nice comments


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## OPJ (1 Mar 2010)

Wow, the timber's come out really well. I know that's olive ash but, the oil doesn't appear to have darkened it much at all (just like you said! :wink.


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## Matt_S (1 Mar 2010)

That will be an absolute pleasure to sit at, beautiful!


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## wizer (1 Mar 2010)

Beautiful. Well done. True craftsmanship.


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## The Shark (2 Mar 2010)

Hi Gasman,
Top Job! It looks excellent.
Thanks for going to the trouble of writing the post and taking the pictures, a very interesting read.

Malc


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## Oryxdesign (2 Mar 2010)

Great job. Thanks for sharing.


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## william (29 Nov 2010)

Fantastic job, I'm looking at building a desk myself, could you tell me where you got the leather for the top.


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## NewtoWood (29 Nov 2010)

Beautifully crafted - an heirloom to be sure.

Could I ask what the cost in materials was for the whole project?


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## Chataigner (30 Nov 2010)

Very nice indeed. Thanks for taking all the time to photo and post so much detail, much appreciated.


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## worsley947 (30 Nov 2010)

Stunningly beautiful fantastic piece of work well done


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## jimmy rivers (1 Dec 2010)

Looks lovely, well done! :ho2


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## gasman (1 Dec 2010)

I had not looked at this site for a few weeks and then saw this project which was 'finished' 6 months ago but has now been resurrected. 
So... there are quite a few leather places out there I got mine from http://antiquedesktopleathers.com/
Thanks again for all your helpful and kind comments
Mark


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