Not my normal sort of Cabinet work.

[Cabinetman]

Just coming to the end of a mammoth desk job, I estimate its weight at almost a quarter of a ton. It has a 3 inch thick oak L-shaped top set on three barrels which are sat on drums made from 10 mil thick stainless steel and the idea is that the top floats above the barrels and the barrels float off the floor. All made to the clients design. Not my thing really! Not sure if I can show you the finished thing next week, I shall have to clear it with the client.
So I just wanted to show you how I attached the stainless drums to the barrels. First off the marking out has to be exact, that stainless steel can’t be "nudged", so I made that funny little wooden thing with a spike in the end to make the first marks, I then used a spike to make them a little bit bigger, then pilot drill hole, opened up to 6 mm and then counter sunk a little bit. That helped start the bolt but it was mainly because when the bolt goes in it causes the wood around the hole to swell up slightly. A little bit of candle wax on the thread never goes amiss. I think the bolts are called dowel screws. A little chunk of plywood acts as a depth stop. Ian

 

[clogs]

so Caister is the end of the universe for the internet....sorry.....
be nice to see the rest of the project tho....

 

[MikeG.]

Did you do the coopering?

 

[Inspector]

I'd like to see as much as your client will allow you to show.

What you call a dowel screw we call a hanger bolt. Wood thread at one end and machine thread on the other. A dowel screw would have wood threads at each end.

Pete

 

[Cabinetman]

Thank you, i’m sure he won’t mind but he is a very private person.
Hanger bolt? Well you could hang a car off those! Definitely not going anywhere. Which is the whole point I couldn’t have the top crashing on top of my client could I, it weighs 250 lbs, That’s 18 stone for us English people.

Hi Mike, yes but it’s not traditional as the barrels are elliptical and so I had to put tongues in between the staves and where the staves joined wasn’t at right angles to the surface of the barrel, this meant that I had to run the staves through the spindle moulder raised at an angle so that the face was against the fence. Oh and there is door in each one, but all are different.
To be perfectly honest I shall be very glad to see the back of this job.

 

[MikeG.]

Blimey, there's a degree of complication there.

 

[AndyT]

I read the thread twice wondering what it was, then spotted the word "desk." Are you sure that's what it is? He must have some very heavy papers! But a challenging looking job indeed, even just shifting it round the workshop must be difficult!

 

[Cabinetman]

Yes, fortunately I have a couple of tables on casters which are the same height as my bench so I can move it from one to the other, the problem has been really compounded since I fastened the drums onto the barrels, there is no way I can pick them up now . The words Rod and own back come to mind ha ha