Writing desk WIP

[gasman]

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

 

[CNC Paul]

WARNING

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


Looking good, keep up the WIP.

 

[gasman]

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.

 

[wizer]

Love the design, looking forward to this one.

 

[gasman]

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:

 

[woodbloke]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[Chems]

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.

 

[gasman]

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

 

[woodbloke]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[wizer]

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?

 

[Qwibble]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[wizer]

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

 

[gasman]

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...

 

[Dibs-h]

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).

 

[big soft moose]

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.

 

[gasman]

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