Writing desk WIP

[gasman]

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

 

[Dibs-h]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[MickCheese]

Looking Great.

Mick

 

[TrimTheKing]

...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!!!

I want your wokshop if it's that big

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

 

[gasman]

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!

 

[gasman]

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

 

[wizer]

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!

 

[OPJ]

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.

 

[gasman]

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

 

[Boz62]

Really impressive stuff. Enjoying this one

Boz

 

[gasman]

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

 

[WoodAddict]

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

 

[wizer]

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.

 

[gasman]

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

 

[eoinsgaff]

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

 

[woodbloke]

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

 

[JWF]

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

 

[Mr Ed]

I really like this Gasman - very elegant forms.

Ed

 

[gasman]

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.