Writing desk WIP

[gasman]

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

 

[Mr Ed]

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

 

[OPJ]

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:

 

[wizer]

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.

 

[gasman]

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

 

[OPJ]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[TrimTheKing]

=D>

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

 

[Paul Chapman]

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

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Chris Knight]

Great job - thanks for the photos and story.

 

[Boz62]

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

Boz

 

[Sportique]

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

 

[gasman]

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

 

[OPJ]

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.

 

[Matt_S]

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

 

[wizer]

Beautiful. Well done. True craftsmanship.

 

[The Shark]

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

 

[Oryxdesign]

Great job. Thanks for sharing.

 

[william]

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