Pennsylvania secretary

[Al Launier]

What a gorgeous exhibit of craftsmanship! That legacy furniture will astound those who see it for the person you obviously are. Wonderful piece of furniture indeed.

Hopefully you'll build many more for many years to come.

[Karl Andersson]

Bob,
thanks for sharing your story and the project - significant achievements all around.
Karl

[Christopher Charles]

Bob,

Thanks for an inspiring story! A beautiful piece. Congrats!

Chris

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Wow...what a nice piece.

[Stew Denton]

Bob,

Beautiful! I love the classic design and it is well executed.

Stew

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work Bob....Also hope you heal quickly,

[Derek Cohen]

Bob, not only is that a wonderful piece that most of us just aspire to build - and you have done so, and beautifully - but I also want to know how treatment has progressed? It sounds optimistic.

Regards from Auckland

Derek

[Bob Glenn]

Thanks to all. Your input means a lot to me. Bob

[Bob Glenn]

Bob, not only is that a wonderful piece that most of us just aspire to build - and you have done so, and beautifully - but I also want to know how treatment has progressed? It sounds optimistic.

Regards from Auckland

Derek

Thanks for your concern, Derek. I started losing weight three years ago and was quickly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Most die with in a year since there are usually no symptoms until it's too late. They caught mine early enough to surgically remove the tumor, half my pancreas part of my stomach and 30 lymph nodes. It was a six hour surgery followed by eight days in the hospital and six months of chemo. I have been given a one in five chance of surviving this, however, now out of chemo, I get a CT scan every three to six months looking for cancer recurrence. My oncologist says this cancer usually recurs within the first year and usually in the liver. Latest scan showed no cancer anywhere and my liver is great. They won't talk about being cured until five years, but I'm three years in to this and doing well, so everyone is keeping their fingers crossed.

This has been a life changing event and curiously it has positive side. I no longer take any moment or day for granted. Life is precious, don't waste a minute.

Well, I've gone on too long about this, but thanks for asking. I'm going to be okay! Bob Glenn

[Tony Wilkins]

Thanks for your concern, Derek. I started losing weight three years ago and was quickly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Most die with in a year since there are usually no symptoms until it's too late. They caught mine early enough to surgically remove the tumor, half my pancreas part of my stomach and 30 lymph nodes. It was a six hour surgery followed by eight days in the hospital and six months of chemo. I have been given a one in five chance of surviving this, however, now out of chemo, I get a CT scan every three to six months looking for cancer recurrence. My oncologist says this cancer usually recurs within the first year and usually in the liver. Latest scan showed no cancer anywhere and my liver is great. They won't talk about being cured until five years, but I'm three years in to this and doing well, so everyone is keeping their fingers crossed.

This has been a life changing event and curiously it has positive side. I no longer take any moment or day for granted. Life is precious, don't waste a minute.

Well, I've gone on too long about this, but thanks for asking. I'm going to be okay! Bob Glenn

praying for complete remission.

[Mike Henderson]

Beautiful job, Bob. Couple of questions:

1. Did you purchase plans for the secretary or draw your own? If you drew your own, how did you choose the dimensions? I know Gottshall published plans for many antiques in his books but I'm not sure if he did a Pennsylvania secretary.

2. How did you shape the top curved molding (I guess you might call it the crest molding)? Did you use a shaper? If a router, how did you get that profile? Or did you shape it by hand?

3. How is the top section attached to the bottom? It obviously needs to be a very solid attachment.

Great job on the secretary - it's a lot of work.

Mike

[Bob Glenn]

Hi, Mike. Thanks for looking. I bought Glen Huey's book, "Illustrated guide to Building Period Furniture". It was the initial inspiration for the project and constant reference. I doesn't have measured drawings, however there is an exploded view of the secretary and a bill of material with approximate sizes. While it guided me, I looked at lots and lots of pictures on line for ideas. A lot of the details are my own.

As I stated, the capitol molding was one of the hardest parts. It took me a long time to figure out how to make it considering my skill and equipment. I think the book says to use some custom profiled router bits, however, that gets into lots of expense. I wish I could say it is hand carved which I considered doing. My half set of hollows and rounds were useless since it curves, so I finally settled on laying out the curves on three different pieces of wood then routing the various profiles and gluing it all up into one piece. I extended the curves of the molding out enough that I could cut the miters as one piece after glue up. I sort of cheated, but I like the result and you would be hard pressed to know how I did by looking at the piece. I also considered making the capitol molding with straight lines as in the secretary build in FWW a couple years ago, however, I glad I spend the extra time and effort on the curved molding. I think it adds a dramatic statement to the piece.

The top piece is separate from the bottom and is NOT attached to the bottom case. The waist molding separating the two pieces is attached to the top case and hides the dove tails on sides of the bottom and top cases. It is heavy enough to just sit without any anchoring.

Thanks for your interest. I am flattered by all the compliments. This is a great group to be associated with. Bob

[Jim Koepke]

The top piece is separate from the bottom and is NOT attached to the bottom case. The waist molding separating the two pieces is attached to the top case and hides the dove tails on sides of the bottom and top cases. It is heavy enough to just sit without any anchoring.

Unless it is on the west coast. Then you would not only want them attached to each other, but also anchored to the wall just in case old shakey decides to roll over.

jtk

[Dave Beauchesne]

Wonderful Bob - you have been through so much - looks like things are working in your favor, and, you spent lots of quality time with the secretary.

Dave B

[Thomas Kila]

Seriously, Bob...that's beautiful work. The largest thing I've ever built was a Shaker Chest of Drawers (obviously, with no embellishments). And that took me six months! I can't even wrap my head around taking on a project a complex as yours. Thank you for sharing!

Earl