18th century curly maple secretary

[lou sansone]

hi guys
I have been busy with lots of things, but have found time to finish this piece for my office. photos are not the best, but you get the idea. I am planning on moving to building federal pieces for my next few challanges. But this one is sure nice to look at.

enjoy

lou

[lou sansone]

couple more for completeness

lou

[Joe Leigh]

Wow...you win.

[Bruce Page]

That is absolutely stunning work Lou. The wood selection is outstanding and the gallery detail is incredible. Oh yeah, the finish doesn’t look to shabby either.

You should submit this to the FWW gallery

[Alan Jones]

Fabulous, what is the finish ?

[Glenn Clabo]

Sweet! Nice job!

[Baxter Smith]

I see something amazing here every day!

[gary Zimmel]

Stunning Lou.
My hat is off to you.....

The curl just doesn't stop in that maple.
Superb job again...

[Bill Huber]

All I can say is WOW !!!!!

That is one beautiful work of art.

[Paul Murphy]

Stunning! I can see countless hours in all the gallery details.

[Stan Mitchell]

That's really nice. Amazing project.

[Gary Herrmann]

Lou's back!

No machine pics this time? Just a beautiful secretary. Very nice job Lou.

[Joe Scharle]

Tooooo sweet!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That's excellent Lou! I was going to try one of them this winter, I'm inspired!

[Ted Calver]

Lou doesn't post much anymore, but when he does there's enough WOW!!! to make up for it :) :)

[Walter Plummer]

Excellent work! Congradulations. I am so envious.

[Bruce Page]

Lou, I’m drooling over your pictures again.
What are the two ~1” x 10” pieces just below the four hutch drawers for? (The ones with the single drawer pull)

[Peter Quinn]

Stunning. Just beautiful work there throughout.

[Brian Effinger]

Wow, that is really beautiful. I like the undulating drawers - they mimic the curly maple.

[Jim Tobias]

That is unbelievable!! The wood is gorgeous but the detail work on this piece really shows some superb skills. Even if I could make that piece, it would take me 5 years.

Jim

[John Keeton]

Good gosh, Lou!!!! That is phenomenal!

I recall that you used Moser dye (Honey Maple Amber??) on a CM piece one time - is this the same?

I agree that this is heirloom quality, and as good as anything I have seen in FWW.

[Tony Shea]

I agree that this is heirloom quality, and as good as anything I have seen in FWW.


I couldn't agree more. Absolutely stunning and incredibly inspirational. This is the reason I continue to make a habit in visiting this site. One of the most beautiful peices I've seen.

[John Stan]

Wow, that is exceptional. No really, that one is fantastic. The shop in the background looks pretty good as well. I would be curios on the dye color.

Thanks,
John

One more time ... very nice.

[Jay Brewer]

Lou, you do beautiful work. Every detail looks perfect.

Did you keep up with the hours it took to complete? Thanks for sharing

[keith ouellette]

Lou;

I can honestly say I have never respected and absolutely hated :) a wood worker so much all at once before. I guess I'm extremely jealous of your talent and will be throwing out all my tools tomorrow. (just kidding)

or maybe I should just say

WOW!

[Brad Patch]

Lou, I’m drooling over your pictures again.
What are the two ~1” x 10” pieces just below the four hutch drawers for? (The ones with the single drawer pull)


Probably a small shelf used to put candle sticks on for illumination.

[Ben Abate]

Very nice Lou, I see you are still doing the finest of work. Did you cut and dry the wood?

take care
Ben

[Dan Forman]

The piece is exquisite, the wood outrageous. What more can I say? Second the idea of submitting to FWW.

Dan

[Karl Card]

that is just beautiful. That actually gives me inspiration and if i had an office with it in it i would never get any work done due to just sitting there stairing at it...

[ROY DICK]

Nothing short of pure craftsmanship.
That is so sweet I think I got a cavity just admiring it.

Roy

[Thomas Snyder]

Stunning, did you use a specific set of plans? I'd like to know and believe I could tackle a project like this sometime as my capabilities improve.

[Roy Wall]

Lou --

Beautiful - a master craftsman you are....
The wood is spectacular and you make it speak out - wonderful!!

Please do tell us your source of wood and the finish........

[george wilson]

That is a beautiful piece!! There is nothing prettier than curly maple on a piece like that!! Great work.

[Dan Gill]

Somebody come get my tools. I can't compete with this.

[Jerry Olexa]

Lou, OUTSTANDING work!!! Good choice of materials, great attention to detail, lots of patience and a HEIRLOOM quality result!!! Be proud,,,Great work!!!

[mreza Salav]

What can I add that others have not said!
Beautiful masterpiece! well done in all aspects.

[Mike Henderson]

That is really impressive. Congratulations!

Mike

[Richard McComas]

That certainly is a beauty. Superior work. It so well done I don't know what more to say.

[Calvin Hobbs]

Lou,

Great secretary, always great to see your work. Stunning use of tiger maple. What's up next? Cal

[Scot Ferraro]

Wow -- that is simply amazing work!! Congrats!! How many hours did this piece take to complete? The wood and finish is amazing!!

Scot

[John A. Callaway]

I think the little 1x ?? whatever " with the single knobs in them are slide out support rails for the desktop ....

Great work sir. great work.

[lou sansone]

Stunning! I can see countless hours in all the gallery details.


Paul and others

this is the hard part of the piece- the rest is just plug and chug- lots of hand cut dovetails on the cases ( upper and lower). all the drawers are hand cut DT's

the drawer runners are also sliding dovetails and they are fussy. The feet are so so hard - do a few and they are not that bad. cut the curves on the table saw - you know the drill


thanks

lou

[lou sansone]

Good gosh, Lou!!!! That is phenomenal!

I recall that you used Moser dye (Honey Maple Amber??) on a CM piece one time - is this the same?

I agree that this is heirloom quality, and as good as anything I have seen in FWW.


my recipe for tiger is this

1. dye with 50/50 mixture of honey maple and amber maple dye
2. sand back everything once with 220 grit
3. dye it again with the same 50/50 mixture
4. oil with BLO and some turps - I like turps better and Mineral spirits - add some japan dryer
5. 2 coats of orange shellac
6. sand back smooth
7. several coats of nitro-cellulose
8. sand between coats
9. 0000 steel wool and wax

enjoy
lou

[lou sansone]

Very nice Lou, I see you are still doing the finest of work. Did you cut and dry the wood?

take care
Ben

hi Ben

this batch came from a nice farm in bimmington (sp) ny. (Do you mean Binghamton, NY (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=binghamton+ny&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Binghamton,+NY&gl=us&ei=KlRQS921Hs2xlAegsfSoCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBAQ8gEwAA) Lou?) they did the cutting and I did the drying. still have tons of it left - just waiting for some more projects

best wishes

lou

[lou sansone]

Stunning, did you use a specific set of plans? I'd like to know and believe I could tackle a project like this sometime as my capabilities improve.


hi tom
I usually do all of my own plans for pieces from photos from books. but this time I used some plans in FWW- what a mess! there were several mistakes in those plans ( no need to bash the guy who made the plans - we all make mistakes, but some of these were real doozies ) which caused me a real pain! never again will i use someone else's plans.

you are better off doing your own full size plans for complicate pieces like this.

can you make a piece like this? no problem. just take your time and you will get there. do some smaller pieces first to gain confidence and you should be fine.

the one advantage I have is my wide belt sander that makes processing highly figured wood and especially real thin stuff like in the gallery, with much ease. sure you can try other methods, but tear-out on big panels really gets costly and makes one quite upset.

best wishes
lou

[David Gendron]

I don,t know how I miss that? this is ... I don't know what to say... Outstanding...
How long have you been woodworking for? Is there any mistake, misshape, that you could share, just to make me feel better?
Thank you for sharing this, it's realy inspiering!

[jim tracy]

Mr. Sansone the surely doesn't suck...... you need an apprentice? :D:D:D

[Mike Zilis]

Outstanding! I'm completely blown away. I could do much worse than to aspire to your level of craftsmanship.

Thanks for the great photos.

-Mike

[jeremy levine]

Wow, color , cut , grain , form and workmanship !!

[Richard Chan]

WOW simply amazing WOW again

[Robert LaPlaca]

I usually do all of my own plans for pieces from photos from books. but this time I used some plans in FWW- what a mess! there were several mistakes in those plans ( no need to bash the guy who made the plans - we all make mistakes, but some of these were real doozies ) which caused me a real pain! never again will i use someone else's plans.

you are better off doing your own full size plans for complicate pieces like this.

can you make a piece like this? no problem. just take your time and you will get there. do some smaller pieces first to gain confidence and you should be fine.


best wishes
lou

Lou,

Very nice work, kind of interesting to see the secretary done in another wood. I know exactly what FWW issues the desk came from and I will not tell either.. As you know sometimes there was a great amount of detail in the plans, some times you had to infer the proper measurements and sometime, well you know..

[Willard Foster]

Did you use a plan? If so, from whom? I thought I saw a design similar in FWW a while ago.

Great work!

Bill

[Ron Bontz]

So how many hours do you estimate you have in this heirloom?

[Jim Becker]

Great work, Lou.

[Josh Rudolph]

Lou,

That is stunning work. I only hope to make something that nice in my lifetime.

Josh

[tyler mckenzie]

Stunning piece Lou.

[Cody Colston]

Another wonderful piece. There's some real eye candy in this forum lately. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Don L Johnson]

Lou,

I think I just got those same plans today in the mail. Were they the ones on a data cd that are in pdf format? If those are the same ones, any specific areas I need to look out for? Thanks,

[lou sansone]

thanks for the complements.

plans were found in FWW. I really did not like using other folks plans. it is a waste of time in my opinion. you have to double check then anyway and i usually draw many parts full scale to make sure they will fit together. so after futzing around with other plans, and not being able to read someone's mind, on some parts of the plan, why not just draw your own. the prospect door and compartment is the area where folks get skunked. there is a spacer block on the right hand side that is needed to allow the slide out box to get past the hinges. but the plans are not that clear on that detail and one can miss that fact, like I did. ended up with an extra prospect box with drawers sitting on the shelf as a good reminder that the devil is in the details

keep making dust

lou

[Dan O'Sullivan]

Lou
I am building a similar desk and I wondered?? Did you put locks on all of the drawers in the desk? I'm just not sure if its worth the cost/trouble?

In the past(3 other desks) I have installed locks and found I reall don't use them. I'm thinking I will install a lock in the small top drawer and establish the escutcheon plate position based on the lock pin position.

Any thoughts?

dan

[Gordon Eyre]

As a newcomer to the Creek, I am blown away by your attention to detail and the difficulty of the project you choose to make. Exceptional work and beautiful wood selection as well. I am impressed.

One question that I have is how you made the drawer fronts on the small drawers?

[Ron Jones near Indy]

WOW! There's just not much left to say.

[Don L Johnson]

Stunning! On my bucket list, but a ways off. Did you get your inspiration off pictures, plans, or what. As others have said, the wood selection and details are at the high end of the market/ability scale.

[Thomas love]

Just want to pile on ,nothing more nothing less to be said, thanks for posting, a splendid piece of work..... congrats, you should be proud.
tom.

[Van Huskey]

Missed this the first time around, but this is simply gorgeous!

[Dave MacArthur]

wow... glad this got bumped, I missed this first time too. Beautiful. Very glad Lou posted his finishing schedule also, nothing I would have ever thought. Amazing work!

[Peter Reiff]

What an impressive job!!

I am new here and really like the work the members share with us.

What did you use to make the Maple "POP" for a finish?

I am currently working with a buncha small pieces of Curly Maple.