Lap Desk In A Weekend

[Chris Griggs]

LOML is out at her parents this weekend and I have been left to my own devices. II've been wanting to build a shaker lap desk for a while, and yesterday I ran across this old plan (http://mysqlweb.myftp.org/Woodworking/Plans/shakerlapdesk.pdf)from the woodworkers journal.

Since I can't wrap up my other project until my hardware arrives I decided to challenge myself and see if I can complete the construction of this relatively simple project by the end of the weekend. Not only will I hopefully end up with a nice lap desk, but I'll get to use up a bunch of BORG pine cutoffs in the process.

Here's the progress so far after about 3 hours of work.

Carcass pieces roughly dimensioned.
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Dimensioning complete and ready for joinery
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Grooves cut and its time to start the dovetails.
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Sides are dovetailed to the back.
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Just finished lunch break, time to turn of the History channel special on the Dark Ages and get back to dovetailing the front.


More to come....

[Chris Griggs]

Knocking out a couple more dovetails.

Try as I might not everything always fits right of the saw. This dovetail is a little tight.
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So it's my super handy LN float to the rescue. I love this thing. Its like a paring chisel for the ham fisted.
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Much better.
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Case is done. Time for glue up and then time to prep more parts.
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[Jim Matthews]

So it's my super handy LN float to the rescue. I love this thing. Its like a paring chisel for the ham fisted.

Hang on now, that's a precision instrument in my shop.
Most of my dovetails rely on brute force clamping, filling gaps with shims and covering them with moldings.

The LN float is one of those rare tools that allows me to get the three sides of a dovetail close to flat.

"The noyve" to disparage such a noble implement...

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[Chris Griggs]

Hang on now, that's a precision instrument in my shop.
Most of my dovetails rely on brute force clamping, filling gaps with shims and covering them with moldings.

The LN float is one of those rare tools that allows me to get the three sides of a dovetail close to flat.

"The noyve" to disparage such a noble implement...

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Hehe! Jim you misread my post. It is indeed a precision instrument....so precision in fact that even the most ham-fisted of us can use it precisely. Said precision instrument was not disparaged, rather the ham fisted user of said precision instrument was disparaged...:)

Seriously, I love my float. It almost feels like cheating to use it. I can't believe they don't get more press. $60 gets you a tool that can do as much as a $150-$200 joinery plane.

[Bryan Robinson]

What size LN float do you use?

[Chris Griggs]

What size LN float do you use?

I have the 1" by 1/8" thick plane makers bed float (in push). I don't use it for plane making but, I wanted the 1" width, and a good bit of length w/o the offset of the joinery "cheek" float. Its got just a bit of flex to it (like and old thin paring chisel) and can be used very gently or very aggressively depending how much downward force you apply.

I've only had it like maybe 2 months tops but its become my favorite way top fit tenons and its good for tweaking tail boards if you just need to remove a sliver on a slighly tight dovetail. Seriously floats are suberb value in terms of what they can do for what you pay.

[Chris Griggs]

Well, didn't get as far as I had hoped (never do though), but had a pretty productive enjoyable day. Forming and fitting the breadboard moldings and their joints took some futzing and thus more time than I anticipated. Here's where I am.

Cutting the tongue on the lid and a shot of the breadboard molding after beveling, rabbeting and cutting a groove for the tongue.
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By the end of day on I have the case assemble w/ the dovetails planed flush and generally cleaned up. The lid is dry fit with to the breadboard ends, and several boards (not shown) are in clamps to make panel for the shelf and bottom.
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What's left? Dimension and install the case bottom and shelf; pin the breadboard ends to the lid; and build the drawer( dimension, cut joinery, glueup, etc...)

Not sure how much shop time I'll have tomorrow. Hoping to finish all glueing and construction, but we shall see. Could end up being a couple weekend project. Fun build though.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Hey, that's a really nice way of breadboarding. It gives me ideas for some things I want to make.

I'd never be able to finish this in a weekend; I hope you do! It's looking great!

[Chris Griggs]

I'd never be able to finish this in a weekend; I hope you do! It's looking great!

Thanks Frederico. I hope I finish too. Though the odds aren't looking my favor right now. Overslept...was hoping to get started an hour or so ago. Plus I really need to do some house cleaning before the Mrs. gets home. I'll get down to the shop shortly though and hopefully I'll make speedy progress today.

[Chris Griggs]

Nailing on the bottom after planing it down from three quarters to one quarter inch thick. Now I get to do the same thing with the shelf. A perfect example of where it sure would be nice to own a thickness planer.


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[Derek Cohen]

Go Chris! Go! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek (who knows there is too much to do in too little time!)

[Chris Griggs]

Go Chris! Go! :)

Regards from Perth

Derek (who knows there is too much to do in too little time!)

Hehe. Thanks Derek.:)

I've got everything made except the drawer. I need to attach the lid and dig out some hinges for it and then the whole thing will be assembled and I can get to the drawer. Unfortunately I need to take a break to get some house work done. BUT...I think I can get to the drawer today and once I get to it I can get it put together not to slowley...though I'll need to glue up a panel for the drawer bottom and then plane it down to 1/4"...

My optimistic prediction is that I'll get everything put together sans the drawer bottom before bed tonight....we'll see how much more shop time I get today though :)

[Chris Griggs]

The case is totally done (as are the dishes).

Everything is assembled, fitted and flushed. Thought I had some box hinges around, but couldn't find them so those will get installed this week after a trip to the BORG. Time to see if I can get this drawer knocked together.



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[Jim Ritter]

I built one from those plans years ago. I used Butternut and Walnut for the molding. It's a nice size. I cut enough wood for two. One with the drawer and one without. I still haven't put together the one with the drawer. I'll get to it someday.
Jim

[steven c newman]

Afraid mine took a little longer, since the lumber was a might on the rough side. But, Barn Wood can be like that264609inside, before the BLO/Varnish, and264610264611264612and a few coats and the front view264613Most of the "parts" came from one plank. Plus two pieces of Oak. Top is not a glue up.

[Chris Griggs]

After bit resawing, planing, and then cutting of tiny dovetails I have the makings of a drawer. So that's it for this weekend. I'm pleased that I got this far even though I didn't technically quite finish. I still need to make a bottom for the drawer and install a couple dividers right at the front of the drawer to hold pencils and such. I'll need to grab some cheep box hinges this week to attach the lid, and then of course, I need to decide on a finish. Maybe just some BLO, maybe some paint...IDK, I'll decide later. I'll post some pics when its done for real.

Thanks for reading. Please join us for our next segment of woodworking in my basement, when instead of "Lap Desk in a Weekend" we will completing "Philadelphia High Boy in a Fort Night" ;)

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[Chris Griggs]

I built one from those plans years ago. I used Butternut and Walnut for the molding. It's a nice size. I cut enough wood for two. One with the drawer and one without. I still haven't put together the one with the drawer. I'll get to it someday.
Jim

I think I recall you posting some pic of yours once. It was really nice. I had always planned on making one of these out of a nice hardwood, and have some figured maple around that i had originally planned to use. It would have been lovely, BUT I really wanted to get this done or near done this weekend. I totally did not want to thickness 4/4 hard maple down to 3/8 and 1/4 thick. Not only would that have been a lot of time and work but I would have hated to waste away all they maple.....i have some walnut that would have been nice but again didn't want waste it all away..It was nice to be able to use up a bunch of pine scraps instead, but I'd still like to make one out of walnut, maple, or cherry when I decide I want to put a little more time in to it.

[Jim Ritter]

Yup, I did post it a while ago. You might just inspire me to put the second one together.
Jim

[Dave Beauchesne]

Very nice Chris - I bet the floor was swept / vacuumed throughout the house before the Mrs. showed - well done - what about finish??

[Chris Griggs]

Very nice Chris - I bet the floor was swept / vacuumed throughout the house before the Mrs. showed - well done - what about finish??

Thanks Dave. Chores were in progress when LOML got home, but yes I did end up getting dishes done, floors swept (downstairs anyway) and laundry put away.

Haven't decided on finish yet. Paint maybe, otherwise I'll probably do some oil and shellac, maybe topped off with some varnish just for added protection since this will likely get knocked around a bit and perhaps exposed to alcoholic beverages.

[Chris Griggs]

I had about 30 minutes this morning before work to get down to the shop, so I took the opportunity to install one of the dividers in the drawer.

(which begs the question if I'm at work now than why am I posting this? Well, fortunately, lets just say I am a far more efficient data analyst then I am woodworker)

The dividers are only 1/8" thick and fortunately I had some resawn cutoffs left over from other parts of the desk so already had stock that was nearly at the thickness I needed. This really sped things up for me.

I begin by marking out 1/8" wide 1/16" deep stopped dado in the drawer sides. If this were larger, I would saw the walls first but they are so shallow and the wood is so soft that I can literally push a chisel to the depth to cut the fibers. Once the walls are defined I pare out the waste on each side of the dado with a wide chisel. I got stuck when it came to leveling out the center when I realized I don't have a chisel narrow enough to pare the length of the bottom and level it off. Then I remembered I bought a 3/32" router plane blade a while back for inlay work...well I haven't used it for that yet, but I was sure glad to have it here. I literally pulled it out of its unopened box and didn't take the time to hone it so the bottoms of the dado's are a little rough, but they are of even depth and no one will ever see the bottoms so giant who cares. I really do need to pick up a 1/8" chisel one of these days though...a router plane is total overkill for a dado this small and while I typically finish larger dados with it, these little guys would have been done quicker, easier and probably cleaner with a sharp 1/8" chisel.

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I then cut one of my thin offcuts to width and just a hair over length, and plane it down until it fits snuggly into the dados. I shoot it to its final length and my drawer has a divider. I still have another divider to add, which will divide the already divided section to create an approximately 3"x3" in the front corner of the drawer that will be just the right size for a stack of post-its. The remainder of the divided section will be for pens and pencils.


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[Mike Allen1010]

Awesome Chris!!

1) Lap desk project complete -- check.

2) Housecleaning done -- check.

3) Membership in Husband's union temporarily revoked -- check. Dude you're make the rest of us look really bad!

Very nice hand tool work -- I love the pictures -- thanks for sharing!

All the best, Mike

[Chris Griggs]

Awesome Chris!!

1) Lap desk project complete -- check.

2) Housecleaning done -- check.

3) Membership in Husband's union temporarily revoked -- check. Dude you're make the rest of us look really bad!

Very nice hand tool work -- I love the pictures -- thanks for sharing!

All the best, Mike

Thanks Mike. You're hilarious my friend!

-----

Had about 20-30 more minute last night to add the 2nd divider and glue up the drawer.

The dividers came out nice.

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The dovetails....Er....not so much...the worst I've cut in quite some time. Oh well, they hold plus I used my favorite trick to get them to appear better fitting, which works especially well with this soft as styrofoam BORG pine.

Step 1: Smash tails into pins with hammer, ensuring that you smash hard enough to fill gaps.

Step 2: Apply hot water to joint to swell smashed tails and pins further reducing and and hopefully eliminating any remaining gaps.

Step 3: Repeat as necessary to obtain desired effect.

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Hopefully, they look alright once I plane everything flush. And if they don't, meh, oh well, not that big a deal.

[Chris Griggs]

Okay, well its definitely not a lap desk in a weekend anymore, but really since I've only had short bits of time over the last couple days I think I can call it "lap desk in a long weekend" Or "lap desk in just a bit more then a weekend"

I had one last piece to put together, the drawer bottom, to call the construction complete (then its just hinges and finish/paint). As I look through my pile of pine cutoffs I'm left with 2 choices A) glue up two wide 3/4" thick pieces and then plane them down to 1/4" B) resaw a long narrow piece, glue up several thin pieces, and then do some light planing to get things down to the final 1/4" thickness.

I opt for option B. Why? Well the thing about making a piece from offcuts is that there is a reason they are off cuts THEY ARE FULL KNOTS. Normally, I loathe resawing and would much rather hog a wide panel of softwood down from 3/4" to 1/4 (not that that is ever fun either). These knots,however, are awful to plane through, BUT actually this soft pine even with all its knots is pretty easy to resaw through. So I grabbed an approximately 5 foot long 4 1/2" wide offcut and set about sawing...

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and sawing....
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and sawing...
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Until I have the most pointless book match on the planet
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...and by extension a drawer bottom made out of 5 pieces two pairs of which are bookmatched. Like I said, WAY too much work for a drawer bottom.
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Now I need to nail this on and fit the drawer and then the construction is complete for real. What fun this has been.

[Chris Griggs]

Well, after I didn't quite finish my "Lap Desk in a Weekend", in a weekend, I left town for a few days for a relaxing vacation in the "Gorges" Ithaca area. Got back on Monday and in the last couple nights got around to putting the hardware and finish on the lap desk. So its done. Fun build...I'm usually super slow and anal when I build things but on this I really tried to push myself to complete it quickly. Yes, I did make few mistakes that I might have avoided if I had gone at my usual tortoise pace, but honestly even when I'm going slow in an effort for "perfection" I still end up with mistakes. In the end I was pleased to find that going a good bit faster then usual didn't lead to many or any more imperfections than going super slow would have and I still ended up with a fairly nice piece.

This was a fun satisfying build. No idea if I'll actually use the thing, but it was nice just to bang something like this out and get some quick gratification from is completion. I would also highly recommend this as a skill building project for someone just getting into hand cut joinery and casework. Since it involves dovetailing, hinge mortising, as well fitting panels and drawers, it would really provide someone with a great way to apply these skills in a project without risking wasting a bunch of wood, and I think initial success with this would really set someone up for taking on larger/more complex cabinets/cases. The one part that might make this a little too tough for a total beginner is the thinness of the material and some the small scale joinery, but really you could get away with using slightly thicker material, and could either remove or adjust the size/construction of the drawer to fit ones skill level.

Thanks for looking. As always, questions and criticisms are welcome.

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[Federico Mena Quintero]

It's very pretty! Congratulations.

[Trevor Walsh]

The drawer is a nice addition there. When I use mine and I have to get at something, it would be nice to just pull out a drawer than to spread a hand to hold everything and lit the lid.

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks guys.

Trevor, funny of you to comment just now. I was searching threads on other lap desk builds and was literally looking at your old thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?188495-Pine-Lap-Desk) when you posted. I had totally forgotten that that thread was what got me wanting to build one of these in the first place. That was where Jim Ritter posted some nice pics of his too.

Yours looks very cleanly done, and had that LOVELY carved monogram under the lid, but you never post pics of the completed one. How about it man, would love see the finished product. When you have the chance you should stick some completed pics in this thread or your old thread.

Anyway, yeah the drawer was one of the reasons I picked this design over the Becksvoort one in FWW. I liked the idea of having a separate confined space where pens and post-it pads wouldn't roll around all over the place.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Chris

Excellent work! I followed your build every step of the way with much interest.

In addition to the lap desks of Trevor and Jim, I also posted one here a while ago .... mine used the "waste" of my plough plane box build and, as a result, it was not viable to add a drawer, as you did - I really like that feature. Rats. Instead I placed one inside. In any event, mine was a fun project about building secret drawers. Do you have any in yours?

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Lapdesk_html_5c6989bb.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Lapdesk_html_m2eaa5e2a.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/Lapdesk_html_75b59759.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks Derek. Yours is lovely and I enjoyed your build of it!....and it was yours that resparked my interest in building one for myself. I love the interior drawers, find them very classy, and thought about doing it that way instead, but since I was trying to just get this knocked out quickly stuck almost exactly with the plan I found.

Also, it is impolite to ask another woodworker to tell you about or show you his secret drawers!!!;) Shame on you! Of course, if it does have any I can't tell you about them...certainly not on a public forum.:)

No in all seriousness, no secret drawers, would have loved to but again, kept things simple for the sake of just getting it done. That's really what this project was about for me...pushing myself to work a little faster than I'm comfortable with in effort to become a more productive woodworker.

Anyway, the more I thought about the more I thought I'd really like to make one with interior/and or secret drawers. I've got some lovely walnut in the shop that would make a nice lap desk...perhaps there is a second one in my future.

[Trevor Walsh]

I should update that, shouldn't I. I'm really regretting my hinge choice, but that's life. I'll see about updating that when I get home.

[Tony Shea]

Great examples of lap desks from all three of you. I love the fact that you really pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone as far as you pace goes Chris. This is something I really need to work on as I may be the most anal WW in existence. This is a great project to start working that issue out.

My only problem with lap desks with drawers is that I think they need a little help holding them closed. Especially when a drawer is inside holding some of your high end pens and writing supplies. At least if the drawer is on the outside one can always carry the desk with your hand holding the drawer shut. I think a good design consideration is some sort of drawer lock, although i'm not a big fan of locks in general. If I have to use lock on something I try to make my keyhole nice enough where I do not need to install the escutcheon. Just a thought is all.

[Sam Murdoch]

Very nice Chris. Complimenting you on your craftsmanship is becoming second nature to me :D. The guy from Perth is pretty good too!:).
My wife has a very old lap desk (from an 19th century sea captain relative) that she has been asking me to recondition for years. You guys are inspiring me or perhaps embarrassing me to do honor to the task. In the meanwhile to you I say - very nicely done.

[Chris Griggs]

Thank you Sam, but you are too kind. I agree that dude in Perth makes some nice stuff...though he really needs to get himself some nicer tools if he really wants to progress.;)

Now get going on getting your wife's up and running.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Great post Chris. Two years ago, I took my boys to the "Feast of the Hunter's Moon", which is a local re-enactment gathering of 18th century French, English regiments along with Native Americans and period trades and craftsmen. My youngest son saw a shaker lap desk there that one of the vendors had on display, and it has been on his potential 4-H woodworking project list since. Your post and the link to the plans will be tremendously helpful as he takes a run at a similar build. He is only 13 and hasn't much in the way of shop stamina, so what took you a weekend will likely take him a few months. None the less your post will be instructional, inspirational and extremely useful. Nice job on the project. It looks great.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Micah and I spent an hour in the shop this afternoon picking through lumber and he broke some of the stock down. Chris, I'm finding the plan a little ambiguous when it comes to describing how the shelf is mounted. It appears as if the plan calls for the end grain of the shelf to be exposed on the right side. This is how I am interpreting the right side view of the plan, and I think I can detect that from the photo of your build, but the pine end grain isn't that easy to detect in the photos. Can you confirm that the end grain of the shelf is exposed on the right-hand side of the cabinet?

[Chris Griggs]

Hi Joe,

Wow. Its been a while since I've looked at or thought about this project. Glad you got started on it. Its a really fun little project. Though mine at this point gets used for little more then storing bills.

Anyway, no. The grain of the shelf runs front to back so you have long side grain exposed on the end with the drawer. When you slide the shelf in you only glue it at the far groove on the left. That way is can expand and contract in and out of the exposed side.

Good luck with the project, and thanks for the kind words.

[Robert McNaull]

Chris, glad to know you are still around the forum since I haven't seen you post in quite a while.

Bob

[Joe A Faulkner]

Hi Joe,

Wow. Its been a while since I've looked at or thought about this project. Glad you got started on it. Its a really fun little project. Though mine at this point gets used for little more then storing bills.

Anyway, no. The grain of the shelf runs front to back so you have long side grain exposed on the end with the drawer. When you slide the shelf in you only glue it at the far groove on the left. That way is can expand and contract in and out of the exposed side.

Good luck with the project, and thanks for the kind words.

Thanks Chris. I don't know why I didn't think of that. The plan makes reference to the grain being oriented to allow for movement. Makes perfect sense now that you have explained it for me.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Micah got a little pressed for time, and elected to simplify on the drawer, build. Other deviations from plans: 1) cherry lumber for that extra "bling" and a rabbit was cut into the right-hand side to receive the inner shelf rather than have it float between the side and the drawer. He left room, hopefully enough for expansion inside the dado on the left side. He hand-cut the dovetails and the dado's, but power-tools were used to cross-cut, rip, re-saw, plane and sand.

Again this post was great inspiration for the project.

[Christopher Charles]

Joe, that looks great-what a fabulous 4H project! Tell Micah I'm impressed.

Chris, good to hear from you--somehow I missed this project and good to see you're still on the forum. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Best,
Chris