18th Century Shaker Lapdesk out of Cherry - 4H Project

[Joe A Faulkner]

This is my 13 year old son's 4-H project for wood working this year. He cut the dovetails by hand. I wish he had a more experienced teacher. I've only used hand cut dovetails on one project. He also hand cut the dado's for the hidden shelf. While the piece is relatively small it exposed him to several processes. He is a bit of an artist, so I hope he will use it for sketches and the like.

[Jay Jolliffe]

He did a great job..

[Mel Fulks]

Congratulations to him on well done handsome piece. Dad,make sure he holds on to it.

[Martin Shupe]

For a 13 year old, I'd say he hit it out of the park!

Very nice!

[Larry Frank]

Avery nice clean great looking project. Well Done!!

[Jim Becker]

He did a great job!!

[David Dockstader]

I judge 4-H woodworking for the local county fair. If he brought this in, he'd have won a blue ribbon for his group, a Grand Champion ribbon and been sent to the state fair. The stuff I judged just last week was good, but this is head and shoulders above that. Absolutely superior job!

[Aaron Conway]

Great job!

[Bruce Page]

It looks like he has a great teacher. He did an excellent job!

[Mike Null]

I have been meaning to build one of those for myself. I hope mine looks as good.

[Joe A Faulkner]

I judge 4-H woodworking for the local county fair. If he brought this in, he'd have won a blue ribbon for his group, a Grand Champion ribbon and been sent to the state fair. The stuff I judged just last week was good, but this is head and shoulders above that. Absolutely superior job!

Thanks David. He did win Grand Champion for his division. His class consists of 7th, 8th and 9th graders. The state fair champion out of his class was the 9th grade Grand champion. She does excellent work and made a beautiful blanket chest. The judges have a tough job in selecting state fair representatives. Thanks for taking the time to serve your community by being a judge. I know it is a tough job.

[Brian Holcombe]

Your son is deserving of his win, that is beautiful work!

[Joe A Faulkner]

Thanks Brian. Your Butler's Desk project was very helpful on this build. He had to cut blind dado's for three sides of the shelf. I had never done this by hand, so your video came just in time.

https://youtu.be/9RGHpf6t8dc

Chris Grigg's documented a build of this same desk which also helped and it provided the plans for the project in the first place.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?204423-Lap-Desk-In-A-Weekend