Desk Caddy Build – String Inlay Drawer Fronts and Finished

[Mike Allen1010]

This is the 2nd and final part of the build thread for a small walnut desktop box that was referred to in early American furniture as a “Desk Caddy”. As I understand it, kind of the predecessor to a laptop computer – you kept all your pens, inks, desk supplies etc. in it moved from place to place where you are working.

Carcass construction etc. are covered in a previous thread, in this thread final steps: molding, string inlay for drawer fronts, beveled top, hardware and finishing.


I did the base molding with electric router bits. I could’ve done it with H&R’s/hand planes, but in my view that’s a lot of work for not much result given this base molding is roughly ½” square.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/794/26484590557_1b7ef057e8.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmms4F)1 (2) (https://flic.kr/p/Gmms4F) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


Shooting the miters for the molding. IMHO 90 and 45° shooting board and a beefy miter plane are fundamental, worthwhile investments for hand tool woodworker’s as these operations are critical to so many hand tool skills.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/791/40641565604_816a0bf03c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDwm)2 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDwm) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Next step was to shape the lid of the box to the appropriate shape. This included beveled upper edges and a rabbit on the lower edges to fit the lid precisely into the top of the box.
To get a consistent fit/reveal for the lid and adjacent surfaces of the box, starting with a flat surface was super helpful.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/40641565804_92ec7fd988.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDzN)4 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDzN) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/872/41355654891_06b0d507dc.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxoB)5 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxoB) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/901/26484590887_b0615078ba.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmsan)6 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmsan) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Hard to see here, but plowing a rabbit on the underside of the lid. To get precise dimensions for the rabbits, I dry fit the lid and marked the width the rabbits directly from the box carcass rather than simply using a square. My boxes are rarely perfectly square and better to mark from the carcass vs. assume anything. The fit turned out okay – a sharp, well-adjusted adjusted shoulder plane is super helpful for dialing this in.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/795/40641565924_ec824bf788.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDBS)7 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDBS) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/794/26484591107_02649ea1fb.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmsea)8 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmsea) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

[Mike Allen1010]

Here is planing the bevel for the top surface of the lid.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/792/26484591657_44ece4ee39.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmsoD)9 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmsoD) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/821/40641565384_7669b74206.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDsy)10 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDsy) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/792/26484587187_f36aae70bf.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmr4z)11 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmr4z) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



https://farm1.staticflickr.com/897/26484589897_47fd7511d8.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrSi)13 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrSi) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



Here’s the box carcass/drawers after initial coat of Watco oil/varnish.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/869/40641564794_81dc59565d.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDho)14.1 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDho) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



Next is in setting the marquetry panel into the lid, by placing it on the lid and tracing around the outline with layout knife. For me marquetry is a fickle mistress - I spend waaaay to many hours making the marquetry panel, only to risk disaster when fitting it into the underlying surface. Because the marquetry is so thin there is 0 room for error when leveling the final surface. My preference is to route the recess for the marquetry panel below the adjacent surface and then plane the adjacent surfaces level. Easier said than done – once you get the adjacent surface close to the same level as the marquetry panel, it’s time to put your plane away and rely on sandpaper to gradually get everything flush.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/874/26484589677_20831912ea.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrNv)14 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrNv) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/821/40641564674_8981328785.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDfj)15 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmDfj) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/803/26484589557_a3e4d87e28.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrLr)16 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrLr) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Regrettably, as happens all too frequently, I didn’t listen to my own advice and in my impatience left plane tracks through the background of the marquetry panel – ugh I hate when that happens! Of course I didn’t get any pictures of that egregious mistake because that would be way too humiliating. In an effort to correct this mistake that arguably most people wouldn’t have noticed in the first place, I of course made everything worse. I cut patches of Holly veneer and attempted to inlay them into the field panel to cover my mistakes. Let’s just say I’ll never do that again!!! No matter how closely I tried to cut the recesses for the patches into the background, once applied they were horribly, unavoidably, clearly visible. Once again I courageously didn’t take any pictures of those errors.

At this point, I was ready to turn the project into firewood out of frustration. Sherrie encouraged me to visit the art supply store in search of a solution - that I miraculously found! Some kind of paint/wax combination, similar in color to the Holly, that I applied with a brush and effectively filled/covered the defects. Yeah, I know, most of the time these kind of catastrophic mistakes turn into a smoking hole in the ground, from which there is no recovery. Somehow here I dodged a bullet and I’m just gonna go with that and not try and understand/explain it.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/26484589377_9124b6dbcf.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrHk)18 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrHk) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Next was cutting the recesses of the drawers for string inlay. I lay everything out in pencil, even though the fence guided cutting gauges is kinda, locked in, because I’m a firm believer in the measure twice, cut once philosophy.


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/873/26484592907_d4980c7f1b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmsLc)19 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmsLc) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



I use the inlay cutter from Lee Valley. I prefer the manual tool to an electric Dremel/router because it takes longer for me to make egregious mistakes. Seriously this is a pretty easy tool to use.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/798/26484589267_f986f9b22a.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrFr)20 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrFr) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/805/40641564314_5c609c254b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD97)21.4 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD97) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



I don’t know much about string inlay, but one thing I’m confident about is it’s critically important the width of the stringing fits the width of the groove. I have many experiences where I thought the width’s were “pretty close” that turned out to have a horrible results after much effort, because they didn’t fit very well – it’s always visible after glue up/finishing. I use this LV scraper tool to scrape the string inlay into a wedge shape that hopefully fits the width of the groove. You may notice the height of the blade is slanted – higher on the left and closer on the right – creating the beveled cross-section of the stringing.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/874/40641564234_4a6a43eefa.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD7J)21 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD7J) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


One other lesson I’ve learned is the value of a demonstration groove/block you can use to check that the stringing your making will fit the groove appropriately.



https://farm1.staticflickr.com/894/26484589107_8c0dcc182b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrCF)22 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrCF) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/900/40641564134_68c53f6509.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD61)23 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD61) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

[Mike Allen1010]

Here’s the completed drawer fronts.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/877/26484588957_37694bf7b0.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrA6)24 (https://flic.kr/p/GmmrA6) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/789/40641564064_e43924caba.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD4N)25 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD4N) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr




Here is the lid of the box after a couple coats of shellac.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/806/40641563974_3eccdcf9e8.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD3f)26 (https://flic.kr/p/24VmD3f) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/814/26484588727_b42bddeba4.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrw8)27 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrw8) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr



Installing the hinges I made the hinge mortises to deep. The result is the lid doesn’t close fully on the front, side opposite the hinges. In a perfect world, this is why I try to error on the side of depth of the hinge mortises shallower rather than deeper. Once mistake is made, I corrected it inserting some paper, index card shims. Here is the desired flush fit of the lid on the front of the box.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/814/26484588727_b42bddeba4.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrw8)27 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrw8) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/810/26484588547_3a48e23890.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrt2)29 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrt2) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/884/41355656261_d31eca7c2f.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxNe)30 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxNe) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Hinges/hardware are always problematic for me. Here’s an example where the screws for the hinges went through to the show surface of the lid – I hate when that happens! Because I’ve made this mistake often, was able to correct it with wood putty.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/884/41355656261_d31eca7c2f.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxNe)30 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxNe) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/881/41355656071_36edda154c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxJX)32 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxJX) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/41355655941_a35bf62704.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxGH)33 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxGH) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

Finally some pictures of the installed chain stays for the lid and the completed box.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/789/26484588147_b78136d81b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrm8)34 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrm8) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/812/41355655681_ea261f0f03.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxCe)35 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxCe) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/804/26484587867_56993b2753.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrgi)36 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrgi) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/818/41355655311_8316d8256a.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/261sxvR)37 (https://flic.kr/p/261sxvR) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/798/26484587527_abeb876f55.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrar)39 (https://flic.kr/p/Gmmrar) by Mike Allen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157847244@N02/), on Flickr




Thanks for looking.

All the best, Mike

[Jeff Ranck]

Wow! thanks Mike. This is fantastic work. I particularly enjoyed seeing how you fixed the errors that inevitably creep in. It is always instructive to see how others approach things.

[Steven Mikes]

Beautiful, a true work of art!

[Christopher Charles]

Mike,

Great looking box and some beautiful walnut. The main element of the marquetry matches the walnut of the box beautifully and pulls it all together. As always thanks for sharing!

C

[Tony Wilkins]

Very nice. Inspirational work.

[Frederick Skelly]

Another beautiful project Mike! I wondered where you'd decide to use that marquetry piece. (It IS the same one from your earlier thread, isn't it?)

Good show,
Fred

[Jim Koepke]

Someone is going to love that.

jtk

[Mike Null]

Beautiful work--I should have said beautiful play--that was obviously a joy to do.

[Tom M King]

Wonderful!!! That will be enjoyed for generations to come.

[Mike Allen1010]

Thanks all for your very kind comments. I'm pleased with how this project turned out and appreciate the feedback.

Forgive me for sidetracking away from the fun of hand tool woodworking to ask a deeper question that's been troubling me. For those who come to SMC to avoid dealing with weightier issues (like me), feel free to stop reading here. One of the reasons I built this piece is because I read a recent "How to Succeed in Business" book that said one should endeavor to showcase personal interests/talents with work colleagues, because it gives them confidence in your professional ability. My initial plan was to put this in my office for that reason, even though it conflicts with my fundamental belief that humility is a critical element in a life well lived.

Now that the project is done and I thought about it for a while, it feels icky and self-aggrandizing to me to put it in my office. If my Dad were still around, I'd be ashamed to tell him I built this to impressed my coworkers.

On the flipside, I'm 59, in the 4th decade of my professional career and it's clear my personal values may not be consistent with thecurrent professional business morays of younger generations. I like to think I'd never compromise my core ethics/values on important questions, but this seems more like a "stylistic" question on the margins. I would very much appreciate feedback my fellow Neanders, particularly millennial's and generation Xers - am I way overthinking this? Does it really matter if I pu this project my office? Thanks in advance, I sincerely appreciate your feedback.


Fred in answer to your question, you're right the marquetry panel is the same one I described in a previous thread.


I started this project because Sherrie and I are on the verge of being empty nesters and would like to move into a smaller place. I thought better to use up some of the stock too small for larger, more significant projects, rather than try and move it. I'm totally dreading the move for multiple reasons; most importantly, we'll sincerely miss having the boys around the house, in addition we have waaaay too much stuff, that by my lights we should certainly get rid of (regrettably a concept the Boss is not totally on board with), and finally because I'm way too old and fat to be hoisting around all our crap, or even directing professionals to do the heavy lifting.

Also in the spirit of "lightning the load" before the move, I should absolutely get rid of some of my excess tools – particularly the embarrassingly large number of hand saws I've acquired and restored over the years (+200). Yeah - I admit it I've got a "bad handsaw problem". Sadly, I'm terrible with Internet technology and it seems like waaay too much time and effort to describe individual saws and figure out where to post them. I absolutely don't have the energy or inclination to post on the mega auction site, and would much prefer they go to fellow Neanders who would appreciate and enjoy them. I appreciate any advice or suggestions.

I don't want to violate any SMC rules or interfere with any professionals in the saw business, but if you're looking for a premium Vintage restored/sharpened handsaw, send me a PM about what you want and I'm happy to send them your way at very reasonable terms.


Now that I read that back, doesn't seem all that great either. I guess getting older means you don't have all the answers.


All the best, Mike

[Tom M King]

Put it in your office, at least for a while. It'll do other people good to see it, some kind of way, whether or not it does you any good at work. I'm older than you, by almost a decade, so not an answer from your target group of requested opinions.

[Mel Fulks]

Mike, you do great work and seem to be driven to do so. The marquetry makes that piece a conversation starter. Keep it there if you enjoy using it, take it home if you don't want to "admit" you made it. Lord Chesterfield told his son "take your watch out to see what time it is ,not to show you have one". I would fill the drawers full of stuff so that I would have to
use it everyday.

[Tony Wilkins]

I would take it to the office. That said, I wouldn’t do it if it feels that you are going against your principles - that’s something I would tell you never to do.

being a jaded generation x’er (12 years younger than you), I doubt that many people would notice it or recognize it for the fine piece it is if they were of younger generations.

[Bill McDermott]

Mike,

I am of your vintage. Your Dad would not believe that you built that to impress your coworkers. You built it to challenge yourself and exercise your skills. That's healthy and honorable.

I also believe there is an intersection between your question about showcasing the piece and general comments about "stuff". If it is in your office and a younger colleague asks... how will you respond to "what's that" or "tell me about that"? It seems that a prepared response might turn the caddy into a prompt for mutually beneficial conversations. A succinct response that challenges the questioner to respond thoughtfully about a larger, more important issue, might be better than the build thread we Creekers appreciate. Perhaps one of those conversations will take root and yield a new home for a vintage saw. Of course, it could also become new hire training... "whatever you do, don't ask Mike about the desk caddy". :)

Sweet piece of work. Very nice thread. I appreciate the lessons learned, especially about levelling the marquetry face. Interesting concluding thoughts about "now that I have built this...". Thank you for sharing it.

[Ray Newman]

Outstanding work!