Walnut Desk

[John Thompson]

Great job and I love the shop.. brick walls.... wish I had brick walls.

Sarge..

[edward alexander]

Alex,
That is a most intriguing piece of work.
I assume that it is your design.
Well done,
Mike

Mike yes the design is mine-all my pieces are original-having said that-it's woodworking someone in the past is bound to have done it-I do take ideas from other pieces I see-example that cocobolo writing table I posted last week,the legs (that several people on this post complimented) are legs that Jim Krenov used-I'm sure that way back when Jim was a young man he saw some old guy using that same design of leg.

alex

[Mark Singer]

Edward,
This is truly quite a piece of work! I love the design and the detail! Your use of hand and machine tools is nicely balanced to achieve speed and excellent results. Wonderful joinery throughout! This work is exceptional!

[Russell Tribby]

Outstanding work. I love the design. The desk seems both robust and light at the same time. Thanks for the walk through with the walnut board, we're all anxiously awaiting more.

[David Keller NC]

Alex - OK, a dufus question - did you really use figured maple as the secondary wood on the original desk, or as an accent wood? I really can't imagine using maple as a true secondary wood (i.e., for drawer sides) - dovetailing walnut to maple (at least by hand) would be a nightmare...

Nice achievment in bending 1" thick walnut, BTW - that isn't easy (I know from lots of "woodstove" material after a few attempts!)

[Craig D Peltier]

You do great work. I really like your designs as well. The coves and the curves and the wood species make it for me. Its very masculine but beautiful as well.
Thanks for all the pics.
Im jealous on how big a space you have.

[John Thompson]

"Mike yes the design is mine-all my pieces are original-having said that-it's woodworking someone in the past is bound to have done it-I do take ideas from other pieces I see-example that cocobolo writing table I posted last week,the legs (that several people on this post complimented) are legs that Jim Krenov used-I'm sure that way back when Jim was a young man he saw some old guy using that same design of leg".

alex

***

Now... here is a man that steps on the mound with total confidence and doesn't throw a curve ball. You just spoke a mouthful and worth repeating. I think many times we get wrapped up in ourselves and fail to realize what you just stated... most of our design elements are not really original as they have been used somewhere over 5000 years.

When you are basically building a modified box in most cases... there are a limited number or ways to do it and I personally think that over the course of 5000 years they probably have been used. So.. I for one Alex, appreciate the fact you stepped up and stated the obvious if one gave it a little thought.

I too.. design my own stuff on a simple note-pad and then start building it an hour latter. But.. everything I visioned is something I probably have seen already somewhere in the course of 61 years... seen in a picture or read about. It's still one of kind so to speak but.... I cannot take credit for the full design as most elements were done well before I showed on the WW scene.

Highest regards...

Sarge..

[Prashun Patel]

I thought the desk was nice, but man that rosewood plane is to DIE for. That thing's magnificent.

[John Thompson]

"Alex - OK, a dufus question - did you really use figured maple as the secondary wood on the original desk, or as an accent wood? I really can't imagine using maple as a true secondary wood (i.e., for drawer sides) - dovetailing walnut to maple (at least by hand) would be a nightmare"... David K..

I will let Alex answer the question you ask of him about whether he intentionally used figured maple as a secondary wood but... I wanted to add something that happened to me just yesterday.

I went up the street to my hard-wood supplier to get some soft maple for hidden drawer inside a cabinet on a QSWO computer desk-hutch. I saw some nice figured maple that I thought I might like to have to make some small boxes in the future. I ask the price as I was thinking of picking up some even though I came for standard soft maple.

The price in this case was $.70 cheaper for the figured than the soft maple as they had culled out a large amount that had tiny knots here and there.. a chip in the surface or a bit of end split which could all be worked around or simply cut out of a portion.So... I came home with figured maple to use as a secondary wood and payed about $21 less than for bland soft maple with no character.

I an still debating whether to use it for the drawers or bite the bullet and save it for something where it will have more presence. I hate the hide the figure but....

Sarge..

[Jim Tobias]

Edward,
The desk is a wonderful design and is both elegant and substantial at the same time!! I am following the next build closely as it is apparent to me that I will learn some new techniques. Thanks for taking the time.

Jim

[Rob Russell]

Great work and it's a real treat to see all the steps laid out.

[Jarrod McGehee]

Thats some really nice work alex and great color on the tabletop you've got going. I really saw a lot and I've been wanting to make a steambox also so your design helps a bit. Keep up the GREAT work.I look forward to seeing more posts.

[edward alexander]

I thought the desk was nice, but man that rosewood plane is to DIE for. That thing's magnificent.

I'll go back to building the desk in just a minute-I make four planes from this piece of rosewood stump-









I keep a few planes around the shop-around 20 at the main work bench and a few more at the back bench (the bench at the back of the shop) of course they are never all sharp at the same time , I'm soon going to make three are four from some old growth quarter sawed hard maple-
back to the desk-
alex

[edward alexander]

Alex - OK, a dufus question - did you really use figured maple as the secondary wood on the original desk, or as an accent wood? I really can't imagine using maple as a true secondary wood (i.e., for drawer sides) - dovetailing walnut to maple (at least by hand) would be a nightmare)

David -- the drawer fronts and the backs of the three top drawers were curly maple and the sides were birds eye- if you look at the pictures you'll see the back of the top drawers from the back,so if you were sitting there across from the attorney ( who bought that desk) and he pulled open the drawer you would see it pull away- the desk I'm doing now will be the same-as far as I know that's an original-I've never seen it before but like -John Thompson said - this work has been around a long time.
alex

[edward alexander]

Making the curved panels -the panels will be curly nargusta - with five pieces in each panel with the grain going up and down on one piece then side to side on the next then up an down-side to side -up and down-I'll bend them in a veneer press-they will have to fit the groove in the frames I steam bent -first I make the mold-again I use a large piece of fir-

I glue two of these pieces together after that's out of the clamps I trace the curve using one of the bent frames for a templet-then band saw it out-then I line it with 1/16" plastic -


next to find the curly nargusta I'll use - I look at about fifty pieces and pick four-



I find what I'm looking for and cut them by hand-

after I cut the eight pieces for the front and back I find the pieces for the inside-- of course this is veneer that's not nearly so nice--then I wipe each piece with a wet rag and put it all in a plastic bag for a few days to soften it up-



more to come
alex