As woodworkers, we spend a lot of effort and time on the internal components of our projects. For case pieces, this involves the mechanisms to keep the drawers in place and functioning well. We then cover all that up with case sides and backs. We also often add a false drawer front which further obscures the joinery. My design has nothing to hide.
The desk was to live on an exposed second floor landing and needed to blend into the existing off-white walls and very light colored wood floor. Maple and ash, both naturally light in tone, were used. The ash also had the property of being easy to bend.
I used SketchUp for all the design and drawings.
The drawers are constrained by runners underneath, guides on each side and kickers above to keep the drawers sliding perpendicular to the front of the desk and prevent them from tipping when pulled halfway out. The lower face of the upper and middle drawer runner serves as the kicker for the drawers below them. All of these components must be absolutely square and straight for smooth drawer operation.
To soften all the straight and square elements and to reduce what looks like a set of ladders, the curved arcs on the outer sides was added as well as curved wooden drawer pulls.
All joinery of the desk base is with mortise and tenon connections, a total of 59 tenons (including the double tenons on the three horizontal front drawer blades). The eight legs are all unique in terms of the size and placement of the mortises – I relied on my SketchUp drawings for all the individual details and measured thrice before cutting.
The two side arcs were designed in SketchUp and a full size template was printed. It was then used to create a three layer bending form from MDF and particle board. Thanks to Mike Bossin’s suggestions, the form was mounted to a larger base and a band clamp as well as numerous F-clamps were used to glue laminate the 14 layers of resawn ash. Liquid hide glue provided for a long open time and the arcs were left in the clamps for 24 hours. One surface was hand-planed flat and a parallel face formed with a wide belt sander. The arc was trimmed to final dimensions on a table saw sled so that the lower sides would be parallel to and fit between the legs of the drawer bases.
The drawer design had to account for humidity changes between Massachusetts where they were constructed and Georgia where they would eventually end up. On an over 12” flat sawn soft maple board, up to 3/8” expansion was possible. Therefore, each drawer is less tall than its case opening by a proportional amount. Also proportionate to the drawer height were the number of through dovetails (72 in all but who’s counting?). Because the fronts and sides of each drawer would be visible, I tried to “wrap” the grain around.
The maple handles were purchased from Lee Valley for $3 each. I certainly couldn’t make similar ones without a lot of effort and they fit well with the all wood design.
The top was a straight panel glue-up of 7/8” ash boards, aligned with biscuits and a simple ¼” roundover profile along the top edges.
The final element for the desk was a pull-out keyboard drawer. The front of that drawer looks like the corresponding aprons on either side. When pulled forward, the front flips down on “butler hinges” to form a flat surface. The whole drawer is on suspended drawer guides attached to the underside of the top. Both the hinges and guides are from Rockler.
The inside of the drawers were finished with shellac and everything else finished with four coats of Sutherland Welles Ltd. Original polymerized tung oil (gloss).
Desk in its new home:
