The intricate case bottom
Getting ready for a glue-up. As with the pedestal table I am exclusively using hide glue.
Marking off the dovetails for the drawer runners/frames.
Fairing out the drawer fronts. I removed most of the wood using a dado-set on the table saw at 3 different positions.
Mitering the applied beading.
Scratching the applied beading.
Gluing in the applied beading. All horizontal beads are scratched out from the solid and all vertical beads are made outside the case, mitered, and glued in place.
I sprung battens on the applied beading for the kneehole door because it would be difficult to get clamps all the way in there.
The hinges for the door must be the same thickness as the beading. I had to sand them down a little to achieve this.
The drawer fronts are complete and ready to be dovetailed into drawers.
The pins are done and tails are up next.
Setting up to chop the tail waste.
The drawers are dovetailed, glued up and fit.
The tools involved with hand cutting a half-mortise lock.
All of the drawer sides and backs get a rounded top edge. I used a scratch-stock to do this.
The kneehole door frame has off-set shoulders.
The six drawers all have handles, locks and strikeplates. The escutchons will come after the piece is finished.
Strikeplate.
Awaiting a finished panel.
The crown molding for the underside of the tabletop. The bead was shaped first then ripped off so the cove could be shaped. The bead was then cleaned up and glued back on. This is a test piece that was just nailed together. You can see the original trace from the Edmund Townsend bureau on the bench.
A rough mitre cut of the molding. The glue line is invisible!
The top is sized and the edge is ready to be shaped. I've run the fillet already using a flat-topped rip blade on the table saw.
The tombstone door is complete and the molding is ready to be mitred and fit into place.
The top edge is shaped, cleaned and ready to go.
I've wiped the case down with mineral spirits in order to see how it will look with finish and also to clean the wood of dirt and such.
The blocks are glued to the molding in order to give the screw more wood to grab onto. The molding cannot be glued right onto the case side because there is a HUGE grain contradiction and it woud cause the case side to crack.
The side molding resting in place.
My first miter glue-up! Exciting! The poplar triangles are temporarily glued into place. They will be chiseled off afterwords.
This board is 8/4 thick and will be used for the base frame and the bracket feet. I'm cleaning it up in order to see what the grain is doing so I can properly layout the cut lines.
A nice color and fairly straight and even grain. This will make for beautiful feet and moldings.
This is a sample cut using a shaper knife that was in the schools collection. The amplitude of the curves is much too great. That is a common mistake with reproduction furniture, making the curves too severe. There are basic geometric rules that one can follow to avoid this.
Comparing the trace from the original desk to the sample kife cut. You can see that it is much too shapely. Mitres magnify curves visually and this would make for a much too bulbous molding. Instead of using this cutter knife I will make a knife that will match the trace exactly.
The knife blanks just cut from a long bar. It takes a while to hack through!
The tools for the layout and creation of a shaper knife (aside from the grinder, the most useful tool of all.)
With the knives made and the molding cut I am now mitering the frame to fit the trace of the case bottom that I drew out on my bench top.
The miters are all reinforced with splines. These are the grooves cut to allow the splines to slide in from the inside.
Temporary triangles are glued into place for clamping assistance.
The splines must be cut cross-grain, otherwise the would be able to easily split with the length of the miter.
Cutting the inside corner spline grooves for the kneehole frame.
The base frame is all carved and installed.
Close up.
EXTREME CLOSE UP.
Ready for glue-up!
The feet are glued up and band-sawn out. Now they will be cleaned up.
The box is what supports the feet while they are being bandsawn. It also works great for securing them while cleaning up and carving.
All clean.
Clamping while cleaning.
The inside edges on all vertical sections of the feet are beveled back so that when you look at the foot you see a clear line and you don't see the side edge of the foot.
Rouging out the feet.
Carved some more...
Finished! (And upside down.)
All of the glue blocks are chamfered so you cannot see them when the piece is upright. I went a bit chamfer crazy and hit all of the corners while I was at it.
Leveling out the feet. I first planed the front row of feet till they were all in a straight line, then using the straight edge in the back with a contrasting blue tape stuck to it I sighted from the front to be able to level the back so the line it created was in a flat plane with that of the front.
Feet done! Shells next!
Carving a sample shell.
After the blank is cut to size on the bandsaw the shape is cut using a spoke shave. It is then stuck to a piece of MDF and the pattern drawn on. V-tool lines then cut through the pattern lines.
Using the v-tool lines as a guide the concave and convex lobes are cut. The gouge used to cut the concave lobes was too sharp, so I will find a better gouge for the job when I carve the real thing.
Now onto the real thing. First the shape is cut out on the bandsaw and the blocking is shaped out to match what is on the case.
The router plane is good at leveling out the 1/2" thick blocking.
The line tangent to the curve of the shell at it's perimeter is cut first with a drawknife and spokeshave.
Laying out pencil lines using the 5-7 rule to shape the edges round.
The shape is getting there.
Holes are drilled on the back of the support boards and the shells are double-stick tapped to them. When I am done I will put denatured alcohol in the holes and the tape will come right off.
The shells are shaped and are concentric to the blocking.
There is a slight dishing (about 1/16") to push out the rosette.
The lines are laid out using carbon paper behind a shell that I drew.
First shallow v-tool lines are cut.
And they get deeper...
At the rosette the lines must be chip-carved out using the trusty skew chisel.
The convex lobes are shaped first.
Then the get sanded...
And the concave lobes are done next.
Rough shaping of the rosette.
Fine shaping....
Simple layout using dividers, a pencil, and your eye.
All done!!
Now the center concave shell.... First everything is rough shaped.
And then v-tool lines are cut.
Then it's spoon-bent gouge time.
Sanding...
Rosette details...
To glue the convex shells on I first made a mold using clay and then froze it for 20 minutes. While it was in the freezer I heated the surface. When ready I applied hide glue to the surface, placed on the shells, placed on the mold and a board and clamped.
The molds after use.
All oiled up!
The lovely behind.
FIN.
