What woodworking project that you completed has been the most useful for you on an everyday basis?
It is a reproduction of an 18th century walnut drop front desk.
The dovetail joinery of the case and all of the drawers were hand cut. Aside from the use of modern finishing materials and glue, all of the construction details and materials are exactly like those of the original. The brass hardware is authentic reproduction hardware made by Baldwin Forge. The keyholes in the drawers are brass lined. The cabinet back and all of the drawer bottoms are solid stock. No plywood was used for hidden pieces. The drawer sides and backs are also made of walnut. The case sides are joined to the case bottom and top with dovetails…through dovetails for the side to bottom joinery and half-blind dovetails for the side to top joinery. Even the base on which the desk sits uses dovetail joinery.
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| What woodworking project that you completed has been the most useful for you on an everyday basis? |
I should note that one of the reasons these pieces were so structurally over-built is that 18th century glues were really terrible. It was expected that the glue in the joints would break down. Thus, the good pieces were designed so that even when the glue inevitably failed the case would still, because of the joinery employed, remain structurally sound. The result of this is that a quality reproduction of such a piece of 18th century furniture, if made with modern glues, will be essentially indestructible.
The desk has been in daily use for years. It still gives me pleasure to look at it.
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