Arts & Crafts Writing Desk class: Helpful hints for students
First, a general note….
As with any class, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Whether or not you complete your desk by Saturday afternoon (and by “complete” I mean assemble entirely—doors hung and locks fitted, drawer running, inlay done, crown mitered and affixed, etc.—not “finish” as in dye, stain, etc., which you are unlikely to pull off unless you are superhuman), you’re going to learn a variety of furniture making techniques. Based on my previous experiences of teaching at Kelly’s school, I’m confident that we’ll also have a lot of fun.
Here is Helpful Hint Number 1 for preparing your lumber. I know…this stuff is obvious, but I’m offering it just in case.
Gluing up the top
You’ll find the cut list under “participant information” at http://www.kellymehler.com/newsite/participant/Nancy%20Hiller%20A&C%20Desk%202011.htm
At this point, you should keep your top a little oversize—i.e., with an allowance for waste in the length and width.
The top should finish at 7/8”, so you may want to start with 5/4 stock. If you have access to a thickness planer that can handle 30” or more in width, you can save the final thicknessing until after glue up. My shop’s thickness planer is just 15” wide, so I glue up tops such as this one in two or more stages; after gluing the first two pairs of boards for this particular desk, I planed each section to final thickness before laying out and cutting the spline joints for the final glue up.
If you’re using quartersawn oak (or any other species, in quartersawn boards), you needn’t worry about alternating the grain. But if you are using plainsawn boards, you will want to alternate the grain to minimize warping.
I recommend reinforcing the joints between the boards with biscuits or a tongue-and-groove cutter if you happen to have one. Both of these will help the boards stay flat during glue up, as well as increasing surface area available for glue. If you use biscuits, be sure to plan their locations so that when you cut the top to length you will not expose part of the biscuit! Simply avoid putting biscuits within 2-3 inches of where your finished ends will be. (Can anyone guess how I learned about this?)
Choose your best boards for the front ½ to 2/3 of the top. The storage cabinet (the top section with doors) will cover most of the back half, so if you find a knot or a little bit of sap you can’t afford to cut off, glue up your top in such a way that any defects fall in as shown here:
(The drawing is not precisely to scale. It’s just intended to illustrate the paragraph above.)
Make sure the ends of your top are free of knots, splits, etc.
If you have questions, please post them in “comments” so that others can benefit from the discussion.
More soon!
