I built this little desk from Christian Becksvoort's article in FWW #248. The reasons that I wanted to build this were:
1) It is a good introduction to breadboard ends on a small project.
2) I had a pair of unused Brusso hinges of just the right size.
3) I like the use of quartersawn pine for the bottom. Becksvoort writes: Rather than being set in a groove, the bottom is simply face-glued to the bottom of the case, adding great rigidity. To deal with this sort of cross-grain glue-up without cracking, the bottom must be made of quartersawn white pine - the most well-behaved wood in North America. Through the seasons that 12"-wide bottom will move less than 5/64", well below the elastic limit of the wood and glue. Trust me, it works - or trust the Shakers, since the desks they built this way are still holding up fine.
I have some very wide pine boards and was able to find a 12" wide section that had the growth rings running from face to face as in quartersawn. This can be seen in the base here:
4) I really like the way that the tiny drawer works.
5) Making all the small parts and joints was a fun challenge for me. I made the knob on my lathe:
Here is the keeper/stop:
Here is the glue-up of the carcase:
I used the tapered pieces that I cut from the sides to help when gluing the carcase to the base.
Sometimes, the small size of the inside might be a problem:
The main divider is removable so that a larger object can be stored inside:
This was posted elsewhere Aug 14, 2015.
“Fake quotes will ruin the internet” — Benjamin Franklin
Very cool reptile environment Chuck. Didn’t know that about edge grain pine but I do now (note to self). It’s just a nice piece of work and very well done. I’ll bet it was fun too.
The early bird gets the worm but its the second mouse that gets the cheese.
2) I had a pair of unused Brusso hinges of just the right size.
What came first Chucky... the hinges or the box? How did you know the hinges would fit before you built the box or did you build the box around the hinges?
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
