Bombe Slant Front Desk

[Peter Tremblay]

Great progress!

I too have an unfinished project in my shop (10yrs now) staring at me every day that I have no idea what will become of it once finished (or when it will be finished).. Thats half the fun!

What's your project?

[mound]

What's your project?

It's a tall chair. Hard to describe, wood bending in 4 directions. Think David Marks sorta sculptural piece.

[Peter Tremblay]

It's a tall chair. Hard to describe, wood bending in 4 directions. Think David Marks sorta sculptural piece.

[Peter Tremblay]

Once you get the templates cut for each side of the curve this is what they look like.  I used a file to get the templates to fit perfectly along the carcass curves.

   

Then the drawer fronts needed to be cut down in length.

I chose where to cut based on some choices about grain matching and working around a knot.

   

Set the template onto the board and trace the curve.

   

Then cut the curve on the bandsaw and clean it up with rasps and files. I cut on the outside of the pencil line.  So after the bandsaw cuts the drawer would not fit because it was too big.  I had just a bit of wood to remove with rasps and files.

   

Fit it into place (sorry these pictures are out of order)

   

The templates and fitting pics above are from the 2nd drawer (from the top) but this was the third drawer that I fit.  I started with the bottom drawer for all my steps and worked upwards.

I only remembered to grab the camera when I was working on the 2nd drawer from the top

[Peter Tremblay]

Here are the shots that I am very proud of 


The fit is so tight that I can barely get the drawers in and out.  Only a few small gaps.

I'll need to loosen the fit a bit in the future so that the finish can be applied and the drawers can slide in and out without binding.

Getting this fit is not easy.

   

   

   

   

   

[Peter Tremblay]

OK, so enough success.

Here's my next mistake.

I was cutting the 2nd and top drawer front from a slab which had been cut so that I could match the grain between the top two drawers.

The bottom two drawers are likewise from a single slab so that the grain will match.

But when I ripped the drawer front for the 2nd drawer I ripped away from the top part of the slab where the grain would match the bottom of the top drawer front. 

I should have ripped from the bottom of the 2nd drawer front to get the initial dimensions

   

Well regardless of the mistake the grain does seem to match fairly closely.  At least the section which I cut out is similar in width to the drawer divider so it certainly does not look bad.

   

The top drawer is different from the others.

The top drawer front is square but the outside edges will be loopers (long pull-out boards) which will support the writing surface when it is opened for use.

I've seen the loopers done many different ways in pictures but I wanted to match the grain.  So I took a lot of time trying to get this cut to the exactly correct length which matching the grain with the 2nd drawer front.

   

And yet we see another mistake.

My measurement was off.  I didn't calculate the kerf of my saws correctly.

I wanted to loopers to be 1" wide.  These are 7/8"

   

If this decision for grain matching/grain direction is a mistake for a looper someone please tell me.  I don't think this will have any short grain issues.

It isn't that difficult to redo the looper front and then I could even trim the front drawer front by 1/8" on each side to get to a full 1" loopers.

[vapochilled]

My goodness peter, I recall visiting after the DC was delivered and looking at this project, so much water under everyone's bridges !
Where in NC? I'm heading down there in a few weeks, would love to catch up

[Peter Tremblay]

My goodness peter, I recall visiting after the DC was  delivered and looking at this project, so much water under everyone's bridges !
Where in NC? I'm heading down there in a few weeks, would love to catch up

Lots of water under the bridge!
I love that DC. It has really served me well.

I live in Burlington, NC.

I work and my shop is in Elon, NC.

Burlington and Elon are just off I40/I85 

Elon is Exit 141

About 30 minutes east of Greensboro and 45 minutes west of Durham

Please let me know. I'd love to catch up.

BTW my cell phone number hasn't changed if you still have it from so many years ago.

[jerry s]

OK, so enough success.

Here's my next mistake.

I was cutting the 2nd and top drawer front from a slab which had been cut so that I could match the grain between the top two drawers.

The bottom two drawers are likewise from a single slab so that the grain will match.

But when I ripped the drawer front for the 2nd drawer I ripped away from the top part of the slab where the grain would match the bottom of the top drawer front. 

I should have ripped from the bottom of the 2nd drawer front to get the initial dimensions


Well regardless of the mistake the grain does seem to match fairly closely.  At least the section which I cut out is similar in width to the drawer divider so it certainly does not look bad.



The top drawer is different from the others.

The top drawer front is square but the outside edges will be loopers (long pull-out boards) which will support the writing surface when it is opened for use.

I've seen the loopers done many different ways in pictures but I wanted to match the grain.  So I took a lot of time trying to get this cut to the exactly correct length which matching the grain with the 2nd drawer front.



And yet we see another mistake.

My measurement was off.  I didn't calculate the kerf of my saws correctly.

I wanted to loopers to be 1" wide.  These are 7/8"



If this decision for grain matching/grain direction is a mistake for a looper someone please tell me.  I don't think this will have any short grain issues.

It isn't that difficult to redo the looper front and then I could even trim the front drawer front by 1/8" on each side to get to a full 1" loopers.

peter everything is looking awesome. the grain on the drawers looks good to me. i thought the loopers had end grain facing out, i could be totally wrong though.   jerry

[Peter Tremblay]

peter everything is looking awesome. the grain on the drawers looks good to me. i thought the loopers had end grain facing out, i could be totally wrong though.   jerry

Thanks, Jerry.

Actually that is the one consistent thing that I have seen is that the loopers always have had face grain on the ends.  

I just don't know if I had ever seen the face grain oriented this way.
  
The pictures that I have seen have always had the face grain running parallel to the carcass sides and not the drawer front.

Here's an example