The Lutyens Desk

Finished the interior structure and the base stretchers today .. 2 19
If you blow it up, you can see where we left extra stock where the curved stretchers join the side stretchers. We'll cut that curve and sand it to a point just before we glue up ...

Inspiration photo
Long post coming here .... Lots of stuff working up to this one. It's a desk based loosely on a design By Edwin Lutyens, a British Architect who worked from the 1890's into the 1940. And, whoa, was he prolific. There is a great book by Elizabeth Wilhide on his life and work ... Amazing dude. So, we took a big desk in a castle he designed and chopped out the center section, redesigned the palette and the turnings a bit, and we're having at it. It's going to be a good one ... Lots of challenging techniques too ... Click the photos to enlarge them

The finished elevation

The desk as it is today ... 2/18

Leg stock pregrooved for moldings

Rouhging out the legs with the Vega Duplicator ... chips are FLYING !

The CAD files for the stretchers

which were cut on the cnc

So they fit real nice

We mortised the legs and the lower stretcher structure on the Multi Router ...

More later

The Tansu Stairs are Done

Well, I was redoing the jobs list on my office bulletin board this morning and the little clipping above was pasted onto the corner of it. I put it there a while back and forgot about it but today, it caught my eye again. So true .... Most every big project takes 'a little longer' than expected and this one was no exception. But, now we're pretty much done. Shipping to Palo Alto has been arranged and all that's left is the shaping of the wall mounted handrail and a little welding on the mounting brackets for it. We had a few 'last details; to work out this week and they are detailed below. There are two other posts to this project .... here ... and here... Great project ....

The finished cabinet ... Click the photos to enlarge them ..

The boys got a little happy as they were about to put together the back cabinets ...

Tricky post moounting details and

tread to riser joinery

Shows the breakdown for shipping

and the skids with wheels we put under the base cabinets

Assembling the back cabinets ... More info on this project here ... and here ...

Update on The Lutyens Desk

Well, we wrapped it up on Friday. The client came to town and approved our pull design in natural cherry rather than the burl we proposed originally. It was the perfect choice as the burl pull looked 'mushy' against the burl veneer of the drawer faces. The polished cherry stands out without drawing too much attention, the perfect thing that hardware should do. This was a very interesting adaptation of a famous designer's design; we kept the original classic concept yet the client was able to add her vision to the process and in my opinion improve on the original shown at the bottom of the original post.

The finished desk

Close up of the corner showing the bubinga/walnut edge detail and drawer borders, as well as the fine leg turnings, pulls and finish by Will.

Since this desk will be used in a home office, the center drawer is given over to a keyboard flip down and mouse nest.

3/8/09 After being distracted for a bit by the Big Walnut Slabs and the new doors in the posts below, we got back on track on the desk this week. Will finished the small drawers Friday but we still have to work out the flip down front for the center keyboard drawer and build the shelf for the computer cpu to sit on. Also, as yet, the base is not glued up, awaiting final approval of the details, which we received today. The edge inlay on the top is complete and the top is ready for final sanding and finishing. It's looking like it's going to be another good one .... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

Installing the bubinga and walnut edge inlay with masking tape, our favorite handy clamp. First we put the bubinga on flush and then routed an 1/8 x 1/8" rabbet for the walnut. The walnut is long grain over the length of the top and cut across the width of the board on the ends to allow it to expand and contract with the top. Check the original post for more detail and background.

The finished edge inlay

Tapered Piece Update

Well ... we 'got er done' .... We finished the tapered pieces that we have been working on for the last month or so yesterday .... My shipper will be picking them up Monday morning to deliver them to their new home in downtown Philadelphia. We kind of knew as we were going along that these pieces were going to have a substantial presence when they were finished, but after we got the finish and the hardware on and set them up for the photos even we were a bit like, whoa! serious! .... They've got a really nice sense of balance and timelessness too, could go in a traditional or contemporary environment, and yet they don't seem to have any real historic direct decendants that I can place ... Egyptian? Biedermeier? Roman/Cretian? I don't know ... I can't really figure out why it all works .... I thank my clients for working with me on the designs, for embracing parts of our existing aesthetic and for having the faith that we could pull this project off .... I can't wait to see them in their new home .... Click the photos to enlarge them .... Hardware by Sam ...

Side by each

The doors head on

The drawers

The abalone triangles in the backsplash

All you need to know to build them is right here... The skinny pattern is a side view of the front element, the fat one is the front view of the same element, the solid wood sides are clipped to the ply structure and glued to the front tapered element, and the rest is just boxes, except for the base trim which was angled on a jig and run through the planer and attached to a box ... As they say, " There's nothing we do that can't be done by a 12 year old with ten years of practice ...."

'existing aesthetic'

FYI ... Other tapered pieces we have built

http://www.dorsetcustomfurniture.com/ItemDetails.aspx?iId=223&mId=-7&pcId=

http://www.dorsetcustomfurniture.com/ItemDetails.aspx?iId=221&mId=-7&pcId=&cId=70

http://www.dorsetcustomfurniture.com/ItemDetails.aspx?iId=220&mId=-7&pcId=

Tansu Style Cabinet

This is the second tansu style cabinet we have made. The first. at the bottom of this post, was now nearly 20 years ago and I sort of forgot exactly what's involved in making one of these. There are a ton of parts already and we're still getting started .... (260 pieces of wood, plus the hardware is roughly the final tally).... Interesting project though .. Click the pictures to enlarge ..

Hardware on ... first coat of finish

Waiting for the hardware now

7/3/08 shows the seperate top unit and the back of the base cabinet

The assembled case

Original sketch above and CAD drawing below

First iteration / variation to the right

Final shop drawing ... all drawers

Showing the interior drawer supports

Starting the dovetails for the 17 drawers

Starting the interior frames .... we're gonna count the pieces of wood so far tomorrow ...

The fronts and backs of the case are glued up, but the ends are not yet. We left some pieces out so we can see what we're doing inside while we'e building the drawer supports...

Sanding parts of the top case prior to first rough assembly

The top 3 case 'skeletons' assembled

Showing the crotch cut boards we'll use for the side panels ... They'll be split and half used for each end of the upper cases. I've got a great board for the top panels too.

First assembly with all the panels prior to final fitting and glue up ...

ALL the parts on the two carts are for inside the cabinet ...

drawer sides and drawer supports

The original ... 1989 ... Danby, VT Still 100%

Greene & Greene Style Sideboard Construction Details

I'm a member of a Yahoo Newsgroup, fans of the work of the architects Charles and Henry Greene. Two of the recent posts were requests for information regarding construction of a sideboard similar to one I am currently working on. For more information on that project scroll down to the post below. The first request was regarding the details of the post and panel ends of the sideboard and the second was regarding the fabrication of Greene & Greene style drawer pulls. In the pictures and drawings below, you can find relatively detailed information regarding both processes. Click the pictures to enlarge ... The exquisite figured cherry, all from the same log is from Irion Lumber in Wellsboro, PA ... 200 board foot minimum, but shipped right to your door ... Ask for Myron .... Tell him Dan sent you ....


Leaving for Greenwich Tuesday AM 5/6/08

Close up of the shop made hinges and pulls
Making the hinges ...

My son Sam made the hinges by cutting down some 2 x 2 blank hinges that we bought from SSS Steel Supply and welding on the shaped long leaves. He then heated them in the gas forge and chased the detail line around the outside edges while they were hot. We then heated and finished them with a linseed oil and beeswax coating, and lastly, created the 1/8" offset by bending the long leaf cold to acommodate the stepping face frame, one of our signature construction details.

Hinges in the gas forge prior to finishing

Cold bending the 1/8" offset.
Clamp is tightened to offset the long leaf on a 45 degree angle.

Waiting for the hardware ... Pulls are done .. hinges will be finished very soon ...


CAD elevation of the the front and end of the cabinet

Detail of the layout for rabbeting and mortising legs of the cabinet

Detail of the end post and panel joinery

Top view showing end panel attachment to case after gluing up
The front frame is glued to the case first
Drawer Pulls

Side view of the pulls installed

Elevation, plan view and back side of the pulls .. 4/19/2012 ... i see this post has made it to the otp of my 'most popular' list ... i am adding a link here to a blog post i wrote shortly after this one that more thoroughly explains the steps to make these pulls ...

The sketch above shows the production process using a router table and curved fence. For safety, we tend to start with wider stock (6-8") and rip off a pull at a time and then the pulls are all from the same piece of wood. If you need more detailed instructions, email me, as I have written out very detailed instructions for my employees.

May 8th After several requests for the details, they are now in a post above dated May 6th .....