I would normally post this in the projects forum but since such a large portion of this was done using hand tools I thought this may be a bettr place. I can finally check this one off the bucket list now. This piece has been a real bear and is defiantly the most complex piece I have ever built. This was one of those pieces where nothing seemed easy. I have to take my hats off to the Newport cabinet makers who built the original. While I used power tools probably a good 70% of the time spent on this was hand tool work. I can’t even imagine doing everything with hand tools.
This is based on the Newport secretary in the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Bob Whitley was kind enough to supply photos and patterns off of the original. Craig Bentzley was also a huge help. He answered a lot of construction questions the photos didn’t cover and made me a full scale drawing of the pediment which saved me a ton of time. Even with all that to make it easier I still spent a little over 250 hours on this piece which is saying something for me. The piece is all curly cherry from Horizon Wood Products with standard cherry and poplar as the secondary wood. I also want to add that carving the cherry was insane. The finish on this is actually a natural finish. I chemically aged it and finished it with tung oil/varnish, shellac and a top coat of lacquer. and before anyone asks I will be getting some better photos.
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Originally Posted by Jim Koepke
