This is part 5 of building a Walnut Secretary desk with Cabriolet legs and a pigeonhole/bookshelf unit on top. The previous parts of the build are posted under separate threads here in the Cave.
Even though I pay for premium account at Photobucket so I could include pictures on this SMC post in a larger format, apparently I failed. Regrettably you will have to click on the pictures to make them visible. My apologies, I find toggling between reading the text of the post and clicking on the pictures to enlarge them a terrible way to communicate, but I am once again defeated by technology – probably why I hang out here on the low-tech, hand tool forum.
The pigeonhole section has 2 rows; open shelves on top and small drawers on the bottom. The drawers are simple pine boxes with drawer sides joined to front and back with nailed rabbits. The soft pine work easily with hand tools and this was really fun aspect of the project. Walnut drawer fronts were shaped to match the profile of the curved vertical dividers.
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I turned Holly pulls for the drawers and the 3 doors covering the bookshelf. I’m a novice Turner and I had lots of problems with the narrow diameter of the pulls breaking off in the jaws of the chuck. I think if I had sharper lathe tools I would’ve had better luck because I wouldn’t have had to apply so much pressure to the work piece.
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Next was dimensioning the stock for the apron of the desk. The front apron will house 3 drawers. To get consistent grain matching of the apron and drawer fronts, I ripped the apron into 3 parts and then re-glued.
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I really like this jig from Jim Tolpin’s book “New Traditional Woodworker” for jointing edges of thinner stock.
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Dimensioned apron stock.
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