Ok so was back in the workshop today and carried on with this project.
What is quite unusual is that the client has basically left it to me other than having given me a several pictures of a davenports that they liked highlighting specific bits there is no working drawing other than my sketches etc!
they particularly liked this one!
but were adamant that they did not want a leather skiver fitted, they accepted that it was traditional to have the skiver fitted but want the piece to show off the wood and it will never actually be used as a writing desk
Anyway having removed the top carcase from the cramps shown earlier I carried on working on this upper section.
The top will have a bonnet at the rear which will raise and lower exposing a series of small stationary drawers/compartments. The bonnet was made up on Monday and left drying ready for today, the corners mitred and a solid top glued to the frame.
The excess was then trimmed off using a Radian four flute cutter, you may recall that these were brought to the attention of forum members a short time ago - I have been using mine steadily since then and it is still performing as new!
the shavings coming off the cutter being very fine and leaving an exceptionally clean finish on this very hard burr oak
The shaping was then applied using a handrail cutter first
before rounding over the top
Another small frame was then made to sit below this, the corners again mitred and veneer keyed
I then turned my attention to the lifting lid initially selecting the piece of burr oak for the panel
The outer frame was then made, the mitred corners biscuited and grooved ready to accept the panel
With this made it was glued up and put aside for the glue to cure
Whilst this was drying I made up what will be the lower frame
The rounded ends being sanded on my Axminster oscillating sander (Sorry Roger S) but I have found this a fantastic addition to my workshop and the very hard oak was left beautifully smooth
After lunch I took the lift up flat out of the cramps and having scraped the surface needed to cut the recess into the front, initially with the coping saw I cut the desired curve
before removing the main section, instead of just cutting this with a jigsaw or similar I actually cut the waste away with a router cutter as the fence would leave it straight and almost planed!
The edges then had a finger nail profile cut around its edges and properly cut in where the front recess
So at the end of today it is looking like this
Don't be fooled by the work so far, there is tons to do and anyone who has worked in burr oak will know that for each hour of construction there is probably two hours of finishing!
Will update again in a few days time
