| Neil
Scobie, Lower Bucca, NSW
Retrospection
desk
Jarrah
1230 l x 720 w x 900mm high
The jarrah used
in the desk had been kiln dried to 12%
moisture content, but for Bungendore conditions
I dried the timber in my finishing kiln
to 8%. This required the components to
be pre-cut oversize, end sealed and dried
for 12 days at temperatures building up
to 45°C.
There are a full range of joints in the
desk. The legs and feet have been joined
with 80mm long x 13mm loose tenons pined
from the outside for visual effect and
extra strength. The top of the legs are
joined with knock down fittings, while
the brace is also joined with a loose
tenon. The frame is made using domino
joints. The sides have been rebated by
routing and hand finishing on the curves.
The drawer joints are dowelled on an angle
at the front and a through tenon at the
back.
The top has been glued with AV515 polyurethane
with the aid of 40 x 8mm dominos. The
legs have been joined with EpiGlue Epoxy.
The laminated shell at the back and front
under the drawers has been made by making
2.5mm thick jarrah veneers and two layers
of 6mm thick bending ply. The layers were
glued around a handmade form using epoxy
glue. The frame and drawer joints have
all be glued with cross linked PVA from
Furnware.
The desk will all be finished with non-toxic
Livos Kunos oil. Fours coats will be applied.
The drawers will also have a wax applied
to help slip.
Concept
The design of this desk is a revisit to
a desk I made in 1987 which we still use
in our house today. I have had the sketches
and even a full size end view drawing
made up for a few years, but put it aside
as I could not get my head around the
best ways to build it while still allowing
for seasonal movement. Studio Furniture
has given me the incentive to explore
the design problems.
Modern furniture designs seem to make
use of straight lines ands square angles
so I wanted to get away from that idea
and go back to the more look of the 1960,s
where more gracious curves were used.
I like curved lines in my designs, although
this sometimes results in headaches for
joinery techniques. I also contemplated
using 2.5mm veneers for the top, but decided
it was better to have solid timber, allowing
movement through slotted screw holes from
the underside of the frame. The pigeon
holes will be made to match the curved
lines of the desk itself.
Photos: Neil Scobie
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