Custom Commission - Kidney Shaped Desk

What follows is a series of photos of a recently completed custom commission for a Kidney Shaped Desk. These images will form the basis for a series of blog posts that will explain this desk in great detail, explaining not only the various holistic woods used but also the process for making the gold, copper and silver inlays that have been fitted into the pencil drawer.




This is the initial walnut blank with recesses cut to receive the gold, copper and silver inlays. After the inlay work is complete this piece will become the lid of the box located inside the pencil drawer.




The gold and silver inlays were cast using a lost wax process. This image shows the mold and wax casting for the silver Turtle inlay.




The mold and wax casting for the Eagle inlay, which ended up being made of gold.




Benchwork on the Turtle inlay.




Benchwork on Eagle inlay.




Cleaning the casting of the Eagle inlay.




Polishing the Eagle inlay.




Handscraping the copper Tree inlay. Since it is not practical to cast copper, this inlay was made of bar stock that was seamlessly soldered together.




Preparing to fit the inlay into the wood.




After much polishing and finessing by hand, the final fit is achieved.




The wood lid can now be sanded in preparation for gluing the inlay into place.




A protective Lanolin finish is carefully applied by hand to the Black Walnut lid and sculpted inlay pieces that will function as finger pulls under the drawers. It is highly relevant that these pieces are all located in areas that will be frequently touched, since this will allow the active holistic molecules of the Black Walnut wood to come into direct contact with the skin of the person using the desk.




The finished lid and finger pulls, ready to be fitted into desk.




Front view of the completed desk.




A closer view of the end detail of the desk.




Detail view of top, showing Macassar Ebony top apron and inset of black Tuscany leather.




Detail view of side drawer.




Pencil drawer - closed.




Pencil drawer - open.




Interior of pencil drawer, showing inlaid lid of Black Walnut. The trays on either side are made of Sassafras, which is a holistic wood known for its aromatherapeutic properties. The box portion below the inlaid lid has been crafted from a wood called Hawthorn, which is also known for its aromatherapeutic and Ayurvedic properties.




Detail view of inlaid finger pull below one of the side drawers. The finger pulls are made of a special cutting of Black Walnut wood, which has traditionally been used by Native American medicine women for its holistic properties.

The properties of all of the holistic woods, and the story behind the gold, copper and silver inlays in the lid, will be explained in greater detail in a subsequent post.

Custom Made Inlays for a Custom Made Desk

I've been working with a custom jeweller recently to create some cool inlays out of Gold, Copper, and Sterling Silver.

These inlays will be fitted into a current commission for a Kidney Shaped Desk.

This story will be told in greater detail in an upcoming series of posts.

Why I Number My Furniture

Every once in a while I get asked why I number each piece of furniture that gets made in my shop. It may surprise some people to find out that it's not an attempt to give my work any special cachet.

The numbering system was actually created for very practical reasons.

Back in the late 1980s we went through a busy stretch where we found our shop completely innundated with a wide variety of custom furniture work. Because of this my desk was overflowing with all sorts of drawings, finish samples and coils of thermal fax paper containing all types of pertinent information. Looking back I am amazed that we found a way to keep this chaos organized.

Although we already had an informal job numbering system in place, it was largely ineffective in a situation where there were 40 or 50 different projects on the go at any one time. (Remember, this was before computerized databases and scheduling software became widely available to small business).

Then, one day in the late 1980s I happened to be in New York to meet with a fellow named Mark Logan, who at the time was the general manager for Dakota Jackson's furniture company. I saw on Mark's desk a bin of numbered folders with each folder containing all the pertinent information for each individual job. Mark's system formed the basis for revising our own job tracking system, and from that day forward we assigned each project with a specific number that was used to identify all drawings, samples, faxes and other correspondence related to that particular job. That same number was also used to track timesheets and the hours it took to do each job.

In subsequent years this system was easily fine tuned with the introduction of computerization, meaning that we could now organize everything into one massive digital database.

Upon completion of each job all samples, drawings, photos, time sheet summaries, color matching formulas and other related information is gathered and sealed in the folder so that it can be stored sequentially in an archives room for future reference. In many cases these archives prove to be an invaluable resource in situations where we have a custom project to make that is similar to something we've already done. In other cases we get asked to make things to match something we've made over 10 years earlier. Having access to these records ends up saving us a great deal of time and effort.

Over the years our archives have grown to the point where we now have over 4 decades worth of records, cutlists, cabinet making notes and vintage drawings stored in one large room. Whenever I am in that room I am reminded of an old shop called Davies and Son, which claims to be the oldest independent tailor in and around Savile Row in London, England.




In the early 19th Century it was said that Davies and Son were the quality tailors who dressed all the crowned heads of Europe. They were also the bespoke tailor for Admiral Lord Nelson, who at the time was the most famous sailor of the age based on his service to the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars.




According to legend Davies and Son have managed to keep meticulous records of all their fine tailoring work done over the past 200+ years, and it is said that Admiral Nelson's specific measurements are still on file. Having said that, if Nelson was alive today he would not only be able to custom order a finely tailored suit from the Davies and Son website via his IPad or Blackberry, but he would also be guaranteed a perfect fit.

How cool is that?