Beginner ideas

a claro walnut slab desk

we shipped another in our series of shaker leg claro walnut slab desk and tables this week and it is now on its way to wisconsin. its similar in design to the last claro slab table we made and is, in fact, a slab from the same log ... this slab was closer to the heart of the tree though, and the figure was a bit darker and richer. lots of little curls ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
the process for this project was typical, and it started with the selection of the slab ... this can happen on the internet through one of my suppliers, like good hope hardwoods. we then planned the trim cuts and did a plan view drawing, placing it in the room to check clearances and proportions above.
we decided to straighten the angled edge somewhat to get rid of most of the spidery crack which required me to fire up my trusty chain saw. that always takes me back to me logging days in the early 70s..
we trimmed the ends just a bit too to get rid of some drying cracks
next the base pieces were bolted together and routed into the bottom of the slab for additional stability. once these bases are bolted on, the structure is completely rigid and there is no wiggle or shake whatsoever. in this case, the client chose a blackened rather than our original satin polished base. i kind of like the new blackened look myself ..
we then had to design the drawer structure to provide knee room and acceptable storage at the same time ... we came up with drawers that were about an inch and a half deep inside, which seemed to provide ample room for knees.
we ended up with some (3) secret compartments in the structure which are always fun to design and execute .... there is even a hidden tool that sam made for opening the main compartment ...
heres a final look of the bottom of the desk. in the end, we notched the sides of the drawer box so that the base could be removed without disturbing the drawer box itself ... the desks final destination is a second floor home office and, completely assembled it probably weighs close to 400 pounds ... two people can pick it up, but flipping it on its side and carrying it up a flight of curving steps would be a challenge for all but the most rugged of us. the movers were extremely happy to have us disassemble it for them ... reassembly is 8 lag bolts and 4 #14 screws. 5 minutes, tops ...
we added a few dividers to the drawers and went with chestnut pencil trays in each drawer ... good to go ... blanket wrapped shipping by plycon was professional and reasonable considering that wisconsin is not around the corner from here ... happy thanksgiving if i dont get a chance to write again !!