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  1. #1
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    Default iHAN dynasty computer desk

    I have finally splurged and bought a new computer ... no kerosene bottle ... no wick .... logs onto the forum in seconds, not 20 minutes ... ahhh, the technology!
    However, deep inside, the luddite lurks and so the plan is to mount the new 21st Century technological wonder onto a ... 19th Century Chinese desk ... that has ... uhm.... character?
    All additions must be removable and the desk returnable to original condition but repairs can be permanent so .. here beginneth possibly the Worlds longest WIP.

    iHAN001web.jpg

    The desk has been stored outside for some years but has survived reasonably well. The main problems are that it has slumped but it is no worse for being stored outside (that's what it was like when I bought it in China!) and the distance between the centre lacework to the desk top is too great to comfortably operate a keyboard with your legs under the lacework.


    iHAN002web.jpg



    It is currently fitted with 5 drawers so I have devised a removable capsule that will replace the centre drawer and allow for an extendable work surface to support the keyboard at a more comfortable height


    iHAN003web.jpg



    the lower extendable frame will hold the existing drawer front but allow it to be pulled out and lowered

    iHAN004web.jpg



    while the keyboard surface extends. This is just a ply mock-up top to be replaced by a framed suede-covered keyboard shelf

    iHAN005web.jpg


    Unfortunately, before China valued its fabulous heritage, old furniture such as this was little respected and repairs, if any, were unsympathetic and 'agricultural'. Mind you, if these repairs hadn't been done, much of the remaining furniture would have rotted or been burnt years ago. As this desk has slumped, some of the beautiful little tenoned mitre joints have opened up ... and been repaired with a mix of mud and concrete. It will be impossible to remove the 'slump' without removing the 'repair'. And, when I say 'slump', I mean SLUMP

    iHAN006web.jpg



    the basic structure is a series of very complex but strong and elegant tenoned mitre joints held in place with rough cut timber pins


    iHAN007web.jpg


    this is probably one of the worst so this is how I usually go about fixing it...

    iHAN009web.jpg



    I drill into the end of the pin, screw in my favourite very sharp-threaded Robertson screw and draw the pin out with a claw hammer

    iHAN010web.jpg


    I can then open the joint a bit and clean out the 'repair'. As repair material, I have found mud, cement, bitumen, rice putty and paper but, once it is removed, the beauty of the tenoned mitre joint is that it re-centres itself and aligns the mating components

    iHAN011web.jpg


    I will need to do this to most of the joints on the face but even this one has made a noticeable difference

    iHAN012web.jpg

    I clamped a heavy plank across the top to remove the SLUMP and it has shown the me the best I can expect after doing all this work ... but even this little improvement will be worth it

    iHAN013web.jpg


    ..... although I guess there would be an inherent benefit in all of my pens and things rolling to the middle of the desk?

    I have some of the missing lace pieces ... somewhere .... and so the immediate future tasks are to do the rest of the tenoned-mitre joints, see if I have SLUMP, SLUMP or SLUMP, fit the lace pieces or cut and carve new ones, disassemble the centre drawer to mount the front on the keyboard shelf and start to repair the finish.

    fletty
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Interesting - will you be fitting it with a suitably steampunked (dynastypunked??) keyboard, mouse and monitor??

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Default

    This could be an interesting work in progress / restore.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    May 2012
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Master Splinter View Post
    Interesting - will you be fitting it with a suitably steampunked (dynastypunked??) keyboard, mouse and monitor??
    Oh, this would be a GLORIOUS steampunk project.

    Simply glorious.

    Inbuilt wooden keyboard. A few Nixey tubes or valves on the back left. A flat screen with the bezel removed for wooden surround and a retrofitted early 20's phone. Some extra brass and complications on the draw mechanisms.

    Splashed with Chinese influence. Oh god yes! This project is just begging for it!!!

  6. #5
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    Feb 2009
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    Bristol, UK
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    Default

    Sat watching, totally captivated.
    Dragonfly
    No-one suspects the dragonfly!

  7. #6
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    Mar 2005
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    Camden, NSW
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    Quote Originally Posted by Master Splinter View Post
    Interesting - will you be fitting it with a suitably steampunked (dynastypunked??) keyboard, mouse and monitor??


    Quote Originally Posted by Evanism View Post
    Oh, this would be a GLORIOUS steampunk project.

    Simply glorious.

    Inbuilt wooden keyboard. A few Nixey tubes or valves on the back left. A flat screen with the bezel removed for wooden surround and a retrofitted early 20's phone. Some extra brass and complications on the draw mechanisms.

    Splashed with Chinese influence. Oh god yes! This project is just begging for it!!!
    I would need help .... before, during and ........ definitely afterwards!

    fletty
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  8. #7
    Join Date
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    Thumbs up

    Love it Fletty. It is folk such as yourself that make these fora SO GREAT!!!

  9. #8
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Canberra
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    Quote Originally Posted by fletty View Post




    I would need help .... before, during and ........ definitely afterwards!

    fletty
    To directly quote:

    We choose to Steam Punk this desk and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

  10. #9
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    Jun 2007
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    Default

    Oh wise master who seems to enjoy Chinese take away furniture

    If I may ask is your new keyboard/mouse WiFi or cable? Not that it matters other than length of cable to PC many these days short like the people who make them. Placement of PC/Imac on floor or on desk top.

    I think I would be making latice section (if possible) into a keyboard draw as width is more in tune and would allow for mouse besides. If this could withdraw and raise up it would allow nice work height and leg room would it not?








  11. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    Camden, NSW
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    Quote Originally Posted by Evanism View Post
    ..........Oh, this would be a GLORIOUS steampunk project.

    Simply glorious.

    iHAN014web.jpg






    fletty
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Katoomba NSW
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    Default

    Hmmm...nice try Fletty.
    I think they had something like this in mind.
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by NCArcher View Post
    Hmmm...nice try Fletty.
    I think they had something like this in mind.
    wrong link Tony try this one


    Fletty pic speaks volumes TY

  14. #13
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    Feb 2008
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    Victoria
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    Quote Originally Posted by fletty View Post

    I would need help .... before, during and ........ definitely afterwards!

    fletty
    You need help? I need a modern dictionary
    Cheers,
    Jim

  15. #14
    Join Date
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    se Melbourne
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    Default

    Good to see that it is steam powered.

  16. #15
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    Dec 2005
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    Canberra
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