Thread: Bookcase secretaire in need of love

I’ve been thinking about this over my morning coffee and have started ‘channeling’ the original maker. His name was Joseph and he was commissioned to make a very narrow secretaire on a budget. He designed the piece as he went and used timbers and the leadlight left over from earlier projects. He got right to the end including having shellacked all of the pieces and then realised that he couldn’t have the writing surface both continuous with the inside surface when open AND flush with the front when closed. He agonised over the problem but decided NOT to confer with his customer. He took out his 12” rule and trusty carpenter’s pencil, drew a line (which is still visible) on top of the shellac from the front edge of the desk opening and as long as the already completed writing surface, mounted 2 stop blocks angled to the pencil line, rebated for an odd length piece of piano hinge (which was also left over from another job), mounted the writing surface at the jaunty angle and delivered it to his customer explaining that this jaunty angle was now all the rage in London.
The rest is history........

fletty

I stayed up until the early hours of this morning discussing this secretaire with Joseph. It seems that, even though we are separated by almost a century, he also likes red wine! We have come up with a solution to the writing surface geometry issue which will allow for a flush surface when open AND closing flush with the front surface when closed! Joseph has confirmed that this was what he always wanted when he originally made it but time pressure beat him!
I will sketch the solution later but I may need to open another bottle of 2010 Shadrach Shiraz to remind me of all of the details.

fletty

Hi Fletty. Might i suggest the handles could be - bandalasta. Very interesting web site btw. gordo

Originally Posted by fletty

We have come up with a solution to the writing surface geometry issue which will allow for a flush surface when open AND closing flush with the front surface when closed! Joseph has confirmed that this was what he always wanted when he originally made it but time pressure beat him!

fletty

I got back on to the secretaire today after a few weeks of other jobs. As noted above, the challenge was to come up with a hinge design that;

• allowed the horizontal fixed component to go the front face to cover the drawer AND
• allowed the moveable portion to be flush with the front face when closed BUT
• provide a flat continuous writing surface of both the fixed and moveable portions when open

After some further red wine ‘channeling’ sessions with the original maker, we came up with the following geometry...

9001A862-1D05-4604-A4E3-E42B9B16AD86.jpg

.... where the left component is fixed to the front edge of the shelf and the right component is fixed to the edge of the moveable flap that closes off the writing area when closed but creates the flat writing surface when open. This simple hinge and it’s geometry based on the following....

3CB76FC1-768E-4A09-A63C-112F19186E2F.jpg

..... took an inordinate amount of QUALITY Shiraz to resolve!

"Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain
with grammar literature and learning.
Good liquor I stoutly maintain,
gives genius a better discerning."

Regards
Paul

The front edge of the shelf that the hinge would mount to, needed to be machined back to both remove the timber damaged by several prior attempts to mount hinges and to make clearance for the new hinge...

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I clamped a plank across the top to provide a horizontal datum to set the amount of timber to be removed and it’s edge provided a vertical datum for the pattern follower router bit so that ONLY the shelf and not it’s supports were machined.
The result was the shelf being routered back to the right depth and all of the damaged timber being removed.

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Looks like a fine approach.

Cant remember. Does it have side pulls to support desk? If so will you make them automatic slides as some were?

Looks like you do have slides. Was at hospital with patch on eye. Still have patch but at home now (just a scratch, nothibg serious). I started reply and took me sometime time to finish with birse and doctor coming in and out

DaveTTC
The Turning Cowboy
Turning Wood Into Art

I did various trial fits and ‘tweaks’.....

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...... before glueing AND NAILING the hinge pieces to the front edge of the shelf and the bottom edge of the flap. By knock-off tonight, I had also stained all of the new work and fitted the hinge. I’m very happy with the result with the writing surface being flat but closing flush with the front surface and the drawer being fully covered when the flap is closed

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fletty

It’s raining here at Camden and it’s been months since I last enjoyed it’s lullaby on the iron roof of the shed. I got some quality time on the secretaire today as the various finishes didn’t dry up as soon as I opened their containers, so here is the progress today.

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The last pic in the last thread shows some significant colour variation which needed to be corrected so I sanded back the outer faces of both the writing surface and drawer and started the (tedious !) process of sneaking up on the right colour. That process so far has been Feast Watson (FW) Oak stain, shellac, and FW Brown Japan stain. Although in some light the colour doesn’t look close enough the difference is probably only the current lack of gloss finish. Where I have applied a few coats of shellac the colour is looking much closer.

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I’ll leave a sealed and loaded rubber next to the secretaire and, each time I walk past it, I’ll give the needy surfaces another coat.
Now, I don’t know the sequence of thoughts that others go through when they have lost something but I go from ‘currently misplaced’ all the way through to ‘some b@stard has stolen it’ but, at the moment, the key to all 5 locks is currently misplaced.......

Check in the draw/cupboard of the secretaire. That's where I would put it 'for safekeeping'

Originally Posted by ncarcher

check in the draw/cupboard of the secretaire. That's where i would put it 'for safekeeping'

:b:b:b

Look what NCArcher found....... THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!

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It was/is on sale on Facebook today for $35 ( “ideal restoration project” etc) but I can’t open the post. However, it does confirm that, as per my detective work, the writing surface does indeed close on an angle. I wonder if my channeling with the original maker will result in any other remaining examples suddenly closing flush ?

I have been advised by a much higher authority, that this secretaire is to be a KEEPER. After going through the grief of negotiating what other piece will go out to make room for it, I discovered to my horror that.....

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There will be serious words with Joseph later tonight! I mean, who would make a secretaire that won’t take a bottle of Scotland’s finest?
Now that it will remain here and my reputation can remain untarnished (pun intended), I might change a few things that wont be historically accurate? For example, the unsymmetric mounting of handles must have been done the morning after Joseph had been on a bender .... or more probably, during said bender!
The new hinge arrangement, which corrected Joseph’s other bender outcome, the jaunty angle of the writing surface, introduces a neat and visible brass hinge line. This encourages me to change the handle mounting screws to unlacquered brass to match the hinge? The current mounting screws have been solder filled to turn the brass to silver...ish and fill the slot. Filling the screw driver slots on the screw heads means that the ( cr@ppy, square) nuts have had to be turned to fix the handles, leaving this terrible divot on the inside surfaces...

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Ill get some cylindrical nuts made for the mountings that are visible!

Originally Posted by fletty

Look what NCArcher found....... THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!

That one is seriously weird - I have never seen bracket feet inside bracket feet before. Is there any sign on yours that it had a similar arrangement? Also, while I would never usually recommend changing a handle arrangement, I have to agree that those "jaunty" angled handles would be hard to live with!