| example project (page 1 of 3) | ||
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The Right Board in the Right Place
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SELECTING WOOD FOR A SECRETARY |
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| The principles of selecting wood for furniture cut across stylistic and period boundaries. I've chosen to demonstrate some of them by describing the wood needed for a Newport secretary. Such a complex piece illustrates a wide variety of situations and tests the versatility of a cabinet wood, requiring, in different parts, great figure, strength, ability to hold carved detail, stability and a rage of other properties | |||||||||||||||||||
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BACK OF LOWER CASE Planks of secondary wood, shiplapped and run horizontally, are nailed or screwed into a rabbet. The top plank may be left off during fitting of the desk interior while lower planks stabilize the case. |
(Drawings by Bob La Pointe) | ||||||||||||||||||
| DESK INTERIOR No need for flashy wood here. Choose straight grain, low figure. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| INTERIOR DRAWERS Fronts should be cut consecutively from a single board with strong grain. Sides, backs and bottoms are secondary wood. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| LID SUPPORTS Supports may be either primary wood or secondary wood with a cap of the primary wood glued on the front end. Straight-grained stock is essential; quartersawn material is ideal because the lid support must never stick, despite the tight fit required for best support of the lid. | |||||||||||||||||||
| DRAWER RUNNERS Runners should be make of straight-grained secondary wood; for increased wear, maple is sometimes substituted for a softer secondary wood like Poplar. | |||||||||||||||||||
| DRAWER BLADES For maximum stability in these long pieces supported only at the ends, choose straight-grained stock with little figure; quartersawn material is best. | |||||||||||||||||||
| LOWER CASE SIDES Optimally, the lower and upper case sides should be cut from a single, wide board long enough to nest all four parts. | BRACKET FEET For strength and crispness of carving, the feet should be cut from dense, straight-grained stock. All of the feet should be taken from one plank, if possible, and laid out so that the grain wraps around the front feet. | ||||||||||||||||||
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