Custom Writing Desk
Walnut and Ambrosia Maple Desk
I was recently approached by local Atlanta author, Larry Minnix, and his lovely wife Kathleen, to build a custom writing desk for Larry’s home office. Larry is an accomplished author (check out “Hallowed Ground: Stories of Successful Aging”), who is working on his next book and was in need of an inspired spot in which to write.
Larry and Kathleen have a true appreciation for handcrafted items, which of course resonates with me. As I visited with them in their Atlanta house, I was surrounded by many examples of their past success with other custom crafted furniture pieces. The pressure was on!
Office Desk Design
Because there are so many custom furniture pieces in their house, as well as other unique pieces they have purchased along the way in their travels, we wanted to make sure to blend with these designs, but also create something distinctive. There are three main pieces in this part of the house that were the inspiration for the design. From where the office desk would be situated, you can see all three of these items.
The fireplace surround has a very nice curve on the center piece that I thought would be great for the center stretcher of the desk.
This box sits on a coffee table in the main living room. We drew inspiration for the desk legs from the corner legs of this box; specifically, the lines of the leg to the foot.
Last but not least were these custom dining chairs, which were one of the bigger inspirations for the desk based on their sweeping curves and foot design that echoed the feet on the box.
We designed the desk to measure 5 feet wide and about 30 inches deep, based on what Larry was currently using for a desk...a 6 foot folding card table! We planned for a nice curved foot on the legs, with side panels in between the legs made from book match ambrosia maple. Next, we planned two full-extension drawers in the desk - one on each side rather than a single drawer in the middle. This way, while Larry was working at the desk, he would not have to push himself away from the desk to get something out of a drawer. Lastly, I felt it important to incorporate a nice gentle curve on the front apron of the front office desk stretcher (between the drawers) as well as in the front edge of the top. This would allow Larry to pull himself nice and close to the desk and be able to comfortably rest his arms on the desk while working.
So, with these images in mind as my inspiration, I worked with Larry and Kathleen to draw up an office desk design that would be uniquely their own, but that would draw on pieces the couple already lived with and loved - to hopefully give inspiration to Larry as he began work on his next book.
Materials
One of my favorite things to do when designing furniture is combine contrasting or complementary woods - the Minnix agreed. So for this desk we decided to pair walnut with ambrosia maple, which is a combination I happen to love! We would use walnut for the main base and frame of the desk and use ambrosia maple for the top and a couple of accents; more on that later.
I believed that the legs of this desk would be one of the most crucial components of the design, so I wanted to focus on that right off the bat. I decided to use 8/4 walnut for the legs, which would allow me to get really nice, thick, nearly 2 inch square, legs at the top with enough room to create the shape of the foot. I did not want to have to laminate pieces of walnut together, nor did I want to create straight legs and then glue the curved foot on; my vision was for everything to be one solid piece.
Due to the overall size of the desk, I decided to use 5/4 walnut for the rest of the desk’s structure. This would provide plenty of support across the nearly 6 foot span of the table without any concerns of compromising support with the two drawers planned for the office desk.
The top would be a full inch thick ambrosia maple. This thickness would pair nicely with the heft of the legs and the frame, and would also add some heft and stability to the overall design.
Office Desk Build - Feet First
When building tables and desks, I really like to start with the base first; the tops are easy. Also, with this particular office desk, the legs and feet would be a real focal point - so I started with the legs and the feet.
I began by drawing out a template on some 1/8 inch thick hardboard and tracing that onto my four leg blanks. I then cut out the legs at the bandsaw.
Once I had all four legs cut out, I used my spokeshaves to remove the rough bandsaw marks and finalize the shape.
One critical note, should you build a piece like this: If I were using a traditional mortise and tenon joint to join the legs and aprons, I would have wanted to cut the mortises into the legs before cutting them to shape on the bandsaw. If you were to manually drill and chop out your mortises with a chisel, the order of these steps would be less of a consideration. In this case however, I planned to use slip tenons with a Festool Domino, so I had no concerns with cutting the legs to shape at this point.
Office Desk - Base Side Panels
Once the office desk legs were cut and shaped, I needed to create the upper and lower stretchers that would be joined to the front and back legs on each side of the desk. The upper stretcher would be quite thick, 5 inches, to account for the size of the drawers in the desk. If these side stretchers were too small, you would see the inner workings of the drawer - not a good look. The lower stretchers would be much smaller to create balance.
With each stretcher cut, I routed a groove into the edge of one face to receive the book matched ambrosia maple side panels.
As you can see in this photo, I have a book matched solid ambrosia panel set into the upper and lower stretchers. The groove for the ambrosia panel is slightly longer than the panel to allow the panel to expand and contract. Here you can also note that I added a very slight curve to the bottom of the lower stretcher - as you will see, this will compliment the front stretcher very nicely.
Here are the desk side panels dry fit into the legs. Now you can start to see it all coming together. You have the curved feet on the legs, a slight curve on the bottom rail, and then gentle curves on the book matched panels themselves.
Office Desk - Front Apron
With the side panels of the desk done, it was time to turn my attention to one of the more technical parts of this build - the front apron. At this stage in the build, I got so focused on the technical task that I failed to document each step in detail as I went. I will use the few photos I have and try to explain the process.
First, the front apron is made from one solid piece of walnut. This ensures a unified grain pattern across the front of the desk. The drawer fronts and upper rail must be cut out of this piece while maintaining structural integrity. Here is a picture of the front apron piece with arrows indicating where the drawer faces and upper rail are cut.
Keep in mind, all of this material is 1 inch thick, so quite hefty. Like the upper aprons on the desk’s side panels, the front apron needs to be an overall width of 5 inches. In this case, I made the front apron even wider. If you look closely at the photo above, you will see that the lighter color upper rail is cut away from the rest of the apron as denoted by the red arrow. This piece gets a dovetail tail that will be joined into the top of the leg (not pictured). This is pretty standard in desks and tables with drawers, to help prevent the piece from wanting to come apart horizontally.
Next, you will see that I have cut out the drawer fronts from this apron piece, denoted by the blue arrows. The long cuts were done on the bandsaw and the shorter, vertical, cuts were done on the table saw and finished by hand. Lastly, you will again see a very slight curve in the middle of this apron, similar to the curve on the lower rails of the side panels.
To illustrate what I just described, you see here the front apron dry fit into the legs, with the drawer fronts removed. The upper section of the apron is dovetailed into the legs, from the top, and the lower section of the rail is joined with a mortise and tenon joint. Once it is ready for assembly, I will glue the upper rail onto the apron - those pieces are seen here held together with clamps.
Next you can begin to see how the front apron works with the side panels in place on the desk.
This next image is the full base dry assembled. You can also see the stretchers that were inserted to hold the full-extension drawer glides that will be used on the side drawers.
The drawers are the last stage of building the base. The drawers are made using poplar for the drawer case and 1/8 thick plywood for the drawer bottom. The walnut drawer fronts are then screwed into the drawer cases and pulls added.
Office Desk - Topping It Off
The top of this desk will be solid 1 inch thick ambrosia maple. I was lucky enough to score some really nice pieces with lots of ambrosia streaking. Here is a picture of the top after receiving a fresh coat of tung oil.
As you can see in the photo above, I did incorporate a very gentle curve into the front edge of the top, which is a nice benefit to allow whoever sits at the desk to get nice and tight to the desk.
Here are some final photos of the desk before delivery. The whole desk was finished with multiple coats of Tried and True Danish Oil. I love this finish for desks and tables like this. It is easy to apply, durable and easy to repair.
Conclusion
This was a really fun project and an interesting design challenge for me - I love projects like that. There were also some good technical aspects to this project with the front apron and maintaining the uniform grain pattern. I really like the combination of the ambrosia maple with the walnut as well. Most importantly, Larry and Kathleen loved the desk, which of course is the most important point.
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About Me…
Welcome to my blog. My name is Derik VanVleet and I am the owner/builder of VanVleet Woodworking llc. I hope you find this blog useful and insightful. Feel free to leave a comment in the bottom. Thank you!
