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Contemporary Writing Desk: Apron Stock and Joinery

From "Wood Works"
episode WWK-511

The simple cherry base of this writing desk is offset by the striking pattern of the richly figured zebra wood.

The face of the drawer is cut from the front-apron stock and appears seamless with the surrounding wood of the apron.

In this episode of DIY Wood Works, host David Marks builds a contemporary writing desk of cherry with an exotic zebra-wood top.

This elegantly designed piece is crafted by combining two exquisite woods. For the top, zebra wood is cut into thin strips, edge-glued and veneered onto a plywood substrate. The unique grain-matched design of the veneer provides a striking appearance.

The solid-cherry base features tapered legs that gently curve as they join the apron. The front apron is cut from a solid piece of cherry, and from it a single drawer-front is created. In that way, the face of the drawer appears seamless with the surrounding wood of the apron. For the single drawer, maple stock is cut and joined with interlocking rabbets. The joinery for the drawer is strengthened with decorative brass pins. The rich red tones and simple form of the base provide a suitable background for the striking zebra-wood writing surface.

Materials:

Cherry Stock
Table saw
Multi-router
Table router
Jointer
Straight-edge
Yellow woodworker's glue
Glue roller
Clamps
Band clamp
Carpenter's pencil
Chalk
Safety glasses or goggles

Safety Alert: Always wear safety goggles or safety glasses when
working with wood, power-tools, saws, drills, routers, etc.

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Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

Figure E

The project begins with the cherry base. All of the parts are milled from 8/4 cherry stock (figure A). The aprons are 1-1/2 inches thick. The legs are 1-3/4 inches square and 30 inches long. (The overall height of the desk is 30 inches.)

Apron-Stock Prep

The drawer-front and the apron come from a single board. In this way, the grain of the drawer-front will line up with the surrounding wood to create a seamless appearance to the front of the piece.
The stock for the apron is slightly oversized. Begin by marking the position of the center drawer. The design calls for a drawer that is 3-3/4 inches high and 16 inches long, with a 7/8-inch reveal along the top and bottom.
To keep the proper grain orientation, mark the face of the apron stock with cabinet-maker's triangles.
Using the layout lines as a guide, rip the front apron into three sections (figure B), resetting the fence between cuts.
Next, cross-cut the center-section to make the drawer front. As seen on the cut pieces of stock, the pieces create a frame for the drawer-face (figure C) while maintaining the flow of the grain.
The next major step will be to glue the pieces back together (minus the drawer-front pieces), moving the sides in slightly to allow for the kerf, keeping the fit tight. Before gluing the front apron together, pass each piece over the jointer to ensure that the edges are flat.
Use yellow glue to join the long-grain of the four pieces of the apron together. The chalk triangles help to keep the grain aligned.
Add two clamps per side (figure D) and allow the glue to cure for several hours.
Once the glue has set completely, rip the front apron to final width at the table saw, trimming a bit off of each side so that the drawer opening is centered on the apron -- maintaining the 7/8-inch border above and below (figure E). Once trimmed, the final apron width is 5-1/2 inches.
Using the same settings on the table saw, rip the rest of the stock for the apron to the same width: 5-1/2 inches.

Rabbet and Joinery

Before cutting the aprons to length, cut the rabbet that will hold the tabletop. The rabbet is cut first in this way to prevent problems with chip-out. If chip-out does occur at the end of the cut, the damaged area will be trimmed away when the stock is cut to length.

The top is designed to sit flush with the apron (figure F), so the rabbet needs to be 7/8-inch deep (figure G). That dimension is equal to the total thickness of the substrate and the two layers of veneer that will make up the top.

Figure F

Figure G

Figure H

Figure I

Figure J

Figure K

Figure L

With the height of the table-saw blade raised 7/8-inch, batch-cut a kerf in all of the apron stock (figure H).
With the fence reset, and the blade lowered to 1/2-inch (figure I) complete the rabbet on all of the apron stock (figure J).
Next, use the cross-cut sled and stop-block on the table saw to cut all of the apron stock to final length: 17-1/2 inches for the two sides, and 41 inches for the front and back (figure K). When trimming the ends off the front apron, use special care to keep the drawer-opening centered in the stock.
With all of the key parts for the base cut to size, you can now turn your attention to the joinery and the legs. Mortise-and-loose-tenon joinery is used to join the legs to the apron, and the mortise-cuts are positioned to provide a 1/4-inch reveal where the apron joins the leg (figure L).
On the apron stock, lay out each mortise so that it's one inch from the top and 1/2-inch from the bottom, centered in the width of the stock (figure M).
On the legs, offset each of the mortises consistently to accommodate the 1/4-inch reveal (figure N).

Figure M

Figure N

Figure O

Figure P
Batch-cut all of the mortises at the multi-router (figure O). This mortising machine operates on linear-motion bearings and makes short work of batch-cutting a number of identical mortises. (If you don't have access to a multi-router, an alternative is using the plunge router at your workbench.)
Each of the identical mortises is 3/8-inch wide, 4 inches long and 1/2-inch deep (figure P).
For the tenons, use 4-inch-wide cherry milled to 3/8-inch thick. Radius the edges and cut each tenon to a length just shy of 1 inch.
With the frame-pieces and joinery all cut, you can now conduct a dry-fit to ensure that the pieces fit together.

In the segment that follows, the curved legs are cut from the cherry stock and the drawer is made.

RESOURCES :

Woodworking Techniques: Best Methods for Building Furniture from Fine Woodworking
Author: Editors of Fine Woodworking magazine
Publisher: Taunton Press
ISBN: 1561583456

David Marks Website
David Marks, DIY's Wood Works host, is a master woodworker. For more information on cut sizes and project details, please contact him via his Website at www.djmarks.com

Fine Woodworking
A magazine devoted to high-quality craftsmanship in woodworking.
The Taunton Press Inc.
Website: www.taunton.com

ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
	Contemporary Writing Desk: Apron Stock and Joinery
	Contemporary Writing Desk: Legs and Drawer
	Contemporary Writing Desk: Veneered Zebra-Wood Top
	Contemporary Writing Desk: Finishing Touches