Thanks everyone for the comments...Jeff warned ahead of time he was going to post this so no slap on head needed.
I haven't figured out how to introduce myself or post the many pictures I would like to show you guys. I joined the site last November and have been really busy in the shop since...no excuse though, so any help like putting my funny face on my posts and uploading pictures would be great.
I've been doing Shaker style pieces for probably 20 years or so, so I have a boatload of pics. Got tired of making rectangular things last year and am now focused on high end rockers. The desk was a commission that came along after the customer saw my rockers up at Cedar Creek. There's still one left there, if your up that way.
To answer a few specific questions, the desk started out to be one of those big slab natural edge things the guy in Montana does, but the customer wanted a "dog-leg" shape and that was hard to find. Kyle tried his best but the edges were a bit Too natural for him, so I came up with this idea. He's a big guy (6'7"..280 lbs) so it's designed to fit him.
The top deck is 32" high, and the lower about 29" (sounds like an aircraft carrier and it's just as heavy). The wood is Black Walnut from Kyle, dried by Scott and the colour is gorgeous. The drawer, door and back panela are done in Claro Walnut..courtesy of Kyle. I'll post some pictures of the back as soon as I figure out how to do it. The pivot is made of two 6"x6" steel plates, with a 1 1/4" steel pin on one and a 2 1/2" steel cylinder with 1/2" walls welded to the other. The separation between plates is about 2 1/2". so with the lower deck at 1 3/4" thickness sandwiched between, we end up with a 3/4" spacing.
I wanted to creat a floating effect so the drawer cabinet is separated from the bottom deck by a 1" thick spacer you can't see. There are no casters, just screw on 1/4" thick teflon disks on the bottom . It pivots surprisingly easy, so the customer can have any dogleg angle he wants.. I used Blum Tandem soft closing slides on the drawers...not used to doing these, all my Shaker stuff is wood on wood slides.
The colour rendition is poor in the ying-yang shot because of the flash..the walnut is almost purple in colour.
Thats not a hardwood floor..it's the original tongue and groove yellow pine I put down over 2x4 sleepers when I built the shop 20 years ago. Some of it is heartwood and has darkened beautifully over the years...with one coat of Waterlox.
Wow this has been a long-winded response, but I hope I've answered most of the questions. This my first shot at something contemporary, and I'm pleased with the overall result...but I like doing rockers better. The customer hasen't seen it yet...I'll tell you if he likes it.
Take care,
Don
