Category: Woodworking

Articles from category Woodworking

Art Déco Bed Stands

I just finished these two bed stands in oak, with the same Art Déco style as my desk.
Just like the desk, they are built with secret miter dovetails for strength.

Art Déco desk is finished

Here is the finished desk. The rotating drawers presented a special challenge. The laminating of the curved sides was actually pretty easy (I used ash sawn into 2mm-thick slices, then glued in a quarter-circle form), but the knife-hinges were difficult to adjust.


This was indeed a major glue-up. I used almost all my clamps. Notice the gluing blocks, to ensure pressure at right-angle to the miter. These are sawn-off after the glue has set, then the surface is planed and cleaned. Next come the drawers, two of which are mounted on knife hinges to pivot towards the outside.



Working on new Art Déco desk

I have almost finished this desk for a customer, this time in oak. I chose to do hidden miter dovetails instead of biscuits. It requires more work, but I know for sure it will never open. The glue-up should be interesting.


The panel under the drawers is assembled with sliding dovetails at the front and back. Only the one at the front is glued, to allow for seasonal expansion of the top.




I just started my business making custom furniture. My professional website is http://www.atelier-desvallees.com
My shop is in Cagnes sur Mer, near Nice, France.

"Shoji" cabinet

I just finished this cabinet in cherry. It is already full of woodworking books and others. The wood is from a large cherry tree I felled 3 years ago. I got very nice planks for the top.
The design is copied from a Seth Janofsky design, in a Krenov book (With Wakened Hands), except I used shoji paper for the doors instead of cedar.

Finished desk in Elm

I just finished this desk in Elm for a friend. I bought the wood in Italy, it has a wonderful color and grain. Since the boards were 8cm thick (more than 3 inches), it took me a lot of work to resaw and bring to thickness.

It is composed of a table, and a chest of drawers. The table top has 2 parts joined at a right angle with a miter, reinforced with butterfly keys.


The chest has 4 drawers of progressive heights, assembled with dovetails.
The back of the chest and the drawer bottoms are cedar.

I just came back from Devon, England, where I followed an excellent course with David Charlesworth. I improved my skills at dovetails and drawer-making.
This is in Hartland, in beautiful North Devon, where I had 2 weeks of fine weather.
Recommended.

Secret-miter dovetail


Clovelly, a former fishing village converted to tourism, about 5km from Hartland.

Just south of Hartland Quay.

Art Deco Desk

The desk is finished. It looks good, although I am not sure whether the original design was veneered rather than built in solid wood. It required special attention to design, in order to allow seasonal wood movement without damage.

Art Deco desk

I almost finished this desk. It is closely based on an original by Jean-Michel Frank, a famous Art Deco figure living in Paris in the 1930s. The original was in sycomore, this one is in solid cherry – a tree I felled in 2006. 3 years drying is good enough in our dry climate.