Desktop Organizer 2008

Desktop Organizer 2008
I just finished up and prepared the latest project for shipment to the coastal area of Washington. This desktop organizer was built for Ryan Finnerty, who in May completed a Masters of Fine Art program from the University of Washington. This piece was commissioned by Maureen Finnerty, Ryan's older sister.

This is a copy of the description that was sent to Ryan:
This Desktop Organizer was commissioned by Maureen Finnerty. The entire piece is constructed of solid wood and is designed to endure lifetimes of use. The structure or carcass is constructed with Black Cherry (red in color). The drawer fronts are Curly Maple (light tan in color). The bottoms of the drawers are Yellow Poplar with Black Cherry for the rest of the drawer components. These species of timber are domestic hardwoods grown in North America; no exotic timber was used. The carcass was constructed with through dovetails at the corners. The drawers were constructed in traditional fashion using solid wood and time-honored joinery practices. Room was allotted in the drawer openings to allow for expansion of the wood as it acclimates from the dry Wyoming air to the humid Coastal climate. The back will appear proud of sides and the drawers might stiffen up as the wood acclimates. The piece is finished with a Watco Danish Oil (Natural Color) with a topcoat of paste wax. If scratched this finish can be easily repaired by adding more Danish Oil to the damaged area and re-waxing with any furniture grade paste wax. I hope this piece brings as much joy as it brought me in the process of constructing it.

The timber milled up and ready to be hand-planed.

The sides with dovetails cut out.

Assembly of a drawer.

Finished Shots!

Disaster did strike once. A large chunk of a drawer front blew out while chopping the half-blind dovetails. That is why we always mill up an extra piece.