Windsor Chairmakers : 18th century slant front desk

Shipping options. Select the level of service you desire that is available for each and all the pieces in your order.

After shipping is complete, we will pay the shipping company on your behalf, charge that exact amount against your prepayment, and send you a refund check of any overpayment.

White glove blanket wrapped service- Furniture set up in room ready to use. No packing required.

Delivery in company van in Maine- Furniture set up in your room ready to use. No packing required.

Customer pick up- From loading dock at workshop. No packing required.

Call Suzanne for quote
800-789-5188

9am - 5pm EST

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Pine as secondary wood. In the 18th century, it was common for pine to be used on the interior parts of chests. this practice significantly reduced the weight of the chest when it needed to be moved. Pieces such as highboys benefited from pine as the secondary wood by the reduction of weight on the slim ankles of the cabriole legs.

One piece drawer bottoms. In the 18th century there were more big trees than time to glue and clamp drawer bottoms together. Consequently, drawer bottoms were made out of one piece of wood. We do the same. It doesn't make the drawer bottoms any better, just more authentic.

Varnish.

Better than lacquer, shellac, or linseed oil as a top coat. It does not allow water to penetrate into the wood and cause a white spot. We use two coats to be surer that we have the surface entirely covered.

Ordering procedure.

1. Determine generally what you want to buy.
Questions by phone are good. 800-789-5188

2. Mail a $200 deposit check to us. As we say, this seperates the serious from the curious. It also puts you on our build schedule.

3. We will mail you a written confirmation of your deposit and an invoice distilling to writing the decisions made thus far.

4. Each item we build has lists of "choices" from which a selection must be made. "Options" are optional.

5. Once you have paid your deposit, we are happy to mail you finish samples of your choosing for consideration in your light.

6. Payment in full including shipping and Maine state sales tax if applicable, must be paid by personal check prior to your build date.

7. We will build, ship, arrange and pay the shipper on your behalf, and refund any overpayment.

Wells.
Please notice that this desk has no top drawers under the fall front. Instead, there are two wells covered with sliding lids. We think that this is smart. It allows you to get another piece fo paper out of the well with out disturbing your work on the fall front.
This is the way fall front desks were when they first came over from England. Americans then altered the design by inserting two top drawers and doing away with the wells. Not too smart.

Antiquing. The combination of steps in the furniture finishing process that have as their sole objective to make the furniture look older than it really is. How much older is determined by the amount of antiquing applied. We offer antiquing in light, medium and heavy quantities.
The lowest level of antiquing is "light", not "none". There are three reasons for this.

First, try as we might to make perfect furniture with no blemishes, we can't. So, rather than promise you something that we can't do, we offer you the best that we can do.

Second, scratches and dings will happen to your furniture as you use it. if we put the first few on, as others occur, there is less anxiety which is good for you and your visitors.

Third, we think it looks more appropriate. It's like a person over forty-five having crows feet around their eyes.

Pullouts.
The arms that support the fall front on a slant front desk. Ours are rigged with a brass piece of hardware so that they come out automatically when the fall front is lowered. This prevents damage to the desk if one were to forget to extend the pullouts if they did not have the hardware.

Flat bracket base. Describes the type of base on this chest. It takes its name from the bracket under a shelf attached to a wall. We dovetail the corner of ours for added decorative effect and leave the pins slightly proud.

Shell.
This style is more specifically known as a Connecticut fan shell. Each one is hand carved by Valdomeyr Skov, a highly skilled craftsman living here in Maine. He uses only hand chisels and a mallet. The small imperfection left by the chisel can only be obtained by doing this by hand.

Hand cut dovetails.
Dovetails are the preferred method of holding drawers together. They are made either with a router and jig or hand cut with a saw. Hand cutting with a saw replicates the method used in the 18th century. This is the method we use.
Hand cutting requires more skill but quicker. A router and jig requires less skill and more time. This is particularly true when using graduated drawer heights and the height of each drawer is different.

Sand cast brass hardware.
Today, hardware is made three ways. It is either sand cast, or dye cast, or stamped. In the 18th century all hardware was sand cast. This is the process our supplier uses for us. It imparts a subtle irregularity that can not be duplicated by either of the other two methods.
A model is made and packed in French sand. The sand mold is opened, the model taken out and brass poured in. When the piece has cooled, it is taken out and polished. When the piece of hardware gets dull again due to exposure to air, you may have the fun of polishing it also. I suggest you use polishing wool and do not take the pieces off the furniture.

Hand rubbed finish.

After the final coat of flat varnish has been applied and allowed to cure or get hard, the surface is rubbed with 400 grit sandpaper. This removes the dust fleckles that fell into the varnish before it completely dried. It also softens the appearance and feel of the finish to a very desirable luster. It's a time consuming process but we feel that it's worth it.