A DESK set is a great addition to a boy’s desk. If he has a pen tray he knows where his pencils and pens are to be found without rummaging through a tangled mess of top strings and marble bags and nails. If he puts away on the bill file that I Owe You that Billy Smith gave him for a pair of rabbits, it won’t be all crumpled up and beyond identification when Billy gets his next month’s allowance. When you come to think of it, a desk set has a great many advantages—and then, there’s the fun of making it.
The desk set which is shown in the picture comprises five pieces—an ink well stand, a bill file, a pen tray, an envelope opener, and a book rack. It is all, with the exception of the envelope opener, made of one-eighth-inch basswood.
For the ink well stand (Fig. 1) use a piece of wood, four inches square. The two-and-a-half-inch opening—which is the size of the average glass ink well—should be cut first, before the corners are weakened by cutting out the half-inch rounds. After this is done, cut the corners, and last, the eight-inch bevel. Fig. 2 shows one of the feet of the ink well. It is shown, by dotted lines, in position in Fig. 1. The four feet are glued to the bottom of Fig. 1 and the inside corners project inside the opening, making four half-inch squares on which the ink well may rest. The feet are made from pieces of wood one and seven-eighths inches square, cut in the shape shown, and ornamented with a little design in “chip” carving. This chip carving is ordinarily done with what is called a skew chisel—that is, a chisel which is not square at the end, but which has one point an eighth of an inch or more longer than the other, so that when it is put into the wood, one end of the cut will be deep while the other is barely cut out at all. However, it may be done with a jack knife, if you are very careful. In the “motif” shown in Fig. 2, the points where the three lines from adjoining corners meet are where the deepest part of the cuts should be. This is done with the knife held point down and the thumb on the end of the handle. Then, with the knife still in the same position in the hand, you chip out the wood with a sliding cut toward you, slanting it down to the depth of the cut. It is a little difficult to describe this without seeing it done, but if you look at the patterns and the photographs, and experiment a little on a piece of wood, you will find it easy.
(A) FILE. (B) INK WELL. (C) PEN TRAY.
Diagrams of an Ink Well Stand, a Bill File and a Pen Tray.
Diagrams of a Pen Tray, an Envelope Opener and a Book Rack.Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the bill file. Fig. 3 is made from a three and a quarter-inch square, cut similarly to the foot of the ink well, and with the same motif carved on each corner. It should be remembered in cutting the recessed edges that the sides running with the grain must be cut from each end, and the cross-cut sides cut toward each end. Fig. 4 is cut like Fig. 1, except that there is no opening in it. It is then glued to the top of Fig. 3, and a three-inch nail is driven up through the center.
Fig. 5 shows one side of the pen tray. It is made from a piece of wood nine inches long at the bottom, tapered to seven and three-eighths inches at the top, and one and seven-eighth inches wide. The motif for the carving is made by putting together two of the squares shown in Fig. 2 and then repeating this again and again. It makes a very pretty and effective decoration. Fig. 6 is one of the end pieces, and is decorated in the same way. Fig. 7 is a cross-section showing the construction of the pen tray. For this you should first make two oblongs, seven and three-eighth inches long, one of them being one and three-eighths, and the other, one and one-half inches wide. These are fastened together at right angles, the long one topping over the shorter, with tiny nails. Then a piece measuring two inches by one and one-quarter is nailed to each end, to hold the tray firm. Next, the top edge all around is beveled—the side edges, so that the sides (Fig. 5) may be fitted on straight up and down, and the ends, at such an angle that they will not interfere in putting on the end pieces (Fig. 6). Then the sides and ends are glued in position, and the tray is finished.
For the envelope opener in Fig. 8, a piece of gumwood five and a half inches long by a half inch square is used. For two and a half inches from the end it is reduced to an octagonal shape. Then the notches are cut, and the end of the handle—four sides only, not the entire eight—beveled. Then the blade is cut, curving down from the handle, and reducing the blade to an even thickness of an eighth of an inch. When this is quite even the end is pointed, and the entire outside edge of the blade is beveled down from both sides, to a cutting edge.
BOOK RACK
The base of the book rack (Figs. 9 and 10), is made from two pieces of wood measuring four inches by nine, which are cut as shown, to fit and slide within each other. It measures thirteen inches, closed, and sixteen inches, open. A good way to fasten the pieces together so that they will slide easily and yet be firm, is with strips of thin sheet brass, which can be bought very cheaply. A strip three-quarters of an inch wide is passed around the rack at D with both pieces in position, lapped and fastened to D. Another similar piece is passed around at C and fastened to C. Then the ends (Fig. 11) are made. This requires two pieces four inches wide by four and a half long, with the grain running up and down. The top is made a little prettier by a semi-circular curve and a reverse quarter circle at each side of it. The deep carving is a trifle more elaborate than on the other things, and must be done carefully where the cuts all meet at the bottom.
After measuring and finding the position of the points “a” and “b” you should use these as centers from which to make the curves which determine the outline of your design. The cutting is done exactly as you did before. When these are finished they should be fastened on top of the base, at either end, with little brass hinges on the inside. A strip of wood four inches long by three-quarters of an inch wide is placed at the lower edge of the end pieces, on the outside, for added strength, and the screws fastening the hinges will hold it in place.
This completes the actual making of the desk set. It may be sandpapered, or it may be varnished, or, if you are fortunate enough to have a mission desk, it may be stained to match. In any case it is worth having.
