Penn Chippendale Slant Front Desk Building the Gallery Pt I Step 10

 Time to get started on the gallery. I have built two other galleries which were copies of a particular piece.  This slant front is not a copy of one piece but a conglomeration of features that I like. The gallery that I like is from Fine Woodworking Magazine March April 2002.  Lonnie Bird.
I will modify the size and some of the features but on the whole it is a good start.

Of course I made a story stick with the layout.  I will also use it as a template for routing the pattern.

 I am going to need a lot of thin 3/16 and 3/8 cherry and poplar, so I re-sawed a bunch and stickered it so that it would be stable by the time I needed to use it.

I used a piece of pine to practice making the base and testing my template story stick. I roughed out the curves with a jig saw. Then used a flush trim bit to get them smooth.  Then I used a 3/8 inch round over bit on the 1/2 stock leaving a 1/8 inch fillet.
 

 One tricky part is the bump out for the document folders.  You have to cut away the round over and insert a 7/8 inch piece.  It was good to practice because I want a nice tight fit.

Using the round over bit on the router table. The template is only half of the pattern. I turn it over and use it on the other side to complete the pattern.

 I cut out the round over portion of the edge with a chisel where the bump out is going to be. I used a 45 degree guide block and hand saw to cut the miters in the corners of the opening.

I made the little pieces by screwing a piece of pine to be bottom as a template.  Routing the edges with the round over.  Then using the chop saw cut the 45 miter on each corner at 7/8.  Then I ripped off the 7/8.

Chop saw for the partial 45 on the piece.

Ripped of the 7/8 inch that I needed.

I need to glue in the base so that I can route the dados for the vertical divider panels. This way I can use templates to guide the router for the top and bottom dados that are needed.

I am using my small trim router and a 3/8 inch bit 3/16 deep. You can see the guide template to my right, just a piece of 1/4 inch plywood.   I'll use the same template on the top underside dado.
These are stopped dados 3/8 of an inch from the front.

Had to turn the desk upside down to route the matching dados in the underside of the top. You can see I have it clamped to the work bench so it won't tip over.

Here all of the dados are cut including the 3/16 inch side dados for the horizontal drawer dividers. They are all stopped dados.

I made this template to match the curve of the drawer fronts and horizontal dividers. 

The vertical dividers have a twin bead on the front edges. It is suppose to make it look like two 3/16 inch panels together.  To make the beads, I am using a home made scratch stock and a bit from Lie-Nielsen. If I did not have it already I could have made it from a piece of scrap metal band saw blade.
I used just two of the three curves on the bit.

It did not take much work to scratch in the beading on the edge.  I did use a little sand paper to clean up the edges.

I cut them to size and slipped them into the dados.  They fit nice and snug.

I marked the top and bottom edges on the front and still need to cut out the 3/8 inch notch on the top and bottom so the panels can slip forward to the correct position.That would complete the vertical dividers.

That's it for Part I of the Gallery.  Next will be the horizontal dividers and drawer fronts.

Here is today's video: