Herman Veenendaal

Secretary Desk

My entry is the walnut secretary seen in the accompanying photos.  It's based on the Lonnie Bird desk featured in FWW issues 154-156 but  I only got around to making it last winter.  Bird describes it as a desk that might have been found in Philadelphia circa 1770.  I modified the design slightly, opting for a straight gallery rather than the curved small drawers in Bird's version.

Both cases are dovetailed and all drawers feature hand cut dovetails front and back. 

The wood was sourced from logs picked 4 years ago and air dried for 3 years.  The finish is multiple coats of amber shellac followed by a single coat of nitrocellulose lacquer.