86 – Interview with Darrell Peart
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Darrell Peart is a furniture-maker, author, and instructor living in the Pacific Northwest. His work is heavily influenced by the work of the Greene brothers and as you can see on his website, Darrell likes to put his own spin on it. This interview took place in March of 2009 at the William Ng School. I took Darrell’s Aurora End Table class and he was kind enough to sit and chat with me about all kinds of things: influences, design theories, copying other works, and Greene & Greene. Darrell also gives a few tips to help bring out that inner designer inside of all of us (if it isn’t coming out naturally).
If you are interested in learning more about Greene & Greene history and techniques, you have to check out Darrell’s book. You can pick it up directly on his website and he’ll even autograph it for you!
Gadget Station/Desk – Project of the Week
This week’s project is submitted by Chris. Let’s check it out and see what he has to say:
“I’ve been watching your videos for the last few months, and find them very enjoyable. I watched Part 1 of the gadget station last night, and what you’re working on is very much like a project I built for myself earlier in the spring.”
“Back in the old days, Stickley built a desk called the #706. It’s a small secretary-type desk, and the top of it is basically a gadget station with a drop down door for a laptop (like your first station, but this one has a better way for supporting the door). For somebody who wants a gadget station but also needs a small desk for a laptop, it’s perfect. That’s what I use mine for.”
“The desk itself was built entirely with hand tools…vintage panel and back saws, hand planes (most vintage, but a few new Lie-Nielsen and Veritas planes), and chisels (short chisels are Ashley Isles, long chisels are mostly vintage). The top and bottom shelf are attached to the sides using hand cut wedged through-mortises. The back is ship lapped pine boards. The door utilized haunched mortise-and-tenon joinery with floating solid panels. I will admit to using a random orbit sander to get the inside of the door perfectly level though, but I did get it pretty close with just hand planes. :) I finished the desk with shellac….something like 18 coats padded on.”
“It’s built with clear pine…I’m a total hand tool person so quartersawn oak was not going to happen (original Stickleys in QS oak looks AMAZING though). One pic is when it was brand new and one is with the adjustable shelving system I built for it. Devices that need charging sit in the middle (iPod, cellphone, etc.), and the side shelving is wide enough to accommodate CD/DVD storage. When not in use, the laptop stands on edge and leans back against the shelves….it tilts backwards slightly so it won’t fall out.”
“You’ll see that the door’s pivot location is about 1/4 from the bottom, so the shelf in the desk actually supports the door when it’s open (better than using mechanical supports). Overall, I’m really happy with it….maybe somebody else watching the videos might find the design to their liking as well, or maybe this will give you a little inspiration or something.”
Stickley-Style Mirror – Project of the Week
This week’s project was made by Brad Ferguson, a chat room regular (TreeFrogFurniture). Here’s what he had to say: “My wife has been after me for a full length mirror so I decided to kill two tasks with one blow and made it for her christmas gift. I chose a Stickley-style cheval mirror but could only find pictures of it online so I used these to draw up my own plan. Its made of quarter sawn white oak backed with 1/4 inch oak plywood. I wanted a visual joint to add to the arts and crafts style or the mirror, I decided to go with a half-lap dovetail joint at all 4 corners, this would allow me to have a strong connection as well as a focal point in an otherwise plain frame. For the base I used straight side stretchers with two arched cross stretchers connected with wedged through tenons. A finish of sedona red stain followed by amber shellac and finished with dark wax let me keep the color light while still highlighting the grain in the quartersawn white oak. The addition of a beveled edge mirror and the finish gives this project the antique feel I was looking for. It was a fun project to build and my wife loves it.”
Wanna see more of Brad’s work? Check out his blog at http://treefrogfurniture.blogspot.com/.
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