N2darkness
Sr Member
When I had seen that a carpenter had been commissioned and built Bilbo's desk I was instantly intrigued. Luckily enough he decided to offer plans which you can still find here.
BearKat Wood – All about woodworking.
I purchased them, but moved and the project was put on hold for about 4 years. I finally found the time and desire to give this a go.
Upon doing some further research (as we all do here) I found that there are 2 different desks, one for LOTR and another for the Hobbit. You can see some of the differences here, such as the height, the opening on the writing surface, pen holder, knob size, etc.
As the plans that I purchased were for the Hobbit version and I prefer the LOTR version, I went over everything and started making adjustments. I also made a quick mock-up with some foam core as I thought the height was a little low and my legs would hit sitting in a chair. I did find a chair that was fairly similar on craigslist.
I decided to make it out of clear Alder as I thought the grain was a decent match with this other reference photo I found.
I started with making templates for the feet, the top one was similar that came with the plans, but after talking with another desk builder I decided on the bottom ones.
The feet were cut out and then mortise and tenon onto the legs using a router. After these were glued up the beading was routed in.
Mortises were put in for the tressel style stretcher before the upper side pieces were attached.
I also assembled the 3 panel back piece.
The stretcher was made to fit the mortises and chamfer added.
And a dry assembly with the inside panel.
Started working on the drawer compartments and the top.
After the case assembly was glued up I could start to work on the drawers and the theater rail on the top and the main writing surface.
Drawers were made with a locking dovetail joint and glued up. Plenty strong for these little drawers.
Next was to work on the pen holder, drilled out on the drill press and cut with the bandsaw, lots of sanding. Made a router template for the leather and metal trim to be recessed in.
It took me 3 days and many failed attempts to make these little knobs on the lathe. Made each one separately with a threaded insert inside for the screw to attach.
Made the decorative metal pieces for the side from 1/16 thick sheet metal and the trim from 1/2 x 1/8 mild steel flat bar. Just about completed, need to fit the hinges and decide on the components for the inside (which is never seen).
As I racked my brain trying to decide what to do for the inside, I decided to work on the bookstand as I would want to stain and finish all the pieces together anyway. Here is the beginning of the base. I had to make this one up entirely from the screen captures and relative measurements as I had no formal plans to go off of. The only way I could come up with doing this was to make it in 4 seperate pieces, mitered together so that each side could be routed.
BearKat Wood – All about woodworking.
I purchased them, but moved and the project was put on hold for about 4 years. I finally found the time and desire to give this a go.
Upon doing some further research (as we all do here) I found that there are 2 different desks, one for LOTR and another for the Hobbit. You can see some of the differences here, such as the height, the opening on the writing surface, pen holder, knob size, etc.
As the plans that I purchased were for the Hobbit version and I prefer the LOTR version, I went over everything and started making adjustments. I also made a quick mock-up with some foam core as I thought the height was a little low and my legs would hit sitting in a chair. I did find a chair that was fairly similar on craigslist.
I decided to make it out of clear Alder as I thought the grain was a decent match with this other reference photo I found.
I started with making templates for the feet, the top one was similar that came with the plans, but after talking with another desk builder I decided on the bottom ones.
The feet were cut out and then mortise and tenon onto the legs using a router. After these were glued up the beading was routed in.
Mortises were put in for the tressel style stretcher before the upper side pieces were attached.
I also assembled the 3 panel back piece.
The stretcher was made to fit the mortises and chamfer added.
And a dry assembly with the inside panel.
Started working on the drawer compartments and the top.
After the case assembly was glued up I could start to work on the drawers and the theater rail on the top and the main writing surface.
Drawers were made with a locking dovetail joint and glued up. Plenty strong for these little drawers.
Next was to work on the pen holder, drilled out on the drill press and cut with the bandsaw, lots of sanding. Made a router template for the leather and metal trim to be recessed in.
It took me 3 days and many failed attempts to make these little knobs on the lathe. Made each one separately with a threaded insert inside for the screw to attach.
Made the decorative metal pieces for the side from 1/16 thick sheet metal and the trim from 1/2 x 1/8 mild steel flat bar. Just about completed, need to fit the hinges and decide on the components for the inside (which is never seen).
As I racked my brain trying to decide what to do for the inside, I decided to work on the bookstand as I would want to stain and finish all the pieces together anyway. Here is the beginning of the base. I had to make this one up entirely from the screen captures and relative measurements as I had no formal plans to go off of. The only way I could come up with doing this was to make it in 4 seperate pieces, mitered together so that each side could be routed.
