Matching Letter Opener and Desk Set.pdf

Matching Letter Opener and

Desk Set

hen I was a schoolkid, I was obsessedwith collect-

ing knives and boxes. I had a box with a secret

compartment,a box with a swivel-and-twist lid, andbest

of all, 1 had a beautiful old pen case dated about 1880,

given to me by my grandfather. As for knives, I had all

manner of dirks and daggers. My favorite was a stiletto-

type knife thathad a silverhandle and a redleather case—

reallybeautiful! Well,you know what kidsarelike, I was

forever making up games and adventures that involved

hiding things. Anyway, to cut a long,sadstory short,I

hid my special knife and box in my grandfather'sgarden,

my vacation came to an end, and I went to school. And

no doubt you have guessed when I cameback a yearlater,

everything had changed—no grandfather, no garden, no

box, no knife. My grandfather had died, and my grand-

mother had sold thehouse.

This project draws its inspiration from my long-gone

knife andbox. The silver knifehasbecome a carved letter

opener, theboxhasbecome a pen case, and theybothgo

together to make the perfect desk set.

MAKING THE BOX

Having studied the working drawings and seen how the

box is laminated up from three layers, take your three

pieces of carefully chosen wood and pencil label them

"lid,""middle" and "base." Set the middlesectionout with

acenterline,and use the 1 5/8"-diameter Forstner drill bit

and the scroll saw to clear the waste. Clean out the cavity

and take it toa good finish.

Take the lidpiece andusea pencil, rulerandcompass

todraw out the design—meaning the shape of the sliding

lid. This done, move to the scroll saw, set the table to

"tilt,"and fret outthelid. You should finish up withalid

edge miter that undercuts the lip of the frame.

When the four component parts for the project—the

base, the hollowed-out middle section, the top frame and

the lid—are all nicely finished, smear glue on the mating

faces, sandwich them together and clamp up. Be sure to

wipeup anyglue thatoozesinto the inside of thebox,or

between the topof the middle section and the undercut

lipof the frame.

Finally, the box is glue mounted on a simple pen tray

base. Then the whole works is cleanedup with theplane

andrubbeddown to a smooth, round-corneredfinish.

CARVING THE BOX AND THE KNIFE

Carefully draw out the angel design, make a tracing, and

then pencil-press transfer the imagery through to both

the top of the sliding lid of thebox, and the piece ofwood

that you have chosen for the knife. This done, take the

toolsof yourchoice andswiftly set in the lines of the lid

designwith a V-section trench. I prefer to use the knife

to cut the incised lines, but you might well prefer touse

a small V-tool.

When you work withthe paper knife, start by fretting

out the profile on the scrollsaw. This done, take a small

low-angledshoulder plane andclearthe bulk ofthe waste

fromthe blade. Whenyouare happy withthe basic form,

use a knife to whittle the details. All you do is set the

primary lines in with stop-cuts and then shave the wood

down to the level of the cuts, so that selected areas are

left standing in relief. For example: When you come to

the skirt, slice a stop-cut around the lineof thewaist, and

then shave the wood from the hem through to the waist,

until the skirt takes on the characteristic conical and

rounded shape. And so you continue, working here and

there over the design, all the while setting in stop-cuts

and cutting in towards the stop-cuts until you achieve

what you consider tobe a goodform.

Finally, rub all the surfaces down to a smooth finish,

givethe wholeworks a thincoat of Danish oil, andthen

use beeswax to burnish to a sheen finish.

1 When you have made the four

component parts for thebox—the

base, the hollowed-out middle

section, thelid, and the frame into

which the lid slides—take the finest

graded sandpaper and rub the

mating facesdown to a goodfinish.

Payparticularattention to the inside

of the hollow and themitered edge of

the lid frame.

STEP-BY-STEP STAGES

SPECIALTIP: CARVING THE DETAILS

If youhave any doubts at all as to how the carvingought

to go—meaning the shape and the modeling of the de-

tails—thebest way is to make a full-size Plasticine work-

ing model. All you do is roll out the Plasticine to the

required 3/4" thickness, cut out the profile as seen in the

planview, and then whittle and model the form in much

the same way as you would with the wood. Making and

using a modelis a winneronmany counts.You can easily

replace the Plasticine if you make a mistake, you can use

the Plasticine to make trial cuts and, best of all, youcan

use dividers to take step-off measurements directly from

the model through to thewood.

2 Transfer the angel design

through to the top of the lid, and to

the knife. Be mindful that in both

instances it's important that the

design be perfectly aligned with the

center line.Use a hardpencil so that

the lines are firmlyindented.

3 Use a small penknife to cut the

incised lines that make up the

design of the lid. Work each V sec-

tion incision or trench with three

cuts—first a single stop-cut down

the center of the V to establish the

depth, followed by an angled cut to

each side of the stop-cut to remove

the waste.

5 Use the three-stroke whittlingmethod to block out

and partiallymodelthe various basic forms.

The workingorder is:

Define the perimeter ofthe form—the skirt, head or

whatever—by making stop-cuts straight down into the

wood.

Makeangled cutsdown into thestop-cuts todefine the

length andbreadthof the form.

Use restrained easing and paring cuts to rough out the

details as seen in the plan side and end views.

4 Having made a Plasticine modelto helpfigureout

the intricacies of the design, take a small nosing

shoulder-typeplane and swiftly reduce the bulkof the

waste. Shapethe blade by angling down eachside of the

center line.

6 The broad modeling

is best achieved by using

a small-bladed penknife

to make thumb-braced

paring cuts. The

technique wins on at least

two counts—the thumb

increases the efficiency of

the stroke, while at the

sametime giving youmaxi-

mum control. The cone

shape of the skirt is

achievedby first runninga

stop-cut around the waist,

and then paring down at an

angle toward the slop-cut.

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