Encouraged by Jurgen’s comment on my first posting, something a little more unusual, and one of the few pieces I’ve made on commission, i.e. for real money!

Some years ago, a colleague mentioned that he had long fancied writing like Churchill (and Jefferson), standing up. I’ve seen photos of Churchill’s basic desk at Chartwell, but I’ve never seen a real one, live. So I designed it from scratch, starting from my colleague’s elbow height; so the front of the desk is at 38 inches. He also liked the idea of slide-outs so I incorporated those as well (the tricky part).

The thing is a little complicated because the center kicker for the drawer must be a bit (1/16″) lower than the lower slide-out kicker/runner, to prevent the drawer catching. So the lap joint in the middle is two different thicknesses. The upper kicker for the slide-outs is the main side-to-side brace in the top (sorry, don’t have a pic).

In hidden places like this, I often use fat #10 panhead screws for stops, easily adjusted, and you see one of  those on the slide-out. But I now don’t remember why I glued the center block off center! That block is both the main attachment point for the top (see the screwhole) and a stop for the slideouts. Just two more screws attach the top, through the slide-out runners at the back.

The two small screwed blocks on each slide-out are the extension stops to stop them falling out and staying reasonably level. And another little trick, one of them barely visible at left: steel pushpins on the side aprons make the slide-outs run smoothly.

Note also the continuous grain across the entire front, apron and drawer. It’s easily done and always impresses!

To handle the leverage on the long legs, they are fairly massive (2″ at the top) with long tenons. The cross piece below adds strength, and also provides a one-foot footrest to allay leg fatigue. (Surgeons use footstools too, I’m told.)

In use the desk is more solid than it looks at first sight, given the height. It works well.

I do still have my drawings for this if anyone is interested.

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