Fireside Secretary

Built-in writer's secretary for a niche flanking a fieldstone fireplace in New Hampshire. All solid stock from a single local black walnut tree, air-dried in a barn since the owner's childhood. The tree made a lot of the decisions. Grain runs continuously across the double doors, with fielded and raised panels a full 5/4 thick, worked by hand plane. Stiles & rails joined with through mortise-and-tenons, mortises hand-chopped, tenons hand-sawn. The live edge of the fall-front slab became the writing surface, breadboard ends shaped to follow it. Double-splayed mitered surround with emphasized shadow lines in the cornice, 8/4 architrave and custom plinths all from the same tree. Grounding boards scribed tight to stone. Every solid surface hand-planed and burnished to a natural sheen, no applied finish. The fall front is backset slightly, angled just enough to rest closed with a helping hand from a lever cap salvaged from a cracked block plane, magnetically latched and secured with a hand-forged screw. An homage to the craft and what it means to me.