Hello all:

I'm in the process of building the Jefferson lap desk that was featured in
FWW several years ago An MBA graduation gift for my daughter). The parts I
thought would be hard... really tiny dovetails, working with thin material,
keeping everything square, plumb and straight... we pretty much cruised
through. It's really a lovely little box. I used traditional drawer-making
skills taught to me by on old crusty Brit, and I've got a really nice box
with a tight drawer.

Dilemma #1: The gentlemen who wrote the article referenced Crown City
Hardware in Pasadena for all the hardware... OK, but the numbers don't match
Crown City's numbers, they don't have a catalog on-line, and my first
attempt at ordering over the phone resulted in the wrong item showing up at
my doorstep earlier today. So, where do all you fancy-pants boxmakers order
your plain brass (Quality!!!) hardware. I need 3/4 x 1" butt hinges (already
checked my usual supplier - Brusso... nothing). Woodcraft has the size I
need, but the quality is suspect. I also need a relatively small drawer lock
(the front of the drawer is only 1/2" , so do the math).

Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more of
a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

I've done the DAGS thing till my eyes crossed and I'm hoping the literati
out there can help.

And I thought restoring a 50 year old Italian car was tough (4 hours and
lots of blood to remove two Weber carbs... UGhhhhh!!!).

Ciao,
Don

"Don Sforza" wrote in message
.com...
Hello all:

I'm in the process of building the Jefferson lap desk that was featured in
FWW several years ago An MBA graduation gift for my daughter). The parts I
thought would be hard... really tiny dovetails, working with thin
material, keeping everything square, plumb and straight... we pretty much
cruised through. It's really a lovely little box. I used traditional
drawer-making skills taught to me by on old crusty Brit, and I've got a
really nice box with a tight drawer.

Dilemma #1: The gentlemen who wrote the article referenced Crown City
Hardware in Pasadena for all the hardware... OK, but the numbers don't
match Crown City's numbers, they don't have a catalog on-line, and my
first attempt at ordering over the phone resulted in the wrong item
showing up at my doorstep earlier today. So, where do all you fancy-pants
boxmakers order your plain brass (Quality!!!) hardware. I need 3/4 x 1"
butt hinges (already checked my usual supplier - Brusso... nothing).
Woodcraft has the size I need, but the quality is suspect. I also need a
relatively small drawer lock (the front of the drawer is only 1/2" , so do
the math).

Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more
of a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

I've done the DAGS thing till my eyes crossed and I'm hoping the literati
out there can help.

And I thought restoring a 50 year old Italian car was tough (4 hours and
lots of blood to remove two Weber carbs... UGhhhhh!!!).

Ciao,
Don

I live not too far from Crown City Hardware. Been there once, never again.
http://www.horton-brasses.com/

They have what you want and if you can't find it on their website, call
them - very helpful.

Dave

Try www.leevalley.com too. Oh, and order their hardware catalog while you
are at. I believe it has more selections than their web site.

Jim
"Don Sforza" wrote in message
.com...
Hello all:

I'm in the process of building the Jefferson lap desk that was featured in
FWW several years ago An MBA graduation gift for my daughter). The parts I
thought would be hard... really tiny dovetails, working with thin
material, keeping everything square, plumb and straight... we pretty much
cruised through. It's really a lovely little box. I used traditional
drawer-making skills taught to me by on old crusty Brit, and I've got a
really nice box with a tight drawer.

Dilemma #1: The gentlemen who wrote the article referenced Crown City
Hardware in Pasadena for all the hardware... OK, but the numbers don't
match Crown City's numbers, they don't have a catalog on-line, and my
first attempt at ordering over the phone resulted in the wrong item
showing up at my doorstep earlier today. So, where do all you fancy-pants
boxmakers order your plain brass (Quality!!!) hardware. I need 3/4 x 1"
butt hinges (already checked my usual supplier - Brusso... nothing).
Woodcraft has the size I need, but the quality is suspect. I also need a
relatively small drawer lock (the front of the drawer is only 1/2" , so do
the math).

Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more
of a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

I've done the DAGS thing till my eyes crossed and I'm hoping the literati
out there can help.

And I thought restoring a 50 year old Italian car was tough (4 hours and
lots of blood to remove two Weber carbs... UGhhhhh!!!).

Ciao,
Don

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:52:36 GMT, "Don Sforza"
wrote:

Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more of
a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

A spindle sander with a fence gives you a sideways 4/8" drum sander
that also sands curves. It's a little bit finnicky using it as a
thickness sander, you've got to keep your feed rate constant to keep
the drum from digging in. I had gotten the Wilton version of
Grizzly's G0538 for a little over $100 a while back, though Amazon has
raised the price since then. Very happy with it, we'll see how long
it holds up to the abuse I've been handing it.

1/4" material is not a problem on a table saw, especially with a zero
clearance insert. To get a 1/16th slice off it I'd have the board
between the blade and fence, overhanging the blade by 1/16th.

Or if you'd be willing to subsitute basswood for the holly you'd have
no trouble finding that in scale lumber.


-Leuf

Did you try Constantines in Florida for the Holly or Goggle it.

Thanks to all who responded. I was looking at the Lee Valley web site and
was not finding anything. Then I dug out the hardware catalog and viola,
everything was there. I had to do some searching, but none-the-less there.
Thank you.
As to the holly, I'm still looking. A fallback will be some maple... the
pieces are so small that it might not look too bad. I'm going to give my
block plane a tune-up and will make a jig to shave to strips... or maybe
scam some time on a performax to get them down. SWMBO has already nixed the
new-tool idea.
Back to the garage to work on male-femina.

Don
reply to dsforza-at-snet-dot-net
"Don Sforza" wrote in message
.com...
Hello all:

I'm in the process of building the Jefferson lap desk that was featured in
FWW several years ago An MBA graduation gift for my daughter). The parts I
thought would be hard... really tiny dovetails, working with thin
material, keeping everything square, plumb and straight... we pretty much
cruised through. It's really a lovely little box. I used traditional
drawer-making skills taught to me by on old crusty Brit, and I've got a
really nice box with a tight drawer.

Dilemma #1: The gentlemen who wrote the article referenced Crown City
Hardware in Pasadena for all the hardware... OK, but the numbers don't
match Crown City's numbers, they don't have a catalog on-line, and my
first attempt at ordering over the phone resulted in the wrong item
showing up at my doorstep earlier today. So, where do all you fancy-pants
boxmakers order your plain brass (Quality!!!) hardware. I need 3/4 x 1"
butt hinges (already checked my usual supplier - Brusso... nothing).
Woodcraft has the size I need, but the quality is suspect. I also need a
relatively small drawer lock (the front of the drawer is only 1/2" , so do
the math).

Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more
of a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

I've done the DAGS thing till my eyes crossed and I'm hoping the literati
out there can help.

And I thought restoring a 50 year old Italian car was tough (4 hours and
lots of blood to remove two Weber carbs... UGhhhhh!!!).

Ciao,
Don

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:52:36 GMT, "Don Sforza"
wrote:

Hello all:

SNIP
Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more of
a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide. I would love to go out and buy that Performax I've always
wanted, but SWMBO would find no humor in an $800+ purchase for about $20
worth of materials.

SNIP

Check guitar making/luthier supply houses. They have all kinds of
banding/inlay strips. They may have what you need.

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:52:36 GMT, "Don Sforza"
wrote:


Dilemma #2: I decided to outline the drawer with a very small inlay (more of
a banding) with Holly. I'm coming up short here too (no jokes, I am
vertically challenged). What I need is a strip of Holly, 1/16" thick and
about 1/4" wide.

Try Constantine's for your holly:

http://216.105.59.114/index.asp