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My Lovely Bride has wanted a slant top secretary for a while and I have not found a plan she likes, so when she found one at Habitat, she got it. It is very servicable, but not real great quality. If it proves to be a good fit for us,I will probably make a copy and give the other one away. It is all solid pine glue up panels. The sides are 5/8 + thick and the top and drawer frames are dadoed 1/8 into the sides. My questions are. Other than being cheaper, is there any advantage to the thinner sides? I expected to use 3/4. Is there any advantage to the very shallow dado? All the other panels for top, desk surface and door are 3/4 as are the drawer fronts.

All of the plans I have seen with solid panels use 3/4 stock and caution as normal about how to deal with expansion. They all used much deeper dados as well. This unit fastens the top and frames to the side at the center , leaving the rest to float. This is a very simple design, so I think I can do it well and she already likes it. That is important!

dlbristol wrote:My Lovely Bride has wanted a slant top secretary for a while and I have not found a plan she likes, so when she found one at Habitat, she got it. It is very servicable, but not real great quality. If it proves to be a good fit for us,I will probably make a copy and give the other one away. It is all solid pine glue up panels. The sides are 5/8 + thick and the top and drawer frames are dadoed 1/8 into the sides. My questions are. Other than being cheaper, is there any advantage to the thinner sides? I expected to use 3/4. Is there any advantage to the very shallow dado? All the other panels for top, desk surface and door are 3/4 as are the drawer fronts.

All of the plans I have seen with solid panels use 3/4 stock and caution as normal about how to deal with expansion. They all used much deeper dados as well. This unit fastens the top and frames to the side at the center , leaving the rest to float. This is a very simple design, so I think I can do it well and she already likes it. That is important!

I am no expert but I would use deeper dadoes. In 3/4" stock, I would typically do 3/8" deep dadoes. No reference as to why, just do.

That is what I have done on the few things where I needed dados in 3/4 in stock. I think I read somewhere that the rule was about 1/2 of the stock thickness. Most plans say that, just wondering if there was another variable in the equation. Based on the load that the drawers might impose, the shallow dado seems very small. I must say this thing has not done any splitting and based on a movers tag it moved from Florida to Colorado, Seems like a pretty good test! The only joint failure apparent was on the base, and that was probably from scooting it around.

dlbristol wrote:.... It is all solid pine glue up panels. The sides are 5/8 + thick and the top and drawer frames are dadoed 1/8 into the sides. My questions are. Other than being cheaper, is there any advantage to the thinner sides? I expected to use 3/4. Is there any advantage to the very shallow dado? All the other panels for top, desk surface and door are 3/4 as are the drawer fronts.

All of the plans I have seen with solid panels use 3/4 stock and caution as normal about how to deal with expansion. They all used much deeper dados as well. This unit fastens the top and frames to the side at the center , leaving the rest to float. This is a very simple design, so I think I can do it well and she already likes it. That is important!

The advantage of thinner sides is weight of the unit. Also economy. 5/8" panels can be made to fit into stiles and rails (frames) very easily. Are they raised panels? Is the back side of the panels flush with the frames?

I think the shallow dados were looked at as ample to hold the drawer frames and center the top. Trying to picture the piece, are the dadoes for the top rabbets instead of dados?

3/4" stock would be my choice also, along with 3/8" dados. However for the top I would cut a 1/8" wide by 1/4" deep slot into the sides and back and fasten the top to blocks that can slide in the slots. Or use sliding metal fasteners. Fastening at both the front and rear.

The weight thing makes sense, as do the other observations. I tried to take pictures, but they don't show up at all well. ( I'll see if I can find better light) Yes the top sets in a rabbit, it is also very shallow. The side panels are just flat and there is no frame around them. The drawer fronts are 3/4 raised panel with a rabbit on the inside, the door is 3/4 and flat. The entire back is made of solid wood, but it is 1/4 inch thick. Incredibly it has not split.

It is interesting to me to look at how things are made and try to figure out why they did stuff the way they did. This thing has some interesting things in it. The drawers are pretty light material, 1/2 in pine, but they are dove tailed. They appear to be done with a machine, and are not particularly well done. The panels on the other hand seem to be good quality and have not moved or warped. I think is has been in Colorado for a while because it has some minor pieces that are showing signs of the glue drying out. I suspect one of the drawers was repaired and that glue failed.
Thanks for the thoughts guys! After three days of using this my Bride has been impressed and has had some modifications to suggest, I feel a project coming on.

dlbristol wrote:The weight thing makes sense, as do the other observations. I tried to take pictures, but they don't show up at all well. ( I'll see if I can find better light) Yes the top sets in a rabbit, it is also very shallow. The side panels are just flat and there is no frame around them. The drawer fronts are 3/4 raised panel with a rabbit on the inside, the door is 3/4 and flat. The entire back is made of solid wood, but it is 1/4 inch thick. Incredibly it has not split.

It is interesting to me to look at how things are made and try to figure out why they did stuff the way they did. This thing has some interesting things in it. The drawers are pretty light material, 1/2 in pine, but they are dove tailed. They appear to be done with a machine, and are not particularly well done. The panels on the other hand seem to be good quality and have not moved or warped. I think is has been in Colorado for a while because it has some minor pieces that are showing signs of the glue drying out. I suspect one of the drawers was repaired and that glue failed.
Thanks for the thoughts guys! After three days of using this my Bride has been impressed and has had some modifications to suggest, I feel a project coming on.

Do Not take on any 9 mo projects!:D

I think I now have a better picture of your piece in my mind. I believe the rabbet the top sits in is probably pretty useful in this piece. They can get away with it because there is no restriction of movement on the front - just the hinge(s).

The 1/4" back is not surprising. My guess is it is from solid wood because 1/4" stock was made available from the re-saw cutoffs from making the 5/8" stock.

Incidentally, I made 1/4' solid wood oak back on my corner cabinet. Looks good, but don't know how it would hold up if moved to a humid climate.