The Padauk Desk

This is definitely the desk from hell. It took 25 months of non-stop work from design to finish. Every problem you can imagine took place along the way. Because of the elaborate finishing problems required for Padauk all the separately finished pieces had to be numbered and lettered before it could be assembled. The finishing took 3 and a half months. Then with shellac, marine varnish and polyurethane on it nothing wanted to fit as it had when in the bare wood stage. Note that the lid or writing surface is Padauk on the inside finished with seven coats of total Boat Marine varnish, while the face of the lid, which is Sappelli, has six coats of Minwax polyurethane varnish.

So if you’re thinking of making a desk, don’t try to make this one! I thought it was impossible to build when I drew it. But here it is! There are more difficult things to make, like the James Webb space telescope, but not if you’re working with an 85 year-old brain. Benny Goodman once sang a line in a song that went, “Don’t poo-poo Peducah.” Well, for my money you can poo-poo-padauk for all you’re worth. Padauk is like the theme in the old Ronald Coleman movie Shangrila. If you stay in your protective environs you keep your youth and beauty – venture outside and you turn your true age. So Padauk must avoid the rays of sunlight and has to be protected with layers of shellac and marine varnish with UV. Otherwise Padauk’s beauty goes out the window.