I am in the middle of constructing a lap desk. If my memory is correct, Thomas Jefferson used one of these to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence. I went to a building in Brigham City Utah that used a proliferation of peach blossoms. I was inspired to use these on the top of the box.

I use figured burl of Poplar for the back ground.
Nicuraguan red heart was use for some of the petals. I have an array of red wood from around the world, so I am not sure what the other woods are.


I use a combination of Marquetry and Intarsia to give a texture to the flowers. The raised stems are walnut.
 

 I laid out the lid cut and cut the lid with my hand saw.











This worked...but you need to be dead on. I was off by a 1/16".

I built a jig for my large bandsaw and re-cut the line. Final fit was done using a #3 hand plane.

 This is the box after the lid was freed from the bottom.

I actually had period authentic hinges for the box, but they were flimsy and authentic or not, I did not want to use them.








The corners are hand cut mitered dovetails. This is the corner after glue up. I use hide glue to glue the flowers and corners.

This is the corner prior to glue up. I opened the joint just a bit so that the top miter could be seen. 


The interior of the box will begin with the addition of small boxes and hidden drawers. I have also ordered what is called baize. This is the material that is makes up the actual writing surface. With the lack of penmanship being taught in the school, I wonder if a pen tray would ever be used. Stay tuned for future posts on the interior.