This traveling desk belonged to my husband's great, great grandfather. When we went through it I found some old, rusty Gillott 404 nibs -- a nib I sometimes use in my dip pens -- but I've got my own without rust.

Anyone else have some old desk items for a bit of show & tell?

Lovely slope! I only wish I had an old writing slope for show and tell. I love them.

However, because I couldn't afford to get my hands on an old antique (and there are none in my family that I know of), I had a writing slope custom made. Very simple, no hidden drawers or anything on mine. It's in the process of being finished now. I stained it a very dark red mahogany, so it looks aged and old - to my eye, anyway. When it is completely dry, I'll add a satin finish.

Leather writing surface was ordered and came, but the guy who did it, well, I can't use it. It's an awful embossing job. So, I will be ordering the leather gold-embossed surface from another, proven company. I'm waiting for another custom box though, and I'll order the pieces I need for it at the same time. I should have the book box by Monday, I'm told.

How do you deal with the seam that runs across the middle of the writing surface? Does felt or leather give enough support to prevent problems?

Fred

That's a lovely slope. I'm impressed by the hinges, have not seen that type before. Question: what is the function of the long cylindrical bar between the pen tray and the upper writing panel?

I have no idea and was also wondering. My guess is that you could roll out some sort of paper from underneath... but that's a guess.

I'm putting a leather surface on mine. That seam is where the box folds closed and also has 2 additional seams, one on either side, where the panels lift up. On my slope, the panels line up so perfectly. I expect the seams to be hardly noticeable. I'm not sure how the slopes of old were for writing, but leather seemed to hold up better than felts or velvets. I imagine the maker had a lot to say about it at the time.

I, too, was noticing the odd hinges. They curve with the box curves and look "toothed." I haven't seen any like them before, either.

Since this desk is so old (circa 1860) and not in the best condition I have not been using it.


kiavonne, I'm looking forward to seeing picture of yours when you get it!!!

Since the hinges are of interest it might be useful to know that on the bottom of the desk there are some Chinese characters written on the wood. It's possible that the desk was made there.

Nice! And definitely worth restoring.
I don't think the seam would be much of a prob unless you were using one sheet of very thin stationery.
Congrats!

Here's a link to the page AzWoodman (my box maker) has dedicated to writing slopes. Mine was their first attempt, it is the unfinished poplar box. The unfinished mahogany box with inlay and a nice little drawer was requisitioned from another FPN person. We got them hooked on writing slopes, and they made two more on their own and finished them and are now up for sale on their site. My poplar box looks very plain in comparison to those three beautiful mahogany and walnut boxes. The poplar doesn't have the lovely grain that the others have, and as I mentioned before, I went really dark with my stain. The red mahogany color is a really dark brown with just a hint of reddish tone within it. I'm going to get my leather surfaces from the same person that did those for AzWoodman. They are linked on their site.

jbb, just going from your picture, your box looks to be in really good shape. I imagine all you need to do is replace the writing surface, and maybe a little spit shine/polishing. The ink stains are the historic "character" of your box, and as long as the wood isn't rotted or split, you don't want to replace them.

My family has one of these on display in our living room. I haven't been able to convince my parents that I need it in my room I'll have to post some pictures once I go home for the summer. I think writing slopes were one of the most ingenious ideas ever. Thanks for sharing!

Does the clasp push down? Is there enough room for a sheet of felt to be rolled up there? Maybe a piece of felt could be pulled out and held in place at the bottom with pins or something, to cover up the seams on the box hinge. I can see a couple of small holes near the bottom of the slope.

Neill

No. The two holes at the bottom of the slope are for the pair of catches at the top of the slope (You can see them on the left).

I too, wondered what that metal rod was for.

I think the metal rod is used for drawing a straight line. In other words a ruler with no measuring marks.

An ordinary flat 'ruler' when used with ink can sometimes cause the ink to flow by surface tension under the ruler. Also when you move the ruler, having drawn your line you might smudge the wet ink. A round object will not have anything touching the ink. Readers of this board may have rulers from their school days where one side is flat (for use in geometry etc) but when turned over a ridge prevents the straight line touching the paper.

Of course, I could be quite wrong!

(A 12-inch school ruler was very useful for flicking blotch, too. Blotch? =Blotting paper. Best when soaked in ink. No wonder Steven's washable ink was sold in quart pots.)

What a wonderful writing box/slope!! Do you think you might do the few upgrades mentioned by a previous poster and bring the box back to life (& use) again?

It seems to me that it would be a little awkward using a cylindrical rod as a guide for drawing lines, but it would have one big advantage over a flat ruler. If the rod were rolled carefully over the paper it would remain parallel to its starting position so that lines could be ruled parallel to each other or to the edges of the paper.

I hope someone comes up with a definitive answer.

Blotter? Wrap some blotting-paper around it, fold it into position? And roll it over the writing?

No. Since the desk belonged to my husband's great, great grand father and has family historical significance my husband does not want to alter it or restore it in any way. I just wanted to show it to everyone here at FPN because it's such a cool piece.

Another possibility for the rod - if paper were stored in the compartment in the top part (top part when closed for traveling) the rod could be used to prevent paper larger than the compartment from getting creased. Rather than folding the paper sharply, it would be folded around the rod.

If that were the case, there should be slots in the compartment for the ends of the rod, to keep it in place, and I'd expect the rod to be stored in the compartment, rather than in a special niche.

I'd expect wood to be used for the rod in that case, though, rather than metal.