# Office Desk - Let's get ambitious



## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

Hello All,
After a few months of not touching the woodwork tools, it's time to get back on the (saw) horse. The good lady has changed the priority list from the TV cabinet to a desk for the study. OK, says me. Quite frankly, I'm glad, because the TV cabinet is such an prominent piece of furniture that it needs to be a quality item, or at least good enough so that people don't grimace every time they watch the news.

Now, this desk is going to be a monster. We wandered down to various furniture stores to get an idea of scale. One that caught our eye was a nice faux-pine number, which I thought I could replicate in real pine, seeing that is my material of choice. Size? 6' x 3'. 6 foot! Yikes. I haven't done anything on THAT scale before. Seeing as I like to build my projects from rescued lumber from building sites I immediately saw a problem: as a general rule, builders don't throw away pristine 6 foot lengths of timber. Most of the recovered pieces are 3 to 4 foot at best, particularly after the nails are removed and blemishes cut out. I pondered this for a while and wondered if I could laminate the top of the desk in both directions. After a little research on the 'net I thought I'd give it a go.

Having done laminations on a smaller scale for my Side Tables project, and being quite happy with the result, I discovered that getting the pieces to stay flat to be an issue, one that I handled by using cauls/battens. I didn't think I was going to get away with this technique on the larger scale so decided to use a splice, or floating tennon, method. So after all the lumber was cut to size, I routed out a 1/4 inch groove along the edges of the pieces, and then cut splices to fit. It took a bit more work than I was expecting, but so far it seems to be helping rather than hindering.

The photos show the rough wood that I started with, the dimensioned planks, and the huge pile of sawdust that was the result of going from one to the other.

I suspect that this will be a loooong project.

Feel free to comment or provide suggestions; I'm making this up as I go along.

Cheers,
John


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I'm sure John that you're aware that the grain direction of each piece must alternate to prevent cupping. I look forward to following your progress pictorially.


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## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Looks like a big project  Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Corey


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Desk top - The glue up*

OK - I've routed out the grooves in the planks for the hidden splices, I've cut the splices, and I'm ready to get the glue going.

It should be noted that making the splices wasn't as straightforward as I would have liked. Getting them the right thickness was a matter of trial and error, and I had to resize the widths several times because they just wouldn't fit without holding the boards apart: a 'feature' that I really didn't want. 

Eventually I got it all together, after several dry fits, and the gluing began.
I'm adding two boards at a time, making the table incrementally wider each time. I'm doing this because of the size of the joints. There just isn't enough time with the standard wood glue that I'm using to do more than a couple of planks at a time. As it is I have to work quickly to avoid a sticky situation. (Refer to my Side Tables project for my bad memories of glue setting before I was ready!)

The photos show a couple of the glue up stages and one of the splice joints.

Cheers,
John


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

looks great so far! I'll be following along!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Making progress after some delays*

Hello All,

At last I've got back to the desk project.
I've done a LOT of research and soul-searching as to how I'm going to achieve what I want.
I finally decided that I need to have a plan if I was going to get anywhere. What to do, what to do? I couldn't find any decent free plans on the Internet and anyone who's read any of my previous posts knows that I'm way too cheap to buy one, so I figured that it was time that I had a go at designing my own plans.

Hmmm... While that seemed to be a great idea, I didn't want to do it with pen and paper because the design was going to be such a fluid thing. Try this, try that... so I downloaded Google Sketchup and learnt how to use it. NOW you'll start to see why it's been a while since my last post!

I'm happy with the plans, and the good lady approves, so now it's time to make some more sawdust. I spent quite a few days just dimensioning the lumber. Working with rubbish leftover wood can be very frustrating in this department, but I think I've pretty much got the carcass wood cut and now it's time to make it all work.

Since I'm going to be using solid wood for the whole desk, I've had to learn about frame and panel construction, adding another delay to the whole process. Read some books, scoured the Internet, and decided that I just might be able to pull it off with the tools at hand; a table saw and a table mounted router.

I started routing the slots in the frame stiles for the panel and my router fence slipped. Just enough to ruin the piece and really tick me off. This has happened in the past and it's because I don't really have a good way of anchoring the fence to the table. I inherited the shop-built fence when I bought the table and I couldn't be bothered to make my own, so I spent a couple of weeks thinking about how I could make it work better, the main requirements being that it doesn't move, and it be easily adjustable.

Got THAT out of the way, and I'm very happy about it. See the photos of my crude modifications that work a treat.

Back to making frame and panels....

Drat and bother! My 1/4" straight router bit broke. *Sigh* Just what I DIDN'T need! However, the last couple of days I've managed to route the panel pieces and have a go at the raised panel. Did I mention that I got ambitious and thought I'd do raised panels? I was a bit worried about my panels because they warped BADLY after I glued them up. I had them sitting under a pile of ceramic tiles in the vain hope that it'd straighten them out. No joy. Bloomin' dodgy rubbish timber....

As a proof of concept I took the panel with the most bend and set about raising it. Oh dear, I need a panel raising jig.... So I set about making a jig, which I finished yesterday. This whole process is starting to become a real enterprise.

Today I cut my first panel and dry fit it into the frame. See the photos. It fits and looks reasonable. Needless to say I'm dead chuffed.

Now I've just got to do 13 more panels. That should keep me out of mischief for a while.

Feel free to comment. Hopefully I won't hit too many more major milestones on this one. Most of the new processes are behind me now and all I've got to do is execute the plan. Sounds easy when you say it fast.

Cheers.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Major job for sure John. Looks good.
I was wondering if you might want to brace the back of your panel jig a bit. Would make sure it stays perpendicular to the table.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Back panels are DONE!*

Hello All,

Well, I finally got the courage up to apply some glue to my panel frames.
This was after I spent a good part of a day sanding all the parts to a reasonable finish.

I was a bit worried about whether the frame and panels would stay straight after the glue-up but so far they seem to be staying remarkably flat, which is what I'd hoped for, but didn't really expect, given the amount of twist, curl and warp I've experienced so far with this wood.
Maybe because it's been sitting, cut to size, for so long it's finally settled into a permanent position.

Anyway, I've got the sides of my desk cabinets done. They're all the same size, which allowed me to batch produce them; a nice way to go since it reduces setup time, which tends to get a bit fiddly.

Now on to the back panels and the face frame for the front. I reckon I'm over half way now...

Take a look at the photos and feel free to comment.

Cheers,
John


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Desk panels are finished!*

After a couple of months off, mostly spent getting the junk room in the house ready for baby #1, I'm back on to the desk project.

Picking up where I left off, I needed 2 more panels for the back of the cabinets and one to join the two cabinets together.
Well, they're done. Have a look at the pictures for proof!
The most annoying/time consuming part was sanding the joints on the panels so that they were smooth and level. Most of them were close, but a couple required a LOT of work. Maybe I should investigate a furniture scraper for times like these. Probably a lot quicker and easier and most likely gives a better result.

Now I'm on to the legs of the table so that I've got something to mount those panels to. The wood is cut and all I've got to do is lay out, and cut, the mortices. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Right!

Cheers


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## mountain monkey (Aug 17, 2008)

I'm just now catching up on this thread, so I'm a few months behind on this, but...Good job, and keep it up. I'm enjoying your progress and am now really wishing I had a planer and jointer as I love the idea of using salvaged wood for these projects. What have you found to be the best way/size to cut good strong floating tenons from 2x4's and dimensional lumber for your joints?

Josh the Marine


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi John

I too have just read your build, and you definitely have your work cut out for you. Just think you are that much closer to being finished, and still making saw dust.  Looking real good, and the photos tell the tale.

Looking forward to your next post.

John


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Floating tenons, eh?*



mountain monkey said:


> ... really wishing I had a planer and jointer as I love the idea of using salvaged wood for these projects. What have you found to be the best way/size to cut good strong floating tenons from 2x4's and dimensional lumber for your joints?
> Josh the Marine


G'day Josh,
I'm a beginner at this woodworking caper and am just progressively taking on larger projects to see if I can do it. Really, this desk project is outside my skill and tool set, and, as you can see from the dates on the thread, I'm well over 6 months into it. But I keep coming back to it, niggling away, making progress.

I have yet to do a floating tenon, unless you count the splines I used to join the desktop together. 

In that case I looked at what I was working with and the tools I had and went from there. The desk top is about 1" thick, and will be less after heavy sanding. I figured I didn't want to risk getting too close to either surface and I really didn't want to remove too much wood because that makes it a slower process. I have a 1/4" router bit which looked just the trick. So that's how I came about the thickness of the splines. The depth was pretty much determined by how deep I could go on the table mounted router, which maxes out at about 1/2". So the width of the splines was less than that, allowing for variations in the routing of the groove and the need to have some space for glue squeeze in/out. 

I've been bitten before making joints too tight and getting into serious trouble when needing room for the glue. It's probably not good technique to make joints on the 'roomy' side, but it works for me at the moment. I've seen true craftsmen put grooves in tenons to allow for glue squeeze out, but frankly, my mortice and tennon skills are nowhere near that level of expertise. I'm happy if they go together and are within a bulls roar of being straight and level.

I'm not convinced that I really needed splines when making the desktop. The main reason for doing it was to make assembly easier. i.e. the splines took away the worry of whether the long pieces were lining up correctly. It also helped in taking out the minor bend in the timbers.

I've just noticed that I've got a significant bend in my desk top, after leaving it sitting in the garage all these months. It might spring down to level, but I may have to cut, trim and rejoin. I hope not.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

BTW, I don't have a planer. I wish I did. The extent of my tools are a very old 6" jointer which I picked up for a bargain, and a tablesaw with a mounting hole for my router. As a result I do most of my dimensioning work on the table saw, which makes for a LOT of work, but seems to work OK. The table saw struggles and trips the power out a lot when working with timber greater than 2" in thickness, but that's the route I've chosen to go. I don't have any more room in the garage for a planer anyway. I've promised myself that I'm not going to leave the cars outside. I like my shop. It's cheap and nasty, but I've set up for less than $300 and I can get stuff done. Good enough for me.

Cheers, 
John


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Legs - but I cut them straight!*

Time to get the legs out of the pile of wood and start laying out mortices.
Just to be sure, I'll check that they are the right size and straight.
Well, the first 7 were close enough, but the last one had taken up the appearance of a boomerang.

Hmmm..... I don't have any more 2x2 stock in the right length and I really don't want to stop the project at this point. 

So I decided that 1 3/4 square was a much better size of legs on a desk, trimmed them all down and we're as good as gold. 8 legs all the same size, all straight and ready to go.

Docked them all to the same length, after much consternation as to what the correct length should be, and I'm ready to go tomorrow.

Cheers,
John


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Good morning John, 

You seem to be moving right along, I was always a believer "it is a poor man that blames his tools for his mistakes" you do not need a warehouse full of tools to build something, you are proof of this. Know your tools and they will do what you ask. 

This project is coming along great. I am really interested in seeing the finished project.

John


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Leg motices routed - I love a good jig*

Hello all,

I put in a few good hours and laid out and routed the mortices.
But the first task for the day was to decide which panel was going to go where, along with the preferred location and rotation of each leg. 
This can be a bit tricky when trying to hide flaws in the rescued lumber, but today wasn't too bad.

I dusted off the morticing jig I made for a previous project and set it up. Once again I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked and how consistently good the results were. For a few scrap pieces of material glued together it is a marvelous help.

Next I need to fit the legs to the panels. There's always a bit of nudging and tweaking involved at this point. 

I'm closing in on the exciting phase - the dry fit.....

Cheers,
John


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## mailee (Nov 11, 2005)

Now that is one fantastic piece of furniture! I just love this sort of work, right up my street. You have made a brilliant job so far, can't wait to see the finished article. :sold:


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## nordhagen (Sep 1, 2008)

Hi, just saw this thread and I'm impressed! Nothing wrong with ambition if you've got the skills to match and the photos suggest that you certainly do!

Now, I'm a real amateur and shouldn't be giving anyone advice at this point, however I have one bit of experience that might be useful. Somehow timeber has a very high probability of twisting when sawn to a sqare dimension like 2x2 or 4x4. Smaller dimensions are worse than large ones. This is my own (annoying) experience and I've comfirmed this with experienced woodworkers. I've bought pieces of 2x2 that were twisted to the point where it looked like a screw by the time I got around to use it.

I tell you this because I saw the photos of the legs you've made of solid wood. My experience is that you might have better luck making your legs hollow by assembling four side pieces.

Looking forward to following your project!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Things I didn't know*

I didn't know that about square timber. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

I've had this wood cut to size for about 7 months and the only real problem was some bending on one of the pieces. (ref. earlier post)
The other 7 seemed to be remarkably stable. I hope so.
I'm also hoping that once I have the desk assembled, glued, finished and in a stable environment in the house it'll stay like I want it.

It'd be a real shame for it to suddenly go 'POP' in the middle of the night!

Thanks for the input,
John

"I'm still learning..."


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi John

I admire what you have already accomplished with recycled wood. It should be quite dry so a lot of warping may not occur, the design you chose should help eliminate this problem as well.

It is a very aggressive build, and my hat is off to you.

John


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hi John,

Glad to see that it is starting to come together..

You must be a patient man to start a task like this in February and keep working through all the pitfalls to get to this point.

Keep up the great work,

James


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Patient? Sure*

But I'm tighter than I am patient!

Which makes for a good combination.
I priced out what a rubbish desk would cost down at the local shopping centre and decided that I had a better use for a couple hundred dollars.

And this way I get a solid wood desk rather than chipboard and laminate.

My motivation is that when I get this finished I intend to reward myself with an upgraded computer. It's not long now....a couple of months at the most.

Cheers,
John


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## nordhagen (Sep 1, 2008)

Check twice! said:


> ...It should be quite dry so a lot of warping may not occur, the design you chose should help eliminate this problem as well.


I agree. Since the wood is basically scraps, not to mention the fact that the project has already lasted 7 months, it should be pretty stable by now. If you've kept it at roughly the same temperature and humidity as will be it's natural habitat once the desk is done you've also minimized the chance of any delayed surprises.

I'm told the reason for this tendency to warp is because wood generally grows much faster and is allowed less time to dry that back in the days when anything wood was as good as it gets.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*The dry fit - Fabulous*

I worked on the tenons for each joint, nudging here, tweaking there.
It didn't take a whole lot, and it was nice to spend some time with the wood without a power tool screaming away. Just me, the wood and a chisel.

I decided to do a dry fit of the work so far, to see how it was coming together.
I must say that it looks pretty much how I had it planned in my head, which is a relief.

Now I've got a couple of design choices to make.
1) What to do with the leg corners? Round them, chamfer or leave them square? Do I do the round/chamfer the whole length?
2) What do I do with the top? I'm leaning towards a round over of the top edge, but I don't know about the bottom.
3) What sort of finish do I put on this wood? Currently leaning to a golden type stain, but I don't know what to put on top of that.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
John


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Looking good, John.
My suggestions:
1. Chamfer the legs leaving about 2 or 3 inches top and bottom square. I think this would match the raised panel look better.
2. Round over the top edge and leave the bottom square (but soften the edges a little).
3. Polyurethane.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

What a first class piece of woodwork, I have the same fetish as George, I run around everything with the trim router.


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi John

A great job and your design is structurally sound. I really like it. 

My suggestions
(1) Round over top and soften the bottom of the top.
(2) Soften the legs with a fine chamfer,,, the whole legs
(3) I would poly the unit without stain,,, I like as much of the natural wood grain and knots to show through. Mind you a light stain as you suggest may look very nice.

I am just a "plain" sort of finisher, and not into stains, so take what I say take with a grain of salt. Plain and simple is my preferance, but not necessarily the best.

I take my hat off to you on your build, it really looks great and no matter how you finish it the craftsmanship will show through. You also picked a wood I really like. 

Great creation.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

That is a first class desk. Very good job.
It looks like your assistant can't wait to use it.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*No! I don't want to! Nooooooooo........*

I stood and glared at the desk last night before I went to bed. 
That warped top is going to be a problem.
I don't think there's any way around it: I've got to cut it up! 

I really, really, really don't want to cut up the top, for a whole bunch of reasons, mostly to do with the amount of work to put it back together again, but also due to the fact that each cut will reduce the total width of the top and I don't have any more timber to make it wider.

But it's not going to work the way it is.

So close, yet so far.

I think I'll cut the pieces into 2 and 4 foot lengths, get them as flat as I can and hope that the multiple smaller pieces won't cause an overall warp like fewer larger pieces did. It's going to be a trick glue up, and I'll have to find a flattish part of the garage floor to do it on, but it should work.
I'm not going to bother with the splining that I did the first time around. I did that mainly to keep the longer pieces in line. With the shorter pieces I hope not to have that problem. 
Either way, it's going to be a tricky job.

*sigh*

I thought I was getting to the end of this piece and I'm back at the beginning.

Cheers.


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## karateed (Feb 7, 2006)

Hey John,

The build looks great. Is there no way to plane it flat? Or something like that. It's hard to tell that it's warped from the pics but planing (I'm thinking hand plane) might be a possible solution....and save a ton of time for you.

Ed......


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi John

I had a similar problem before with a laminated top. I cut it in half and reversed (fipped it over end to end) the one piece and re-glued the cut. I had to clamp it together as well clamp across the flat sides. It worked well enough to get the rest with a belt sander. Just one cut and a 1/16" loss.

Maybe of value. It is still looking good.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

I agree with Ed. If it's just warp, get after that baby with a couple of winding sticks, an 80 grit belt sander and a hand plane. Or just the hand plane if you don't have a belt sander.


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## nordhagen (Sep 1, 2008)

John, this might not be the most practical solution to your bent top, but I still wanted to mention it: The way you would make a wooden spiral staircase is to basically soak the planks in glue and bend them to shape, forcing them to stay in place while the glue dries. This might also work for you. Soak your plate in glue, then soak two thin MDF plates in some kind of oil (to avoid them sticking) and put your table top between them on the floor. Then place something really heavy on top and leave to dry overnight. I don't know if it's worth a shot, but if you're really that reluctant to cut it apart again I'd say it's definately an option.

When it comes to the finish, why not go for a modern, scandinavian touch?

(1) Use a 45 degree angle bit on both sides, but carve deeper on the top and leaving a barely noticable fas on the bottom side.
(2) Leave the legs square, but do the same tiny fas as on the bottom of the table top.
(3) I would actually paint the whole table bright white with gloss numer 80 or equivalent. Pine is not that good looking anyway and a high gloss white is a really beautiful finish.

When painting, use a roller on the top to distribute an even amount of paint fast, then apply feather weight strokes with a decent brush. I don't know what it's called in english, but in Norway a brush you would typically use is called a "fordriver" or after stroker (translated directly)—a brush you use only to smoothen the coat and minimize the marks left by rollers or more coarse brushes. You do not apply any paint with it.

On the legs you would follow the same principle but obviously applying the pant with a brush instead of a roller.

The best part is: DO NOT sand down anything between the coats, you actually do want some suddle brush strokes visible. Trust me, it's gorgeous


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## TWheels (May 26, 2006)

John, It seems to me that you could build router skis as Template Tom uses and HarrySin has described, and use your router as a planer to remove the warp. If you have a large enough work area, the work could be done quickly, easily and accurately.

It is possible that I overestimate what can be done with skis. If so, I am sure one who knows better than I will soon say so.

What marvelous work! You have no doubt inspired many who have read this thread.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Regarding the warped top, I would countersink a coach screw and either plug the hole or use a filler. In the past I have tried every imaginable method to cure this sort of problem and have ended up pulling it into position with screws. Such thick boards require coach screws because pressure can be applied with a socket and ratchet handle.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Back at the desk and making progress*

It's the new year and I really want to get this desk done. It's almost 12 months since I started and that's just silly.

After much soul-searching I decided to cut the top into pieces, run them through the jointer and start again. At the same time I figured I'd cut the longer lengths down to 2' or 3' depending on where they were going to go in the panel. The logic behind this is that if there's a cut in the boards there won't be quite so much end to end warp if one of the smaller boards decides to warp. That was the problem the last time; one of the full length boards decided to go wobbly and took the whole top with it. I thought about just cutting out that board and replacing it, but I don't have the timber and to work on that warped board would make it thinner than the rest.

So I cut it up. It took me quite a while to get motivated after that psychological setback, but with some encouragement from the good lady, and the promise to myself of a new computer when I get the desk done, I got back into it. The glue-up was something else! It's not 100% and will need some filler in a couple of small gaps, but it's all in one piece again. And it's flat! Or relatively so. Because of the extra work on the jointer the whole top is thinner than it was. 3/4" down from 1". I don't think it'll detract from the desk any, and the side effect is that it'll pull into shape a bit better if there is any slight bend in it. That's what I'm hoping anyway.

Now I'm back to where I was a few months ago. *sigh*

So to make myself feel better I started work on the face-frame for the two cabinets. One is going to have two small drawers and a file drawer and the other one small drawer and a door for a computer. I've had the wood dimensioned since the beginning of the project and it was all still straight and true, or close enough that it didn't matter. So I cut them to length, made the mortices and tennons, sanded the visible sides and glued the first one up.

There really isn't a huge amount to go now: some sanding on the legs, a bit of chamfering, some gluing and then the finish. Oh - and sand, size, finish and attach the top. Maybe it'll be a few more days yet, but I can see the finish line.

I've decided to fit false drawer fronts at the moment and work on the drawer cases later. I want to get this out of the garage and into the house being useful. And besides, I had a nasty experience with drawers on the last project and have a bit of a mental block about them. 

All in all, I'm feeling better about it. 

I think I found out why I've been slow on this project. Check out the Site Manager. Not holding up his end as far as I can tell! 

Cheers all,
John


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## waynoe (Sep 29, 2004)

Great Job, Great Thread


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## a1tomo (Dec 3, 2008)

Wow! I am amazed at the quality of your work. That is one super build. 

Is it possible to put a series of saw kerfs to the bottom of the desk top to relieve the stress and hopefully flatten it out? The amount of warp is not noticeable in your pics.

At any rate, you are indeed a craftsman.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

a1tomo said:


> Is it possible to put a series of saw kerfs to the bottom of the desk top to relieve the stress and hopefully flatten it out? The amount of warp is not noticeable in your pics.


I hadn't thought about the kerfs in the underside. I don't know enough to comment on whether that would work or not, but it certainly sounds reasonable to me. Anyone had any experience with this sort of thing?

If the current top starts getting squirrelly I'll consider giving that a go, but at this stage it looks like it might be OK. I just need to get it screwed into position before too long so that it doesn't get the bends. I waited too long last time and left the top standing against the wall for several months. It was flat at one point, but I tempted fate too long. I'll try not to make that mistake again.

Thanks for your input. I'm still learning.

John


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

HI John

Nice job

Go down a rent a floor sander, ( the belt type) it will make a quick job of it and it will be flat  use all the belt they give you end up with the 220 one..




========





JMalone said:


> I hadn't thought about the kerfs in the underside. I don't know enough to comment on whether that would work or not, but it certainly sounds reasonable to me. Anyone had any experience with this sort of thing?
> 
> If the current top starts getting squirrelly I'll consider giving that a go, but at this stage it looks like it might be OK. I just need to get it screwed into position before too long so that it doesn't get the bends. I waited too long last time and left the top standing against the wall for several months. It was flat at one point, but I tempted fate too long. I'll try not to make that mistake again.
> 
> ...


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

bobj3 said:


> HI John
> Go down a rent a floor sander, ( the belt type) it will make a quick job of it and it will be flat  use all the belt they give you end up with the 220 one..
> ========


You know, I've thought about options like that, and it really is rather appealing.
I've also considered going to a cabinet maker and asking what they'd charge to run it through an industrial sized thicknesser. That'd sort it out too!

Good idea. Thanks,
John


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## Mark (Aug 4, 2004)

Very nice work!!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Face frames assembled*

I've assembled and glued the face frames for the cabinets.
They're straight, square and flat. Can't ask for more than that.
Now to sand them and the legs and I get to do some more assembly.
This part of the project is fun!

Cheers,
John


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

JMalone said:


> You know, I've thought about options like that, and it really is rather appealing.
> I've also considered going to a cabinet maker and asking what they'd charge to run it through an industrial sized thicknesser. That'd sort it out too!
> 
> Good idea. Thanks,
> John


Depends on what kind of thicknesser. If you run a cupped/warped board through a kinfe planer, you get a thinner cupped/warped board out the other side. If however you put it on a sled or other flat surface first and shim up all the low points so the rollers can't squish the board as it passes through, then you can flatten one side, flip and finish.

If they have a big ole' drum sander you can probably run through that until it comes out flat on one side, then flip and finish.

On the whole, looks like a lot of fun! Keep going!


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

JMalone said:


> I've assembled and glued the face frames for the cabinets.
> They're straight, square and flat. Can't ask for more than that.
> Now to sand them and the legs and I get to do some more assembly.
> This part of the project is fun!
> ...


Looks pretty spiffy. Sometimes it is amazing what you find when you mill down some otherwise "cheap" wood.

Why did you decide to have the stiles between the rails instead of the usual rails between stiles?


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*But it's not the normal way...*



rwyoung said:


> Why did you decide to have the stiles between the rails instead of the usual rails between stiles?


Now that's a good question. And when I was designing it I spent quite a bit of effort deciding that one, because I knew the standard was rail between stiles. 

The decision came down to assembly. I wanted the desk to be strong and to be relatively resistant to warp, twist etc, so wanted the panels and face-frames to be integral to the cabinet. The only joint I'm comfortable doing, or more precisely, the only one I've done, is mortise and tennon and to accommodate that I needed the rails to go through to the legs.

I'm not sure how else I could have done it. I considered using the legs as stiles, which would give the more standard look, but I also wanted this to be a modular build to make life a bit easier. And also, I like the look of the panels separate from the legs.

And I'm not changing it now! 

That's a long answer to a short question, but it IS an issue I hassled through a lot before deciding.

Cheers,
John


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

JMalone said:


> Now that's a good question. And when I was designing it I spent quite a bit of effort deciding that one, because I knew the standard was rail between stiles.
> 
> The decision came down to assembly. I wanted the desk to be strong and to be relatively resistant to warp, twist etc, so wanted the panels and face-frames to be integral to the cabinet. The only joint I'm comfortable doing, or more precisely, the only one I've done, is mortise and tennon and to accommodate that I needed the rails to go through to the legs.
> 
> ...


Check! One more question... Have you measured to be sure this thing will fit through the doors and land in its final resting place?   

I had that happen to me with a desk once. Not one I made from scratch but it was a fairly nice one from the office supply store. Couldn't make the turn at the bottom of some steps, even tipped up on end, railing removed from wall and wiggling like mad! Doh!


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## joeboxer (Sep 16, 2008)

Thank you very much - I just saw your tennon/mortise friendly jig - much more stable and better than mine. I'm off to build it using my excessive quantity of Birch.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Will it fit?*



rwyoung said:


> Check! One more question... Have you measured to be sure this thing will fit through the doors and land in its final resting place?
> 
> I had that happen to me with a desk once. Not one I made from scratch but it was a fairly nice one from the office supply store. Couldn't make the turn at the bottom of some steps, even tipped up on end, railing removed from wall and wiggling like mad! Doh!


You gave me quite a start there, so I rushed out with a tape measure to be sure, and yes it'll be just fine.

I've designed it to be modular, of sorts. i.e. two cabinets, a joining panel, and the top. I'm going to break all the rules of classic woodworking and screw the centre joining panel to the centre legs from the inside, and will be using figure-8 fasteners to hold the top to the cabinets, thus making the whole thing come apart into manageable pieces with the application of a screwdriver.

I'm glad it's going to make it into the house, because it would have been too nice to use as a workbench in the garage! :'(


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Sanding and some practical details*

Hello All,

Anyone who is still following this thread needs a medal. It's been strolling along at a very leisurely pace, but today I got another few hours on the desk and am starting make some progress.

I finally got the courage to sand the top, all 6'x3' of it. I've been avoiding it for weeks and just carefully walked around it every time I went into the garage. An interesting note is that if I leave the top lying on one face for a few days it will start to cup on the long edges. Then if I turn it over, it'll settle down and be flat and then after a couple more days will start to cup the other way. Not drastically mind, no more than a couple of 1/16ths or so, but enough for me to start to become panicky. I think this may have been what went wrong the first time I made the top. I had it leaning, on edge, on the garage wall, and didn't bother to see if it was twisting, warping or whatever. I surmise that the weight of the top may have caused it to get the bends, more than the wood itself. Or maybe it was the wood. Who knows.

Anywho, I got out my trusty $20 belt sander with 80 grit paper and went to work. That really shifts the wood, I can tell you, and it needed to, because some of the planks weren't quite level and so a lot of wood had to be removed. But no matter, after a couple of hours, both sides were smooth and level, or at least good enough for me.

I changed up to 120 grit belt and went back at the visible side. It came up surprisingly well. I'm not too sure if I'll go to 250 with the palm sander to get it super smooth, because that's a LOT of area to cover with a palm sander. We'll see.

Last week I spent a few hours on said palm sander doing the legs and they came up a treat. I finally decided to chamfer the legs for most of the length, leaving the width of the apron at the top non-chamfered to add a bit of weight and dimension up there. I had a few splinters and chip-outs on the legs which was discouraging, but there's only one spot that's in a really visible location, so I suppose that's not too bad. 

Finishing touches done today were to cut air slots in the top of one of the inside panels so that the computer that is going to be in there won't cook itself. The slots shouldn't be visible unless someone is really looking for them. I had some splintering occur with those as well, but patched it up with glue and should all be OK.

Another detail was that the tenons were hitting each other inside the back legs and preventing a tight joint, so I had to cut off the corners of the tenons so that they'd play nice. I haven't done a dry fit with them yet, but they should be OK now.

Enough of the ramble, here are the photos...

Cheers,
John


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## Bogydave (Nov 14, 2008)

Good job. Nice work.
Here is an idea I used when I built the workbench.
I found a cabinet shop close that had a big sander. 
For $25, he ran it thru the big sander 3 times (1 bottom side, 2 to side).
Came out real level.
For something this nice, it may be worth a few phone calls.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Not a bad idea*



Bogydave said:


> Good job. Nice work.
> Here is an idea I used when I built the workbench.
> I found a cabinet shop close that had a big sander.
> For $25, he ran it thru the big sander 3 times (1 bottom side, 2 to side).
> ...


I've considered that option and I've come real close to making the calls.
But it's a point of personal pride to see how little I can spend on making something. i.e. Scrap wood, limited tools. 

This job has taught me a lot of things, among them being that a big project is a lot easier with tools that scale with the task at hand. e.g. a wide thicknesser.

But I'm going to get there, and the satisfaction level will be huge.

Thanks for the comments and ideas though.
Cheers,
John


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## Nanigai (Feb 13, 2009)

An interesting note is that if I leave the top lying on one face for a few days it will start to cup on the long edges. Then if I turn it over, it'll settle down and be flat and then after a couple more days will start to cup the other way. Not drastically mind, no more than a couple of 1/16ths or so, but enough for me to start to become panicky.

Hi John, I;m still learning too but I had a problem like this caused by the boards absorbing moisture from the concrete floor & I noticed you had glued up on the floor. Just a thought for your next project!

Cheers, Ian


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*It looks better with stain and clear....*

Hello All,

Progress is being made. The legs were attached to the sides and then all the panels were stained and clear-coated before the cabinets were glued together. I agonized over whether I should stain before assembly or afterwards, and settled on before, and it turned out to be a lot easier than other projects that I've stained after assembly.

I chose a golden pecan stain, because pine doesn't take dark stain well, but I wanted add a bit of colour. I thought it was going to be a bit on the reddish side, but it settled down after a couple of days and, quite frankly, I love it.

I've just got to complete the top and this job is nearly done. False drawer fronts will be made as the next step, and at a later date, I'll make the drawers.

Anyway, here are the photos.
Cheers all,
John


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

That is one nice desk to be proud of. Great job on it.


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

John, I have to agree with Mike.. that is one fine looking piece of furniture.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Cut and routed the top!*

Today was the day that I finally got around to cutting the top to the correct length and routing the edges.
I took it very carefully, using a clamped on straight edge to help control the length cut. It worked really well, and came up a treat.

It's starting to look like a desk top now, rather than a mad jumble of wood pieces glued together.

A bit more sanding, and on to the stain and clear coat.

Here are the photos.

Cheers,
John


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## a1tomo (Dec 3, 2008)

Good show. Now that you're done (almost) with the prototype you can build one out of walnut, or oak, or cherry, or.......

Great job!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Things that are worth the extra time*

It's no secret that I don't like sanding. Never have. I love the results that it gives, but I don't like the process; it's slow, noisy, dusty and tedious.

BUT, having said that, sanding definitely falls into the category of "Things that are worth the extra time".

Let me explain. I had sanded the top of the desk to 120grit using the belt sander, and really didn't want to go over it again with the palm sander at 220 grit. But past projects have taught me that if you don't get a good smooth surface on the timber, no effort with stain and clear coat will give a satisfactory result. So I sucked it up, loaded up the palm sander and went to work. As with most tedious tasks, the thinking about it was worse than the implementation. I buzzed up and down and in no time the surface was delightfully smooth.

For a desk that's taken me over 12 months to build, it's a must to spend the extra hour or so to get a decent surface on the most visible part.

I treated it with soft wood stain preparation and then added the stain. Just like the rest of the desk, it came up a treat. Now I've got to wait the 8+ hours, in this case overnight, before I add the polyurethane.

In the interim I added the figure 8 tabletop fasteners and took some extra photos. Feel free to comment.

Not long now. Cheers.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Looks good to me John. Can't wait to see the finished desk.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

Looking good!

I am in the minority I like sanding, bought some sweet sanders and ever since it is not a chore at all.


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Nice, very nice!*

Ahhh - the satisfaction of putting on a semi-gloss polyurethane.

As I was brushing back and forwards, I came to the realization that stain and clear-coat magnify the craftsmanship of the previous work, whether good or bad.

On a previous project, the side tables, I learned that sanding across the grain was a big no-no, as it exposed the ends of the grain and soaked up the stain, making it rather obvious.

This time, thanks to forcing myself to do the extra sanding (see earlier post) the results are far more gratifying. What was just a nice smooth surface, now jumps up and grabs the eye. Colours pop, grain patterns become visible, knots take on a whole new life, and the the overall effect is delightful.

This is nothing new to anyone who works with wood, but I still get a huge buzz out of it. It's validation of the hard work getting to this point.

Here are some photos, and the polyurethane is still liquid wet. Yeah, I couldn't resist. 

Cheers.


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## a1tomo (Dec 3, 2008)

Wow, you are so right. The grain absolutely pops right out at you. 

Looks great !!!!!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Assembly complete and desk installed!*

Well, the big day has arrived - the desk is installed in our study, with the top on and all carcass components in place.

I haven't done the drawers or false fronts yet, but they can wait. I'm just so chuffed to have it out of the garage and be a usable piece of furniture after all these months.

I'll get to finishing it completely after I've done another small project or two and can face the desk again. 

The drawers/door aren't on the visible face of the desk anyway, so it won't bother me as I walk past in the living room. 

Don't forget that this was made from 100% scrap & recycled lumber from building sites and pallets. That makes me happy. Total cost of the project is probably around $100, for stain, polyurethane, sandpaper, fasteners, glue and the like.

Here are some photos.:


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

That's one magnificent job John, even if you had made it from furniture grade lumber it couldn't have turned out better. I've said on several occasions that I'm well passed my furniture making days, but seeing what you have achieved and the fact that I do need a new desk with a return, I'm being tempted!


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

That is a truly exceptional looking desk, The pictures and notes make it something to see again. Congratulations on a job well done.


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## Check twice! (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi John

I have watched your project grow and has become a beautiful piece of work. A great job and with all recycled material.

A piece to be proud of,,,, yes sir ,,, looks great!


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Fine looking desk John. I'm only saying that because it's true.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

*John*, nice work, indeed. Plus, you've managed to disguise the origin of the materials nicely.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

John,

great job,,,

Now that should be a starting point for the TV cabinet.

James


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## Professor59 (Oct 24, 2009)

100% scrap and recycle - my kinda project - great job - looks great too!


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## JMalone (Feb 22, 2005)

*Time to get back into it.*

Thanks to all for your kind remarks.

Now that the baby is a little older and a good sleeper I might be able to start up the woodworking machines again and finish this desk off.
I'm making a small stool for the young one and when that's done I should really get to the drawers and doors.

Combine this with the fact that I may have to move the desk to the living room and expose the unfinished side to the general public and my motivation is on the increase.

I still like the desk and it gets daily use. Every time I start taking it for granted I think back to the months that it took to get it right, and I have a new respect for it all over again.

Interestingly enough I think the top is trying to warp again, but since there's four figure-8 tabletop fasteners across the width of the top in four different locations it can't go very far. Hah! Gotcha! I waiting for the day when I hear a POP and a large split shows up in the top, but it hasn't happened yet. 

Cheers for now,
John


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