| Blog series by AandCstyle | updated 01-29-2020 09:41 PM | 6 parts | 3499 reads | 47 comments total |
Part 1: Getting Started
My son, Greg, asked me to make a desk for him similar to this one. I was challenged from the design perspective because he doesn’t want the file cabinet/credenza on the end. He also wants the look to be as “clean” as possible meaning no modesty panel etc. underneath. After extensive discussion with the knowledgeable woodworkers here, I decided on a design that I think will work. I used the design to determine my needs and headed to the lumber store. My, not so local s...
Part 2: Getting to the fun parts
“The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Clemmons It has been too long so here are the highlights: I cut the legs to rough length and resawed them to be able to make the grooves for the angle braces. I have more success marking the centerline of the stock than setting a one point fence. I used some of the offcuts to make some color samples. The inspiration piece has a black strip at the back and Greg isn’t certain what co...
Part 3: Slow progress
Again, it has been too long since the previous post. Now that I had the mortices for the corner braces in the legs, it was time to cut them into the underside of the desktop. Again, the router just required a single pass. I needed to be careful that I started and stopped the router in the correct places. I chiseled out the corners to square them up to maximize the strength of the fit. I raised the grain on the appropriate parts by wiping them with a damp paper towel, dyed them wi...
Part 4: Actually Part #3 Completion (I hope)
I will try again after encouragement from LeeRoyMan. I ebonized the appropriate parts. I raised the grain by wiping them with a damp cloth, scuff sanded with 400G, applied TransTint Black dye 1:16, scuff sanded, applied Minwax Ebony and sanded again. I waited 1-2 days between these steps to ensure that everything was completely dry. I may decide to apply another coat of the Minwax just to be sure that it is really, really black. Then I glued up the remaining 4 boards to make the d...
Part 5: Still at it
I feel like I have made good progress these past few days. I had to make the dovetails on the ends of the cross brace and since it was about 73” long I had to clamp it to the workbench and stand on the bench because I wasn’t confident I could control the router if I held it at against the end of the board at some random angle. Sorry that the end result is a bit out of focus but rest assured that the edges are sharp. :) I included some sawdust in some of these pix bec...
Part 6: Finished!
I realize that I will never be able to monetize my blog since I don’t post frequently enough or in enough detail. The desk is complete except for delivery and set up. So with the apology out of the way let’s get to the main event. :) There are no pix showing the sanding steps but they did happen. I took it to 180G. First, I wanted to show where I had filled the gap with wood filler. This is the backside of the previous pic. The top with the first coat of fin...
