Charles Mackintosh Inspired Computer Desk

EarlS said:

Getting Started - Design and SketchUp model

My youngest daughter asked for a computer desk for her 17th birthday. Well, it was last week so I'm already behind.

She wanted something that had Japanese influences. After looking at countless pictures over the past several months I was looking at a side table on Kevin Rodel's website and she saw it and immediately decided that was the look she wanted. The table is described as a "contemporary Asian inspired Arts and Crafts with roots in several old masters".

The site also has a desk with similar details that was inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of my favorite styles.

She was sold on the idea. Meanwhile, I've been learning just enough SketchUp that I can draw up a 3D model and generate the necessary drawings to build the desk.

I must say I'm very happy with SketchUp. The basics were easy to learn, certainly easier than when I learned CAD. Part of the process of making the model is creating the joinery so it will all fit together. I was able to find and correct numerous little details that normally would get missed, only to cause problems in the shop. I was also able to adjust and correct details that didn't look right with a few clicks of the mouse rather than getting it built only to realize the proportions were off and the piece doesn't work. Lastly, I was able to show her what it would look like before I start building.

There are some tricky parts including the inset chamfered edge detail on the top and the rounded leg posts. I'm also going to make my first major foray into inlay (after I watch Kevin Rodel's videos).

Kevin Rodel - Thank you again and again for all of your helpful online writings and videos as well as some magnificent furniture designs.

Dimensions: 50×24x30, ebonized walnut, satin clear coat, with glass panels from my friend Alex at Glass Heritage that will be inspired by some more of Kevin Rodel's glass work.

I have a large stack of walnut planed and waiting for me to start. I'll be starting with the side lattice/grid, then move on to the legs, drawers, front and back panels, then the top.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Getting Started - Design and SketchUp model

My youngest daughter asked for a computer desk for her 17th birthday. Well, it was last week so I'm already behind.

She wanted something that had Japanese influences. After looking at countless pictures over the past several months I was looking at a side table on Kevin Rodel's website and she saw it and immediately decided that was the look she wanted. The table is described as a "contemporary Asian inspired Arts and Crafts with roots in several old masters".

The site also has a desk with similar details that was inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of my favorite styles.

She was sold on the idea. Meanwhile, I've been learning just enough SketchUp that I can draw up a 3D model and generate the necessary drawings to build the desk.

I must say I'm very happy with SketchUp. The basics were easy to learn, certainly easier than when I learned CAD. Part of the process of making the model is creating the joinery so it will all fit together. I was able to find and correct numerous little details that normally would get missed, only to cause problems in the shop. I was also able to adjust and correct details that didn't look right with a few clicks of the mouse rather than getting it built only to realize the proportions were off and the piece doesn't work. Lastly, I was able to show her what it would look like before I start building.

There are some tricky parts including the inset chamfered edge detail on the top and the rounded leg posts. I'm also going to make my first major foray into inlay (after I watch Kevin Rodel's videos).

Kevin Rodel - Thank you again and again for all of your helpful online writings and videos as well as some magnificent furniture designs.

Dimensions: 50×24x30, ebonized walnut, satin clear coat, with glass panels from my friend Alex at Glass Heritage that will be inspired by some more of Kevin Rodel's glass work.

I have a large stack of walnut planed and waiting for me to start. I'll be starting with the side lattice/grid, then move on to the legs, drawers, front and back panels, then the top.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Getting Started - Design and SketchUp model

My youngest daughter asked for a computer desk for her 17th birthday. Well, it was last week so I'm already behind.

She wanted something that had Japanese influences. After looking at countless pictures over the past several months I was looking at a side table on Kevin Rodel's website and she saw it and immediately decided that was the look she wanted. The table is described as a "contemporary Asian inspired Arts and Crafts with roots in several old masters".

The site also has a desk with similar details that was inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of my favorite styles.

She was sold on the idea. Meanwhile, I've been learning just enough SketchUp that I can draw up a 3D model and generate the necessary drawings to build the desk.

I must say I'm very happy with SketchUp. The basics were easy to learn, certainly easier than when I learned CAD. Part of the process of making the model is creating the joinery so it will all fit together. I was able to find and correct numerous little details that normally would get missed, only to cause problems in the shop. I was also able to adjust and correct details that didn't look right with a few clicks of the mouse rather than getting it built only to realize the proportions were off and the piece doesn't work. Lastly, I was able to show her what it would look like before I start building.

There are some tricky parts including the inset chamfered edge detail on the top and the rounded leg posts. I'm also going to make my first major foray into inlay (after I watch Kevin Rodel's videos).

Kevin Rodel - Thank you again and again for all of your helpful online writings and videos as well as some magnificent furniture designs.

Dimensions: 50×24x30, ebonized walnut, satin clear coat, with glass panels from my friend Alex at Glass Heritage that will be inspired by some more of Kevin Rodel's glass work.

I have a large stack of walnut planed and waiting for me to start. I'll be starting with the side lattice/grid, then move on to the legs, drawers, front and back panels, then the top.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Getting started takes longer than you think

Armed with prints from the SketchUp model I headed out to the shop shortly after posting the first blog in this series on the Mackintosh desk for my daughter. I was a bit optimistic. After pulling several walnut boards out of the stack I quickly realized I needed to finish plane them to the appropriate thickness and run them across the jointer to get a straight edge.

That took a couple of weekends to plane the ~200 BF between all of the other endless day-to-day projects around the house and yard. As a bonus, I was able to mulch a large area with the walnut chips that came off the planer. Walnut mulch seems to deter weeds from growing which is a bonus.

I also had plenty of practice using the Wixey digital thickness gauge that I put on the planer this spring. I can't say enough good things about the Wixey products.

At any rate I think I have enough 3/4, 4/4, and 1-1/8" (top) to complete the project without having to plane more. Since the wood is #2 common there will be a lot of waste due to cracks, splits, knots, twisting, and all of the other imperfections that comes with lower quality (and less expensive) grades of wood. I'm not sure that the lower cost offsets the increased waste and extra time spent working around the imperfections.

In addition to the planing and jointing, I pulled out the 8/4 slabs I was planning to use for the legs and looked them over. Ughh - they are almost completely worthless. The boards are all twisted, with splits, checking, and worst of all, 2 of the boards have metal fragments that look like bullets embedded in them.

Time for Plan B. I went to the big box store, bought a large bottle of Gorilla glue and started gluing 1" boards together to make the 8/4 thickness for the legs.

At the same time I realized that there were several changes that I needed to make to the model to provide a better sense of proportion for the desk. While I was making all of the changes to the SketchUp model, I watched some more of the "How-To" DVD's and learned how to make better shop drawings.

The legs will be 2" x 2-1/2"x 29" so I cut them 3" wide and 30" long so there was some room to clean them up after gluing. After the glue set up I scraped off the excess glue, ran the glue edge along the jointer, ripped the board to width and then cut them to length and gave them a preliminary sanding.

While I was at the table saw I ripped the 2" boards for the left and right side grids. The grids are 13" tall and 19-1/2" long.

Finally, I think I'm ready to start this project.

All of the pieces for the grid were cut to length and sanded. I set up a dado stack to cut the 1" notches for the grid. The openings will be 2" and the grid will be 1" thick. After I dry fit the grids, I think it might have looked better with 2-1/2" openings.

The grid pieces will be ebonized and a first coat of finish applied to the interior faces before the grids are glued together and sanded flush. I will also be starting the mortises for the legs and then work out the method to achieve the rounded profile I want using some new router bits.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Getting started takes longer than you think

Armed with prints from the SketchUp model I headed out to the shop shortly after posting the first blog in this series on the Mackintosh desk for my daughter. I was a bit optimistic. After pulling several walnut boards out of the stack I quickly realized I needed to finish plane them to the appropriate thickness and run them across the jointer to get a straight edge.

That took a couple of weekends to plane the ~200 BF between all of the other endless day-to-day projects around the house and yard. As a bonus, I was able to mulch a large area with the walnut chips that came off the planer. Walnut mulch seems to deter weeds from growing which is a bonus.

I also had plenty of practice using the Wixey digital thickness gauge that I put on the planer this spring. I can't say enough good things about the Wixey products.

At any rate I think I have enough 3/4, 4/4, and 1-1/8" (top) to complete the project without having to plane more. Since the wood is #2 common there will be a lot of waste due to cracks, splits, knots, twisting, and all of the other imperfections that comes with lower quality (and less expensive) grades of wood. I'm not sure that the lower cost offsets the increased waste and extra time spent working around the imperfections.

In addition to the planing and jointing, I pulled out the 8/4 slabs I was planning to use for the legs and looked them over. Ughh - they are almost completely worthless. The boards are all twisted, with splits, checking, and worst of all, 2 of the boards have metal fragments that look like bullets embedded in them.

Time for Plan B. I went to the big box store, bought a large bottle of Gorilla glue and started gluing 1" boards together to make the 8/4 thickness for the legs.

At the same time I realized that there were several changes that I needed to make to the model to provide a better sense of proportion for the desk. While I was making all of the changes to the SketchUp model, I watched some more of the "How-To" DVD's and learned how to make better shop drawings.

The legs will be 2" x 2-1/2"x 29" so I cut them 3" wide and 30" long so there was some room to clean them up after gluing. After the glue set up I scraped off the excess glue, ran the glue edge along the jointer, ripped the board to width and then cut them to length and gave them a preliminary sanding.

While I was at the table saw I ripped the 2" boards for the left and right side grids. The grids are 13" tall and 19-1/2" long.

Finally, I think I'm ready to start this project.

All of the pieces for the grid were cut to length and sanded. I set up a dado stack to cut the 1" notches for the grid. The openings will be 2" and the grid will be 1" thick. After I dry fit the grids, I think it might have looked better with 2-1/2" openings.

The grid pieces will be ebonized and a first coat of finish applied to the interior faces before the grids are glued together and sanded flush. I will also be starting the mortises for the legs and then work out the method to achieve the rounded profile I want using some new router bits.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Getting started takes longer than you think

Armed with prints from the SketchUp model I headed out to the shop shortly after posting the first blog in this series on the Mackintosh desk for my daughter. I was a bit optimistic. After pulling several walnut boards out of the stack I quickly realized I needed to finish plane them to the appropriate thickness and run them across the jointer to get a straight edge.

That took a couple of weekends to plane the ~200 BF between all of the other endless day-to-day projects around the house and yard. As a bonus, I was able to mulch a large area with the walnut chips that came off the planer. Walnut mulch seems to deter weeds from growing which is a bonus.

I also had plenty of practice using the Wixey digital thickness gauge that I put on the planer this spring. I can't say enough good things about the Wixey products.

At any rate I think I have enough 3/4, 4/4, and 1-1/8" (top) to complete the project without having to plane more. Since the wood is #2 common there will be a lot of waste due to cracks, splits, knots, twisting, and all of the other imperfections that comes with lower quality (and less expensive) grades of wood. I'm not sure that the lower cost offsets the increased waste and extra time spent working around the imperfections.

In addition to the planing and jointing, I pulled out the 8/4 slabs I was planning to use for the legs and looked them over. Ughh - they are almost completely worthless. The boards are all twisted, with splits, checking, and worst of all, 2 of the boards have metal fragments that look like bullets embedded in them.

Time for Plan B. I went to the big box store, bought a large bottle of Gorilla glue and started gluing 1" boards together to make the 8/4 thickness for the legs.

At the same time I realized that there were several changes that I needed to make to the model to provide a better sense of proportion for the desk. While I was making all of the changes to the SketchUp model, I watched some more of the "How-To" DVD's and learned how to make better shop drawings.

The legs will be 2" x 2-1/2"x 29" so I cut them 3" wide and 30" long so there was some room to clean them up after gluing. After the glue set up I scraped off the excess glue, ran the glue edge along the jointer, ripped the board to width and then cut them to length and gave them a preliminary sanding.

While I was at the table saw I ripped the 2" boards for the left and right side grids. The grids are 13" tall and 19-1/2" long.

Finally, I think I'm ready to start this project.

All of the pieces for the grid were cut to length and sanded. I set up a dado stack to cut the 1" notches for the grid. The openings will be 2" and the grid will be 1" thick. After I dry fit the grids, I think it might have looked better with 2-1/2" openings.

The grid pieces will be ebonized and a first coat of finish applied to the interior faces before the grids are glued together and sanded flush. I will also be starting the mortises for the legs and then work out the method to achieve the rounded profile I want using some new router bits.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Time for some Leg Work

I'm on a roll this morning. Things are quiet around the house and I haven't gotten distracted so it looks like I will get 2 installments of the project progress written up.

There are a number of mortises that will be required for the legs. Initially, I was considering using a plunge router with a template jig that slid over the legs but decided that approach would be too tedious. I also wanted to figure out a suitable approach to using the router table to make mortise cuts.

All of the mortises will be 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep for consistency and so I won't have to change bits and adjust the bit height once I get it set.

The grids will attach to the legs using a loose tenon or spline depending on what you want to call it. For the first set of mortises, I set up the router table using a square, a spacer, and a digital height gauge.

The cast iron router table I own isn't compatible with any of the after market router fences like Incra or the Woodpeckers fence. I've come up with a couple of different ways to set up the fence so it is parallel to the miter slot. A square set along the edge of the table and held tightly against the fence will keep things mostly square.

With some fiddling and minor adjusting the fence can be set up square to the miter slot and spaced correctly to the bit.

I also set up a stop, using a scrap piece of wood cut to the length of the mortise. The miter bar touches the edge of the bit and the scrap piece is placed against the miter bar. The stop is set against the far end of the scrap piece and slid against the fence (hence the need for a way to get the fence parallel to the miter slot) and clamped to the router table.

All of the mortises are laid out on the pieces so I don't get confused. There are 8 legs with mirror image 3" mortises on 4 of them, and mirror image 12" long mortises to accept the loose tenon for the grids. There are also 2-1/2" mortises cut in the legs for the spacer piece on the lower section of the legs. A white lead pencil shows up well on the walnut.

From there it is a simple matter of cutting the mortises.

After cutting all of the mortises on the router and squaring them off with a corner chisel, I set up the dado stack on the table saw for the tenons on the drawer frame back and sides. Previously, I had cut the drawer frame back and sides to length and height. While I had the dado stack set up I also cut the slide slots and the mortises in the back frame to accept the side frames.

Everything was dry assembled to check fit:

Up to this point, things have been straightforward and not overly challenging. The legs still have a lot of router work to achieve the rounded look I'm trying for. I've ordered a couple of round over style bits with large diameter curves in them (1-1/2") that should work. Hopefully, I can work out a good approach using some scraps as test pieces. This will definitely require a well thought out, cautious approach since the bits are so big.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Time for some Leg Work

I'm on a roll this morning. Things are quiet around the house and I haven't gotten distracted so it looks like I will get 2 installments of the project progress written up.

There are a number of mortises that will be required for the legs. Initially, I was considering using a plunge router with a template jig that slid over the legs but decided that approach would be too tedious. I also wanted to figure out a suitable approach to using the router table to make mortise cuts.

All of the mortises will be 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep for consistency and so I won't have to change bits and adjust the bit height once I get it set.

The grids will attach to the legs using a loose tenon or spline depending on what you want to call it. For the first set of mortises, I set up the router table using a square, a spacer, and a digital height gauge.

The cast iron router table I own isn't compatible with any of the after market router fences like Incra or the Woodpeckers fence. I've come up with a couple of different ways to set up the fence so it is parallel to the miter slot. A square set along the edge of the table and held tightly against the fence will keep things mostly square.

With some fiddling and minor adjusting the fence can be set up square to the miter slot and spaced correctly to the bit.

I also set up a stop, using a scrap piece of wood cut to the length of the mortise. The miter bar touches the edge of the bit and the scrap piece is placed against the miter bar. The stop is set against the far end of the scrap piece and slid against the fence (hence the need for a way to get the fence parallel to the miter slot) and clamped to the router table.

All of the mortises are laid out on the pieces so I don't get confused. There are 8 legs with mirror image 3" mortises on 4 of them, and mirror image 12" long mortises to accept the loose tenon for the grids. There are also 2-1/2" mortises cut in the legs for the spacer piece on the lower section of the legs. A white lead pencil shows up well on the walnut.

From there it is a simple matter of cutting the mortises.

After cutting all of the mortises on the router and squaring them off with a corner chisel, I set up the dado stack on the table saw for the tenons on the drawer frame back and sides. Previously, I had cut the drawer frame back and sides to length and height. While I had the dado stack set up I also cut the slide slots and the mortises in the back frame to accept the side frames.

Everything was dry assembled to check fit:

Up to this point, things have been straightforward and not overly challenging. The legs still have a lot of router work to achieve the rounded look I'm trying for. I've ordered a couple of round over style bits with large diameter curves in them (1-1/2") that should work. Hopefully, I can work out a good approach using some scraps as test pieces. This will definitely require a well thought out, cautious approach since the bits are so big.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Time for some Leg Work

I'm on a roll this morning. Things are quiet around the house and I haven't gotten distracted so it looks like I will get 2 installments of the project progress written up.

There are a number of mortises that will be required for the legs. Initially, I was considering using a plunge router with a template jig that slid over the legs but decided that approach would be too tedious. I also wanted to figure out a suitable approach to using the router table to make mortise cuts.

All of the mortises will be 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep for consistency and so I won't have to change bits and adjust the bit height once I get it set.

The grids will attach to the legs using a loose tenon or spline depending on what you want to call it. For the first set of mortises, I set up the router table using a square, a spacer, and a digital height gauge.

The cast iron router table I own isn't compatible with any of the after market router fences like Incra or the Woodpeckers fence. I've come up with a couple of different ways to set up the fence so it is parallel to the miter slot. A square set along the edge of the table and held tightly against the fence will keep things mostly square.

With some fiddling and minor adjusting the fence can be set up square to the miter slot and spaced correctly to the bit.

I also set up a stop, using a scrap piece of wood cut to the length of the mortise. The miter bar touches the edge of the bit and the scrap piece is placed against the miter bar. The stop is set against the far end of the scrap piece and slid against the fence (hence the need for a way to get the fence parallel to the miter slot) and clamped to the router table.

All of the mortises are laid out on the pieces so I don't get confused. There are 8 legs with mirror image 3" mortises on 4 of them, and mirror image 12" long mortises to accept the loose tenon for the grids. There are also 2-1/2" mortises cut in the legs for the spacer piece on the lower section of the legs. A white lead pencil shows up well on the walnut.

From there it is a simple matter of cutting the mortises.

After cutting all of the mortises on the router and squaring them off with a corner chisel, I set up the dado stack on the table saw for the tenons on the drawer frame back and sides. Previously, I had cut the drawer frame back and sides to length and height. While I had the dado stack set up I also cut the slide slots and the mortises in the back frame to accept the side frames.

Everything was dry assembled to check fit:

Up to this point, things have been straightforward and not overly challenging. The legs still have a lot of router work to achieve the rounded look I'm trying for. I've ordered a couple of round over style bits with large diameter curves in them (1-1/2") that should work. Hopefully, I can work out a good approach using some scraps as test pieces. This will definitely require a well thought out, cautious approach since the bits are so big.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Just a little off the top

The legs on the desk are one of the unique features that set it apart from just another desk. Each leg is has an inside and an outside piece. They are spaced 2" apart with the grids providing the spacing for the top, and a 2"x3" spacer for the lower portion.

After the mortises were cut into the legs and the leg sections were dry fit together in the last post, the edge details for the legs needed to be finalized. The outside piece is rounded over from the front to the outside edge. The outside edge is also rounded over into the back edge.

The inside piece will have the same front round over from the front side to the inside face, but the other edges will remain square.

After ordering several router bits and trying out different looks I settled on a 1-1/2" round over for the front edge and a handrail round over bit for the side profile. These are a couple of big bits!!

To keep track of everything I numbered the leg sets and then also drew the relative profiles on the ends of the pieces. I always label pieces and lay out the cuts so I can keep track of everything. Making a mistake with a layout is easy to fix with a bit of sandpaper to sand off the lines. Realizing you missed something right after you cut it means you get to start over.

After routering all of the 1-1/2" round overs, I marked the pieces that needed the second round over profile and ran them across the router.

While I was at the router table I made the corbels that will support the table top. The corbels were rough cut on the band saw then finished on the router using a template jig.

All of the pieces were sanded. ebonized with iron sulfate, and then lightly sanded again, then the legs for each side were glued up. After the glue set I wiped on 2 coats of a blend of 4 parts General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and 1 part ebony stain. The stain should help with any thin spots from sanding.

The Seal-A-Cell is a bit of an experiment to see if it is any different from the Arm-R-Seal. I can't really tell a difference at this point. It might wipe on a little better than the Arm-R-Seal (??).

I still need to figure out the curves for the drawer fronts and back apron and finish them before I can glue-up the base. That is next on my list now that the planer is fixed. The drawer boxes need to be made as well, and finally, the top is still nothing more than a stack of dimensioned lumber.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Just a little off the top

The legs on the desk are one of the unique features that set it apart from just another desk. Each leg is has an inside and an outside piece. They are spaced 2" apart with the grids providing the spacing for the top, and a 2"x3" spacer for the lower portion.

After the mortises were cut into the legs and the leg sections were dry fit together in the last post, the edge details for the legs needed to be finalized. The outside piece is rounded over from the front to the outside edge. The outside edge is also rounded over into the back edge.

The inside piece will have the same front round over from the front side to the inside face, but the other edges will remain square.

After ordering several router bits and trying out different looks I settled on a 1-1/2" round over for the front edge and a handrail round over bit for the side profile. These are a couple of big bits!!

To keep track of everything I numbered the leg sets and then also drew the relative profiles on the ends of the pieces. I always label pieces and lay out the cuts so I can keep track of everything. Making a mistake with a layout is easy to fix with a bit of sandpaper to sand off the lines. Realizing you missed something right after you cut it means you get to start over.

After routering all of the 1-1/2" round overs, I marked the pieces that needed the second round over profile and ran them across the router.

While I was at the router table I made the corbels that will support the table top. The corbels were rough cut on the band saw then finished on the router using a template jig.

All of the pieces were sanded. ebonized with iron sulfate, and then lightly sanded again, then the legs for each side were glued up. After the glue set I wiped on 2 coats of a blend of 4 parts General Finishes Seal-A-Cell and 1 part ebony stain. The stain should help with any thin spots from sanding.

The Seal-A-Cell is a bit of an experiment to see if it is any different from the Arm-R-Seal. I can't really tell a difference at this point. It might wipe on a little better than the Arm-R-Seal (??).

I still need to figure out the curves for the drawer fronts and back apron and finish them before I can glue-up the base. That is next on my list now that the planer is fixed. The drawer boxes need to be made as well, and finally, the top is still nothing more than a stack of dimensioned lumber.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Drawers

Seems like there is always something that needs to be taken care of during the time I could be working on my wood working projects. I have to say I'm jealous of some of the other LJ's and how quickly they can move through a project. Still, I have managed to finish the construction phase of the desk.

The drawers are standard dovetail construction with a 1/4" walnut bottom slid into a slot 1/4" off the bottom edge of the drawer. Here's my version of a dovetail cutting station. The plywood keeps the chips from flying all over the shop. The router rest and vacuum attachment works quite well.

The sides are 3/4" walnut with a 1/2 slot for the drawer slides. I used an ogee edge on the top of drawers to lighten up the top profile. Turned out better than I expected. I also partially prefinished the interior of the drawers by ebonizing the wood then wiping a couple of coats of Seal-cell mixed with ebony stain on the pieces.

Prefinishing the inside makes the whole finishing process easier. All of the pieces are flat, no corners to make sanding difficult, no vertical faces that might have a sag in the finish. I'll simply turn the drawer upside down when I finish the outside and not have to worry about messing up the interior finish. The interior will get a final coat along with everything else when I set up the sprayer.

Rather than make the drawer slides from walnut, I dug up some scrap pieces of UHMW. They are screwed into slots in the drawer frame. This should eliminate any binding up caused by humidity.

I was also able to cut the drawer slots tighter to the slide dimension so there won't be the usual up/down play in the drawer as it is opened/closed. All in all I hope it is a better approach than the usual wood slide.

I changed the drawer front design to match the arch profile on the back stretcher. The original design made the drawer fronts look like eyes while the new design reinforces the Asian feel of the piece.

Click to expand...

EarlS said:

Topping things off

I saved the best for last, or certainly the most challenging part of the project, the desk top. This is a close up of the top profile at the leg from Kevin Rodel's desk.

At first glance it doesn't seem that difficult, cut some panels and glue them together, then cut a profile on the edge. I came up with a combination of steps using the table saw to cut the 45 deg bevel and then remove the remaining material with a 1/2 router bit. Unfortunately, wouldn't work on tapered leg sections or the curved ends.

I spent many long hours looking through the various websites to find a router bit that could cut the set back beveled edge. The beveled router bits all had a guide bearing on top of the bit which wouldn't work. I also found a beveled bit without a guide bearing which would work for the sides, but not the curved ends. I needed a beveled bit with a shoulder and a guide bushing on top. Raised panel bits seemed the way to go. MLCS had what I was looking for.

As I was pondering my options I also decided that the best approach would be to router the profile on a 4" wide piece of stock, mortise the squares, then glue them to the top panel. After the bit arrived (another beast of a bit) I cut a test piece.

It looked good so I set up the router and cut the side profiles. Everything went extremely well (whew). I moved on to mortising the square holes. I used the test piece to set up and test out the mortises and proceeded to cut them.

From there, it was a matter of gluing the top pieces together, making sure the profiles lined up with the legs correctly.

That left the curved end profiles. I didn't want to use the inside curve template from the drawers and rely on keeping the bit tight up against it so I used it to trace an outside curve template, rough cut it on the bandsaw and sanded it smooth. The template was clamped on the desk top and I used a 3/4" x 1-3/4" pattern bit (another large bit). Generally, I don't like to use such a large bit when I'm using the hand held 2.25 HP Bosch router but the need to keep the template clamped to the top and the size of the top made this the best approach.

I had to set up the router table to cut the profile with a rather unconventional support for the top since it was so large and heavy. I couldn't use the profile bit in the hand held router since it wouldn't fit and I wouldn't feel safe with a bit that large in it.

After going through a couple of dry runs to figure out how to best maneuver the top to make a smooth cut, everything went as planned and the top profile was finished. Whew!!!

Working with large router bits seemed to be the theme during this project, something I haven't done much of before. I'm proud to say I didn't ruin anything or get hurt in the process. The adage of measure twice, cut once applies, or in this case, think things through and make test pieces before trying it on the actual wood for the project.

I'm in the process of sanding, staining, and prefinishing everything before it is sprayed with a final top coat and everything is assembled. The glass panels for the legs should be ready soon as well.

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