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Thread: Making a Desk a Little Bit Wider
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3rd July 2022, 06:13 PM #1Senior Member
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Making a Desk a Little Bit Wider
Hi All,
I have a small desk that I put a new top on a couple of years ago. I now need to make the desk a little bit wider, say roughly 100-150mm. Just wondering if there's some clever way of doing this that doesn't involve a whole new top or new legs? It needs to be reasonably solid as it's going to have a small speaker cabinet sitting on it.
Cheers,
Chris
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3rd July 2022 06:13 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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3rd July 2022, 06:37 PM #2Senior Member
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3rd July 2022, 07:37 PM #3
Breadboard ends would be one way of doing it.
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4th July 2022, 03:19 PM #4
There are a few ways depending on look you want and if temporary or forever.
The breadboard ends would be a good permanent fix and a temporary would be end pieces rebated the thickness of the top and screwed up from below. When removed the screw holes will not be seen.
Regards
John
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6th July 2022, 07:42 PM #5wood butcher
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For the breadboard ends and sides, you could make them out of contrasting timber for a different look. Sometimes this is better than trying to, and not quite matching the existing colour.
For permanency and load bearing you'd want to dowel, domino or spline them on with glue while taking into account for seasonal width movement of the existing boards at the end (hence the breadboard suggestion by 62woollybugger). The picture frame surrounds with 45 deg angles tend to open up the most with expansion.
Cheers
Bryan
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16th July 2022, 05:31 PM #6
When I was a student in the States I had an el cheapo desk made from 25mm (American) white pine - similar to radiata. After a while I decided my desk was too small and decided to enlarge it with breadboard extensions both ends and on one long side. Bought the timber and a dowling jig and did a reasonable job of the extensions. Reasonable, not good, as my skills then were rudimentary.
At first I was very pleased with the result, it seemed to double the size of my desk. But after a while it started to annoy me, increasingly. The "texture" of the woods was different and the joints were obvious, especially to touch.
And a lot more work was needed than I antipated. One had to be very accurate.
I finished up putting a sheet of plywood on top.
I have no idea of your skill-base. But if I was doing it again I would look at replacing the entire top with something of a suitable size and like this available from Bunnings, Mitre 10, Ikea, etc.
2200 x 600 x 26mm Acacia Solid Oiled Hardwood Project Panel - Bunnings Australia
Desk Top.jpg
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16th July 2022, 05:49 PM #7Senior Member
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