Thread: Office Desk - Let's get ambitious

Great job on this, John. Fantastic raised panels. Loads of work, and don't you hate when timber decides to go it's own way! Looks like you have it well under control now. Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

Cheers,

Jill

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.

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.

Hey mate I love the work you have done the top looks great,just a question though where are you getting your figure 8's from for attaching the top I have ran out of the ones I had that were given to me a few years ago i have looked around a bit but cannot seem to find them I like the way you attach them to your work also I take the easy approach and mark out on the underside of the top and use a forstner bit to make a hole wide enough to fit it securely in but you prob see it a little less my way cause you have to look up from underneith to see it.but the way you are doing it looks a little more skillfull

Originally Posted by Zarguld

Hey mate I love the work you have done the top looks great,just a question though where are you getting your figure 8's from for attaching the top

Sorry, but I can't help you with sourcing figure 8s in Australia. Although I'm an Aussie from Victoria, I'm currently in Phoenix,AZ,USA and I ordered the figure 8s from a mail order company over the internet. Ridiculously cheap, so I used all 20 on the desk.

Seems to be nice and firm now...

Here's another thread on the topic.

Cheers.

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.:

Its come out a nice looking piece, well done JM

Originally Posted by JMalone

Sorry, but I can't help you with sourcing figure 8s in Australia. Although I'm an Aussie from Victoria, I'm currently in Phoenix,AZ,USA and I ordered the figure 8s from a mail order company over the internet. Ridiculously cheap, so I used all 20 on the desk.

Seems to be nice and firm now...

Here's another thread on the topic.

Cheers.

Elraco's have them for a few cents each.

cheers harry

Looks great, well done.

Beautiful!! Thanks for posting, it is inspirational