Thread: Children Desk Making Challenge!

Dowelling - I'd grab any dowelling jig (or make one, for example DIY Simple Dowel Jig - YouTube) but make sure you get dowel centre pins appropriate to your dowel sizes; they help immeasurably in making the second holes in the correct location.

The second desk in this video is pretty much what you want. You could do worse than replicate that ! DIY Desks Anyone Can Build - Beginner To Intermediate Woodworking - YouTube. It just uses ply for all the structure, rather than a blend of timber and ply for the flat surfaces.

good luck on it all.

Welcome to the forum.

Originally Posted by Kram2021

Hi
I’ve seen a desk (image attached) that would fit really well in my daughter’s bedroom but it’s not available in white and is also quite expensive. I’m considering making something similar.

I believe I’ll need to buy a dowelling tool for the joints but unsure of which model (Triton, Bosch, etc.) advice welcome. Also, how will the angle legs will be dowelled for the horizontal shelf supports; will I need to make an angled jig? I’ve read doweling T-joints is quite tricky to get right, is this true?

Was thinking dressed pine 70x30 uprights, 90x30 horizontal supports and 18mm premium grade ply shelves and drawers. However happy to be guided here.

Thanks in advance.

Amelia Desk Design.docx

I'm going to suggest
1. that you build the "desk" unit using edged white melamine (or laminate) board.
2. that you buy the material you will need from a kitchen supplier and pay the supplier to edge the board for you using their machinery.
3. Seriously consider having the supplier to also supply the drawer runners and drill the case sides for them.
4. I note that the unit in your attachment is put together with knock down fittings. You can use this option -- in which case get the kitchen "man" to pre-drill everything for you -- or you could screw the unit together using brass (not steel) CHIPBOARD screws.
5. that the cost of using Melamine from a kitchen supplier will be considerably less than the cost of a single sheet of 18 mm furniture grade ply from a retailer like Mitre10 or the Green shed.
6. Also, the unit you have linked to is sturdy because it is stiffened by the way the shelves and desktop are attached.


If you are still serious about doing all the work yourself -- please think again. The knock-down fittings would be best installed using Woodpeckers' cross dowel jig (USD $180).
Note, I'm not recommending you buy the cross dowel jig, I'm merely trying to put a dollar figure on the cost of doing it yourself.

Then there's possibly the cost of a track saw, guide rails and right angle guides, etc.




If you really want to get involved with woodworking knock yourself out and go for it. But for a one-off project that your daughter will likely outgrow or replace when she starts high school ...

Thank you for the information. I hadnt thought about contacting a kitchen cabinet maker for the shelves. Im actually now going to make contact with a couple of kitchen cabinet makers to see if they can construct the entire desk out of 18mm thick kitchen mdf melamine. As much as Id like to have a crack at building the desk myself, a cabinet maker could produce in a fraction of the time plus my kids are pestering me to build them a mini skate ramp in the garden! Ill let you know how I go