Category Archives: Past Projects

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Office desk

Finished office desk

Finished office desk

A sturdy, roomy, ergonomic and beautiful desk is critical for anyone working from home for extended periods. For me, such a time was during the 2020 lock-down (due to the Covid19 pandemic). Like most of my projects, the design is largely based on materials that I had in the shop.

Key steps in the construction of the desk include:

  1. Select drawer hardware early in the project ! Depth and design of cabinets must be driven by the length of the drawer slides (I learned the hard way)
  2. Construct cabinet frames using 1″ x 2″. I chose this size to minimize weight.
  3. Construct drawers using plywood.
  4. Construct the table top. My design allows for height adjustments to fit the user.
  5. Add plywood boards to the cabinet, 1/4″ or 3/8″ for the sides; 1/2″ for the drawer fronts; and  and 1/8″ for the back
  6. Sand outdoor (or in a well-ventilated workspace), stain, and apply 2 or more coats of clear polyurethane. It’s important to have good dust collection and respiratory PPE.
File cabinet frames and the table top

File cabinet frames and the table top

Dry-run of desk assembly. The middle section is fastened to the file cabinets using 1/4"-20 fasteners

Dry-run of desk assembly. The middle section is fastened to the file cabinets using 1/4″-20 fasteners

All drawers fitted.

All drawers fitted.

Here I was fitting the drawer faces whilst ensuring that the wood grain is continuous across drawer faces.

Here I was fitting the drawer faces whilst ensuring that the wood grain is continuous across drawer faces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanding outdoor.

Sanding outdoor.

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