Scratch Build: The Ultimate Computer Desk

[ultimatedesk]

Holy moly, I'm really sorry for the lack of updates folks - I've been sick for quite a while and the weather has been miserable so I haven't had much time to work on the desk. Apparently I had cedar poisoning! Wonderful!

Anyways - back on track!

Those of you who guessed it right - yes, I shouldn't have made the hole in the first place. I don't know what I was thinking. This is the right-hand cabinet.

Whoops!

Here's the biscuit joiner I was using. It worked pretty well for what it is. The tricky part was determining the order of which pieces/faces/sides to glue first and how to keep it all from falling apart before completion.

Here's the left-hand cabinet all dried and ready for some trim

And voila, my erm.. elegant clamping solution (I need to grab some cauls!)

Hope you enjoy! Rest assured, this project WILL BE FINISHED! Just.. mm, I don't really know when. I'm moving in a month and a half, so all the staining/sanding will have to be done, at a minimum.

Take care!

 

[mnewsham]

Thanks for the update and stay well!

 

[Zargon]

keep at it!

its funny reading back, at your staining tests, I spent the weekend doing the same thing so my wife and I could pick a stain for flooring and one for cabinets

 

[ultimatedesk]

Thanks for the update and stay well!

Thanks mnewsham

keep at it!

its funny reading back, at your staining tests, I spent the weekend doing the same thing so my wife and I could pick a stain for flooring and one for cabinets

Thanks Zargon - only way to do it is through testing eh - the store samples couldn't be any vaguer!

This part of the project took a better part of a month. There was a lot of sanding, waiting, and sweating as I put on each thin layer of polyurethane on the desk surface.

Here it is at the start of the phase - what a mess!

You can see there was still sanding to do from when I put in the wood filler back in... November!

All cleaned up, ready to rock the stain. It was starting to get nice as well so it was time to lube up the 'ol bike chain as well!

Part way through the first coat

Note that this is the bottom of the desk surface. I did this intially without any kind of pre-stain or wood treatment to see if I could get away with it.

I actually noticed a significant amount of dark spots and uneveness, so for the top of the desk, and for all future staining, I went with a pre-stain, and two coats of Old Masters Gel Stain. Here is the desk surface approximately a month later with around 8 coats of polyurethane on top. It will be getting a good ol fashion rubbing out in another month from now once it has fully cured.

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

[mnewsham]

looks great

 

[BoomerD]

Damn...you've got WAY more patience than me...I'd have wanted to finish this in a week or two tops!!


:thumbsup: for staying with it.

 

[Anomaly1964]

I cant wait to see the finished product!

 

[Zargon]

holy crap 8 coats of poly?

 

[ultimatedesk]

Damn...you've got WAY more patience than me...I'd have wanted to finish this in a week or two tops!!


:thumbsup: for staying with it.

Heh, thanks, yeah.. a week or two would have been nice, but alas. Life calls!

I cant wait to see the finished product!

Thanks, same here!

holy crap 8 coats of poly?

Yeah, crazy eh? That's only for the desk surface though. I'll be doing a rub out, which will take away 2-3 coats, so 4-5 coats is pretty reasonable for a high-wear surface I think.

So, with the main desk surface out of the way, it was time to start focusing on the top shelf portion, which, at this point, hadn't been sanded, cut perfectly, or assembled. Here were all the pieces required.

A quick mock up:

A few tests with the biscuit joiner to make sure I was aligned properly:

I couldn't get it exactly in the center - the bottom of the joiner is a bit concave and it made lining it up a little difficult. The tool is generally used to join boards end to end, so there wasn't really any facility for on-face joining like this.

Assembly and glue up time:

Enjoy! You can never have too many clamps you know? I couldn't continue on doing the side pods until this stuff dried up first.

 

[Zargon]

I think we are doing 3-4 on my oak flooring this summer and I was told that was pretty standard


lookin good!

 

[Powermoloch]

lovely finish

 

[ultimatedesk]

I think we are doing 3-4 on my oak flooring this summer and I was told that was pretty standard


lookin good!

Thanks Zargon - 3-4 coats eh? I wonder if it is maybe a tougher finish? Either way, when I'm done doing the rub out, I think there'll be only 1 or 2 more coats than that left.

lovely finish

Thanks Powermoloch!

With the first phase of the top shelf all solid and dried, I could continue on to the two side pods. Here's the initial mockup.

Notice the pencil lines for the biscuits I'll be installing.

Those biscuits are so dark and moody... lol!

Aaand, some gratuitous clamping shots. Like that extra-long setup? Yeah, that worked this time, but I don't recommend it. It wasn't too stable, but there wasn't really anything else I could clamp on to for that end-pressure required.

Mmmm glue.

So that's it for this update, I know it's a pretty simple one, but hey, it's one more phase done. Just needs to have some trim stuck on and then staining!

Have a good weekend!

 

[aigomorla]

My section Cases and Cooling is where Work Log's should go!
Especially a beautiful custom like this.

Why is this in general?

Lemme see if i can get someone to move it to my section.

 

[dpodblood]

More people will probably take notice of it if it stays in general.

 

[aigomorla]

More people will probably take notice of it if it stays in general.

it doesnt belong in general tho.

a worklog, as beautiful as this belongs in cases and should be kept archived in cases with all the other build logs.

Anyhow i am looking for more updates.

I love wood builds.. and ones which are complete scratch even more.

 

[Duke of Nada]

Looks awesome, hope you can get that big thing out of the basement when your done.

 

[WoodButcher]

More people will probably take notice of it if it stays in general.

Not me!

Nice job, I hope where your moving you have space for it.

 

[Zargon]

man that thing is huge!(twss )

 

[ultimatedesk]

Looks awesome, hope you can get that big thing out of the basement when your done.

Hehe, shouldn't be a prob, it breaks down into moveable pieces!

Not me!

Nice job, I hope where your moving you have space for it.

Thanks - same here!!!

man that thing is huge!(twss )

Ha, twss, nice

Ok, so it's been a little while since an update eh?

I've been busy, sorry folks, life seems to speed up in the summertime!

As a peace offering, here are the kiddo's, at about 4 months old now!

And, back to the desk!

I had a bunch of solid maple cut into more 1/4" strips so I could finish doing the trim on the top shelf and the cabinets.

My trusty compound mitre saw - got it reconditioned at a bargain place for like 60 dollars, and it's been pretty reliable for a number of years now. It's loud as all heck though!

And, my favorite part - clamping up!

And, since there was nowhere to place clamps in between this area, I had to improvise with a small block of wood!

 

[ultimatedesk]

After the trim was glued on and then sanded flush, I proceeded with the staining and poly

Looks good, eh?

I also finally decided to buckle down and build myself a quick rig to store all my clamps. Since I'm moving soon, it'll also make it easier to move them to the new place! Nice lap joints eh!!

I proceeded to the cabinet drawers, where I finally sanded off the wood filler that's been attached for weeks (months?)

Lined up the drawer faces, glued them on (Was going to screw them on after, from behind. Lol)

And put a bit of weight on top..

Walked away for a bit, and realized... maybe it was a bad idea to glue them on first! Uh oh!

 

[ultimatedesk]

I decided that it might actually be a lot easier to line up the drawer faces if I attached them AFTER I had attached the drawers to the drawer slides, to I ripped em off.

So, next on the list - staining the actual drawers!

Pre-stain on!

Mmm, they look so good

And, poly of course

Done!

And just so ya know, it really did basically take a month just to finish the top shelf and the drawers... more to come soon!

 

[Zargon]

wow!

looking good!

 

[ultimatedesk]

wow!

looking good!

Thanks Zargon, slowly but surely, getting there!

With the drawers themselves all stained up, it was time to stain the drawer fronts!

Since most of the back of the drawer fronts won't be visible, I decided that I could probably stain and poly both sides at once...

Pre stain!

They look so nice like this... ahh, next project...

Some staining time

And some sweet, sweet gloss poly.

Woops! One of the drawer faces slipped off the painting cones and picked up a whole whack of saw dust and wood chips... at least this will never be seen on the final project!

 

[ultimatedesk]

With the drawers and drawer faces all finished and ready for installation, it was time to turn to finishing up the two cabinets.

First up, finishing the piece that goes on the front of the left-hand cabinet.

And, well, not a lot of writing today, as the rest of it should look pretty straightforward. I had to cut up a bunch of trim pieces, and somehow arrange the clamps to hold them in the right place. A few of the arrangements required some creative thinking, but in the end, I got the whole cabinet trimmed up over the course of a few days.

Mmmm glue.

Enjoy! We're getting close to the final assembly, yay!

 

[dpodblood]

Yay! I'm inpatient. I just wanna see the final product.