Tag: desk

Desk .. Done .. Thank Goodness!

I finally finished the desk and breathed a sigh of relief that it turned out OK.  It was certainly a project that challenged me and certainly elevated my woodworking skills. 

It was not, however, my favorite project.  I followed plan which was actually overly complicated and had some confusing mistakes. That was a big part of problem (I’m talking to you Fine Woodworking).  Marc over at the Wood Whisperer help me simplify things and got me off of dead center.  AND … the project also took me waaay longer than I thought it would. I’ve been itching to move on.  Anyway, its all done!  Curly Cherry from Hardwood to Go.

Glamour Shots!

wrap around feet (1 of 2)
Curly cherry drawer fronts and doors.
Khaya Mahogany top.
Pull out work surface.
Doors! I still need another knob.
Inside the cabinet behind the folding door.
Large drawers.
Fold down front for pull out key board.
Cherry desk

The pull out key board is drying in the garage and I still need one more knob for the doors.  But, at least for this weekend, there’s no more time to work on it.  Finish is Daly’s Profin over one coat of shellac.

Here’s a post on how Marc helped me simplfy the project – Getting help and simplifying

All posts associated with this project are here under the Desk Project Tab.

Desk pull out work surface, bread board ends and draw bored pegs

I jointed two 10″ wide pieces of cherry together to ensure a tight joint.
Then glued them.
Once the glue had dried, I squared up the edges on the shooting board.
Then I plowed a groove in the end boards.
Then I drilled holes through the grooved bread board ends.
I trimmed the end on the main board to prevent spelching.
My Veritas Jack Rabbet plane does a nice job of making a rabbet on the main board. Rabbets on both sides of the board create the tongue for the bread board.
Here are the shavings from the Jack Rabbet.
I used my brad point bit to mark the holes to be drilled in the tongue and moved in 1/32″.
I also elongated the end holes to allow movement.
I glued only the center hole to allow the ends to move.
I sawed the edges of the waste to be removed to the proper depth.
And chiseled out the waste using a chisel smaller than the slot and then a crank neck chisel.
I finished up using my router plane with some more chiseling to prevent tear out.
Last I put the runner in the groove and planed it to fit smooth.
Then I did final clean up on the pull out surface.
The pull out surface installed.
And with a coat of shellac.
Shellaced bread board ends.

 

Above are all the steps I used to make the pull out work surface for the desk.  Next I’ll make the three drawers that will sit in the cabinet and then I’ll be finished with the case.

Fitting the doors and adding hinges

First I trimmed the doors to fit in the case using spacers.
The hinges were used as spacers along with anything else I could find of the same width.
Chamfering the edges on the fit is complete.
I made a spacer to align the hinge with the top of the rails.
Then pre-drilled the holes.
Hinges will permit some adjustment.
I made a second spacer to place the hinge on the case one hinge with taller.
Case spacer to ensure the doors are one hinge width above the bottom of the case.
Then I installed the hings on the doors first then the case.
Hinges installed.
Bi-fold door 1/2 open.
Bi-fold doors all the way open with support bar still in place.

I used Marc Spagnuolo plywood wall cabinet no mortise hinge installation video as a guide for what I ended up doing.  I tried to photograph most of the steps.  

I was able to use the hinges to create even space around all door edges.

Then I cut two different spacers.  One spacer placed the hinges at the same location on the doors (in line with the rails).  Then I cut a second spacer that was a hinge space taller to place the hinge on the case side.  This ensured that the door doesn’t drag on the case bottom and left a hinge width space.

As usual, you can right click on the pictures to see them in larger size.