Japanese-y style Office desk

[NLarson801]

Hello,

I have been tinkering around with woodworking a bit, mainly making picture frames for my photography.  I have been wanting to make a larger project and have spent a lot of time watching woodworking youtube video's.  I finally decided that since I need a new office desk I would attempt to make one.  While searching around youtube I stumbled upon this cool Japanese-y bench design and thought with some changes it would actually make a cool desk design. 

Designing and Building a Modern Bench - Woodworking #01 - YouTube

So I fired up Sketchup and quickly made an early mock-up.  I still need to add some supports to the back to stabilize the desk and add some small drawers to it.

desk by Nick Larson, on Flickr

As for materials and color I had thought about making it all in walnut, but then decided that it would be really expensive and also it would be nice to have some contrasting colors.  So then I played with the idea of a walnut top and some black legs with the black stringers going across the top.  I think it looks pretty good.

desk color by Nick Larson, on Flickr

Today I will try working on some designs for some support and drawers.  I have toyed with the idea of either two horizontal slats in the back legs, or an X pattern.  Right now I am leaning towards the horizontal slats as it seems to fit the design better.

[..Kev]

Welcome to the forums!

Interesting design! Depending on size and thickness, you may not need any additional supports.  

How do you plan on getting the black parts?  If you stay natural, the material will cost you more than the walnut.  Maple makes for a nice contrasting color although completely opposite color from your design.

[Guest]

I like the design.  It doesn't look very japanese to me (and I have been there a few times) but it looks cool, regardless of style.  

[NLarson801]

I haven't decided on materials quite yet.  As for the "Japanese-y" statement, the guy that built the bench that inspired this design used that word a few times in his videos.

[rodger.]

17 hours ago, Mike. said:

I like the design.  It doesn't look very japanese to me (and I have been there a few times) but it looks cool, regardless of style.  

I have always wanted to go to Japan.  I love the culture, the food, and the wood work.  Some day I'll get there.

[bob493]

As long as youre doing a nice top coat, I'd go maple and dye it black (not "stain" from home depot, a black analine dye).

[wtnhighlander]

Nice design, and welcome! Are you planning to dye or stain the black parts, or use a naturally black wood, i.e. ebony?

[NLarson801]

I think either ebony or black painted would both look pretty good.  I like the idea of using Walnut and dying it black though.

 

Here is an update from some tweaks today.  I added some simple drawers and supports to the back(which I'm not sure are even needed).  I also was thinking abut adding some square pegs to the leg supports as shown in the picture below.

 

desk3 by Nick Larson, on Flickr

[wtnhighlander]

That would be fairly high cost from ebony. I like the suggestion of black dyed maple over black died walnut as accents. The difference in texture will increase the accent effect.

[..Kev]

2 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

That would be fairly high cost from ebony. I like the suggestion of black dyed maple over black died walnut as accents. The difference in texture will increase the accent effect.

Agreed..  Last I looked Ebony was well over 100 a board foot..

Wenge would be a great option but, will be pretty expensive as well

Dye and Maple would be the least expensive option.  I wouldn't dye walnut.

[Coop]

The waterfall effect with the legs continuing over the top looks cool. Will you lap joint this over the top or will it divide the top into three pieces. If they are three pieces, how will you support the end pieces?

[NLarson801]

I was planning on lap jointing it.

[NLarson801]

13 hours ago, K Cooper said:

The waterfall effect with the legs continuing over the top looks cool. Will you lap joint this over the top or will it divide the top into three pieces. If they are three pieces, how will you support the end pieces?

Coming back to this question.  This is what I was thinking of doing.  I was going to route out a trench in the top piece to accept the cross piece that connects the legs.  On the legs themselves I was thinking about doing some sort of dowel pins, if it is even necessary.  Domino's would be good, but I don't know anyone with a machine.

 

 

[Anna S]

If you're looking to make some dark wood, you can also burn/scorch the surface.  If you google "shou sugi ban" there's some information on it.  It's Japanese style of finishing that's more intended for construction.  You basically scorch the surface then brush off the ash.  It turns it black and brings out the grain pattern.  Also makes it fire/bug resistant.  I tried it out over the holidays on some small pieces of cedar.  Most of these I just barely hit with a torch, but the black ones I just spent a little longer.  They look like ebony, but it's not expensive.  It's only a surface treatment though, so when you cut the wood, your back to regular wood.  Might not be that different that dying wood though.  I ended up getting a roofing torch and scorching a bunch of 1x6 pine boards from Home depot.  They look really nice (and jet black).  Plan to much some outdoor planters when the weather warms up.

 

[Ronn W]

Nice looking project.  I agree that the slats across the back are better than and "x".  I thin that I like your original stretchers (vertical) better than the hoizontal.  Keep us posted on your progress.