Chestnut Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 Just to start off: This desk WILL self destruct at the end of the post. The client, my friend, wanted a kick butt computer desk. After just getting married in Central America he wanted it made out of material from that area. He had a rough idea of what he wanted i drew a sketch and he ran with it even more so. I warned him from the beginning that this table was going to be unstable and WILL break apart from wood movement. He didn't care and wanted it made any way, I quote roughly "When it breaks apart I'll just have you make me a new top for it" If you look closely (above) the right apron flips down to reveal a storage place. My original idea was to place power strips in the sides so that cords could be ran in the back and plugged in here to manage the tangled mess most desk turns into. The trays are pictured below. When i joined the top together i knew that there was going to be a problem so i tried to span as many joints as possible with biscuits. I know they aren't the best for strength but i figured something was better than nothing. Top is held in place with z bracket that is screwed to the table and inserted into a slot made in the apron with a biscuit joiner. I resawed maple for the bottom of the drawers and book matched them as best i could.The legs are hallow, I did this to run cords up the legs for the power to power strips that are housed in either end of the table. It also made the legs a bit lighter though the M&T joints holding the front and back on are weaker because of it. Because the ends tip down to reveal a power strip, I needed to brace the desk front to back so that it was strong enough to handle every day use. I took advantage of this as a way to mount the drawer holders. I chose to go with a hardwood on hardwood surface for the drawers because incorporating a standard drawer slide of any type would loose more space than it'd be worth. I used a poly finish on the hardwood rails and waxed. Hope you enjoyed it because it won't last. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firehawk Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 Just curious, did you consider making it so it would not self destruct? Would if have been possible to glue the top up with the grain all running the same direction? I wonder how others on the board would have approached this problem. Veneer maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 4 hours ago, Chestnut said: Hope you enjoyed it because it won't last I hope your wrong. Very nicely done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted March 2, 2016 Report Share Posted March 2, 2016 Humidity differences in ND and Central America, ought to be interesting. Still, beautiful piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted March 2, 2016 Report Share Posted March 2, 2016 Sometimes you get lucky . I hope you sealed all the surfaces well. It would slow down the changes in moisture content that lead to your feared movement. I learned about the risk of defying the rules of wood movement by ignoring them (and I didn't even know half of the risks ) Ended up having to build a new top for the clients desk. You built a damn nice desk and lots of thought went into it . Nice approach to wire management . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2016 It was for a good friend of mine and we traded services. He built me an engine for my pickup and i built him a desk. I made one odd request that is going shorten the life of the engine and he made one odd request that could cause problems for the desk. We're effectively even. I should have outlined better in the post that he also wanted the grain lines to run the way they do to complete the crossing effect of the top. It's almost been a year since i made it so it went through a complete low to high to low humidity cycle and it's still holding strong. All in all it's just the top and it can be replaced. @wdwerker I did seal the top well i think i did like 3-4 coats of spar urethane in an attempt to seal it well and protect against UV. @K Cooper It's only like 20% RH in my room right now that's the same as Central America right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmartuszewski Posted March 3, 2016 Report Share Posted March 3, 2016 Just build a large vacuum camber and use cactus juice, then take it to local powder coater and bake in large oven. That will fix any worry lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2016 7 minutes ago, rmartuszewski said: Just build a large vacuum camber and use cactus juice, then take it to local powder coater and bake in large oven. That will fix any worry lol. That's a very interesting solution. That would be really cool to try. Though that top is way too large. It'd probably cost as much to stabilize as it would to just build another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmartuszewski Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 LOL yeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still learning Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Hi Chestnut, This is really nice although I am biased towards purpleheart. May I ask why you think/know this will breakdown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 " I made one odd request that is going shorten the life of the engine and he made one odd request that could cause problems for the desk. We're effectively even. ". LOL. OK, that's awesome. But - curious - what was the request of the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Take a close look at the grain directions of the solid wood pieces in the top. They run in both directions. Wood expands & contracts across the grain, length changes very little. He is expecting cracks due to the cross grain sections expanding & contracting while the lengths change very little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 20 minutes ago, Jfitz said: " I made one odd request that is going shorten the life of the engine and he made one odd request that could cause problems for the desk. We're effectively even. ". LOL. OK, that's awesome. But - curious - what was the request of the engine? I used 2618 forged pistons instead of 4032 forged pistons. The 2618 is a low silicon aluminum and expands and contracts a lot compared to 4032. During warm up the pistons rattle around inside the cylinders and make a hell of a racket. Also the metal is more plastic than it is brittle so over time the sides of the pistons will get really scraped up. The upside is that 2618 can take a lot more abuse they are less prone to melting and handle detonation FAR better. Once i finish house renovations I'm going to mount a turbo on it and hopefully force about 300 whp out of a 2.3l 4 cylinder. It's completely pointless but still a cheaper hobby than woodworking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 14 hours ago, Chestnut said: I used 2618 forged pistons instead of 4032 forged pistons. The 2618 is a low silicon aluminum and expands and contracts a lot compared to 4032. During warm up the pistons rattle around inside the cylinders and make a hell of a racket. Also the metal is more plastic than it is brittle so over time the sides of the pistons will get really scraped up. The upside is that 2618 can take a lot more abuse they are less prone to melting and handle detonation FAR better. Once i finish house renovations I'm going to mount a turbo on it and hopefully force about 300 whp out of a 2.3l 4 cylinder. It's completely pointless but still a cheaper hobby than woodworking. Only thing I can remember that uses that block is the older ranger and economic boost Mustang. What is this out of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 1 minute ago, Brendon_t said: Only thing I can remember that uses that block is the older ranger and economic boost Mustang. What is this out of? That's the new Duratech or Mazda L engine, the duratech 2.3l was used in a plethora of vehicles escape, focus, mazda 3 .... This is the OLD Lima engine that was originality designed for the pinto in a 2.0l configuration. It was later upped to 2.3L and primarily placed in the ranger and the N/A mustang. In the mid 80's Ford decided to turbo it and put it in the SVO mustang, t-bird turbocoupe, and Merkur XR4 TI. Production continued until 2001 throughout various vehicles. No I'm not a ford fan boy, i just retain a lot of useless information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Sweet man. Let's see the dynosheet once you run it. I built a pretty gnarly 4.0 ranger up as a street drag queen. My bottom end gave up the ghost and couldn't handle the boost but it was a great build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick218 Posted March 12, 2016 Report Share Posted March 12, 2016 Should have made inlays with that top. Then it would be stable. Because it's solid all the way through its only a matter of time, poor choice for something that nice. Ask that time and effort wasted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted March 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2016 3 hours ago, Slick218 said: Should have made inlays with that top. Then it would be stable. Because it's solid all the way through its only a matter of time, poor choice for something that nice. Ask that time and effort wasted It's not wasted it's getting used and he, despite the possible short life, still loves it. Inlay is an excellent idea and that will have to be the solution for round 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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