gee-dub Posted July 26, 2018 Report Share Posted July 26, 2018 Looking good. Moving right along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted July 26, 2018 Report Share Posted July 26, 2018 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle City WW Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Excellent job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bankstick Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Very nice. Are the drawers file size? Can't tell from the picture. Well planned and good idea to follow her specifications. Happy wife, happy life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Thanks for the replies! No, the drawers are not file size. My wife figured that since I have (2) 24” depth file drawers on my desk, she doesn’t need any. I keep all of our family stuff organized anyway, and she doesn’t need any filing space for her use, so we took out the file drawers from her desk design. There will be a top drawer about 3” tall and a lower drawer about 6” tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted August 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 Let’s see, it’s been a while since I posted an update. I’ve had a couple side projects come up that took my attention— a TWW kid’s kitchen step stool for our daughter, and a couple small gifts on the lathe. Then it got hot. Then I decided that I needed to rearrange a lot of the things in my shop (garage). I haven’t finished yet, so there’s always stuff in my way. I also found some mistakes, and then made some new mistakes. My shop time lately has been frustrating, so it has been more limited Back to the desk- I realized I hadn’t incorporated any sort of front rail, and the top drawers limit how tall it can be. I also had cut upper mortises into the insides of the front legs, which wasn’t needed. In order to cover this up a bit, I made a twin dovetail/tenon thing. It came out looking terrible, but should be strong enough with some epoxy to fill the gaps. It won’t be seen, anyway. I have also finished the stiles go divide up the panels. I cut the tenons before cutting the grooves, which was a mistake looking back. It made cutting the grooves a bit sketchy, so I took the cuts slow and easy. It’s slowly coming together. I’ll use my new Domino to speed some parts of this up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 Coming along nicely John, glad to see you back at it and good job fixing those errors, life does get in the way sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted September 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 Had some good time in the shop yesterday. I was able to cut and fit the outer panels. I also cut the tapers on the legs, rough cut on the bandsaw and then cleaned up with a hand plane. I also cut the rails for the inner sides of the drawer boxes. The tongue of the panels are pretty tight in the groove of the frames, I think I will go back and shave them down a bit more. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted October 26, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 It's been a while since I gave an update, with not a whole lot of progress. The first half of October was a busy time for my day job, plus my wife's schedule has been crazy, so that doesn't leave much time in the shop. Especially not at hours that I can run the power tools. I clamped the base together and got the final dimensions for the top. I used 4 pieces of maple to get the correct depth, then trimmed the sides to final length. I used the domino to cut some slots in the base to accept Z clips to secure the top. I finished making the inner rails and panels to close off the drawer boxes. I put a 1/4" roundover on the inner bottom edge so that there is not a sharp corner. I'll need to make some shims that will bring the insides of the drawer boxes flush so that I can attach the drawer slides.I also glued up the main panel assemblies. They are not yet glued into the legs, because I may need to shorten the legs a hair. We are waiting for the chair to be delivered, then she will decide on the final height of the desk. I have the stock for the drawers (BB Ply) and drawer fronts (Poplar). The plan right now is to assemble the drawers with box joints, which I have not done before. I'm hoping to have the main desk completed and in place before the end of the year, then will make the hutch part afterward. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 I am really liking the design and execution on this piece, great job JohnG! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted November 6, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 6, 2018 I cut out the drawer parts. In an effort to finish the desk sooner, I opted for Baltic birch ply for the drawers. I had just enough offcuts to make a couple test boxes with my iBox jig, which was surprisingly easy to use and didn’t require any fiddling. I’d say it was a worthwhile purchase. The only issue I ran into was the top layer of veneer peeling off on some of the fingers (on the side against the jig). I used a backer, but I think they got damaged while I was advancing the boards along in the jig. The later pieces had much less of this damage, so I think part of it was technique/user error. Obviously this is a non-issue for solid woods. On to the glue up of the real drawers. The bottoms are just sitting on the drawers in this picture, as an aid for making sure the drawers are square. Now that the drawers are glued up, I am regretting not using solid wood for the drawers. I might remake them later on. Next, to the part every woodworker loves! I taped off the tenons and mortises and did a base primer coat. I will do some of the painting with it disassembled, and the rest after the final glue up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 It turns out that I'm not very good at keeping up with this journal. I finished priming the pieces and then glued up the base. I did it in a few stages- first the side frame and panel assemblies, then the rear. I glued the stiles in place and left the panels floating, and clamped them up and dry fit the legs in place to keep everything aligned while the glue dried. Second I glued the legs to the side F&P assemblies. Third was everything else. I used epoxy for the third glue up, since I knew it would take me a while to make sure everything was straight and square. It went pretty well overall, I did catch one part misaligned before the epoxy set and was able to fix it. Next I painted on a coat of the base color (wife wants the 'distressed' look). Then installed the drawer slides and drawers. This brings us to here- I hate working with drawer slides, and I always worry that I am doing it wrong. Other than one mindless mistake, I got the drawers installed and working well. The fronts for the sides have been cut to final size and sanded. I need to do some final sizing and determine the profile for the front of the middle tray. However, as I finished installing the drawers and was feeling pretty good with myself, I noticed a major flaw in my design. I had planned for the top drawer fronts to match the height of the top rails on the side/back panels. As seen here. (Don't mind the rough paint job, there will be another base coat and sanding before the top color goes on) Unfortunately I had not originally planned on the flat rail going across the front of the desk. So now my drawer fronts will actually sit about 3/4" lower than the rails. Any suggestions? I can either live with it and chalk it up to a learning experience, or I can cut down the top drawer from 2.25" deep to 1.5" deep and move them up and remake all the drawer fronts. The current location for the desk is a little nook, so the sides won't be seen. Future locations are unknown. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JohnG Posted December 18, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 So the desk is done! Just waiting for the boss to make the final decision on the drawer pulls. As I mentioned previously, my wife wanted the distressed look and picked out the colors and gave input on the distressing. I think that if I ever do another painted project, I’ll spring for a spray setup. Luckily the distressed style allows for some brush marks and imperfections. It was finished with 3 coats of GF High Performance Flat. This was my first time using HP, and I enjoyed the lack of smell compared to ARS (my go-to finish) and quicker drying time. We had a warmer weekend and I was able to do all of the finishing in one day. I had a moment of panic when we went to move it into its place in the house. I knew it would be a snug fit in this little nook, but made a slight miscalculation and ended up with about 1/4” total wiggle room. Don’t mind the mess of wires underneath. Those will all be moved in the next few days, with no loose wires under the desk. After I finish up a couple quick side projects, I’ll make the little hutch that will sit on top. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted December 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 On 12/5/2018 at 11:05 PM, JohnG said: However, as I finished installing the drawers and was feeling pretty good with myself, I noticed a major flaw in my design. I had planned for the top drawer fronts to match the height of the top rails on the side/back panels. As seen here. (Don't mind the rough paint job, there will be another base coat and sanding before the top color goes on) ... Unfortunately I had not originally planned on the flat rail going across the front of the desk. So now my drawer fronts will actually sit about 3/4" lower than the side rails. ... Any suggestions? I can either live with it and chalk it up to a learning experience, or I can cut down the top drawer from 2.25" deep to 1.5" deep and move them up and remake all the drawer fronts. The current location for the desk is a little nook, so the sides won't be seen. Future locations are unknown. For the record, I just left it as-is. My wife didn’t care about the continuity from front to sides (as I expected), and it can’t at all be seen in its current location. I can remake the drawers later on if it will be exposed and bothers me. Lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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