L-Shaped Desk Design Feedback

[Fapiko]

I'm looking to make an L-shaped desk top and would like to get some feedback on the design I've worked up. I bought a standing desk kit so I just need to worry about the top. I have some walnut and curly maple that I'm thinking I can mill down to 1" and use the curly maple as breadboard ends. Then I was thinking I'd rip 3/4" or 1/2" strips of purple heart and bloodwood to fill between the walnut. This is the sketchup design I've put together to try to visualize it: 

The very first question I have is whether or not a large miter for a top will hold up under expansion and contraction. I was thinking I could reinforce the individual walnut boards with biscuits or loose tenons.

If the miter is fine - I guess my next question would be, is it too busy? Would it look better without the strips? Is there too much contrast with the walnut and curly maple? This is a picture I took of the walnut with chunks of the purple heart/bloodwood just to get a feel for the visual: 

The breadboard end on the return will actually be two pieces so that I can move the top in two sections and join them on the frame - otherwise it would be too large to maneuver up my stairs.

Originally I wanted to do a solid walnut top. I thought it would be cool to wrap the grain around the corner with a miter, but I can only get 8' boards and that would require 11' on the outside edges. I figured the breadboards would be a way for me to break up the grain so it wouldn't be as noticeable if I used different boards on each side of the breadboards. It also gives me a transition point for the return so I can build it in two pieces to make moving it more manageable.

I'd really appreciate any advice before I start cutting, because this is going to be $500-$600 worth of lumber and I'd hate to waste it on something that doesn't look nice!

[wtnhighlander]

I think the miter will expand / contract evenly on each side, so long as it isn't restricted by the attachment points on the frame. 

I am concerned about the breadboards, though. I have never seen a breadboard stay flush as seasons change. If I were doing this, I think I would discard the breadboards, and just make the top in 3 square-ish sections. Arrange them with grain and syripes as pictured, even miter the corner 'square'. But joint them with dowels, dominoes, or a spline buried in the edges. Use dry joints so assembly is simple, and the base attachments will hold it all together.

If you really want to keep the color of the maple bread-board strips, use them, but create the "bread-boards" from a strip of boards glued into a panel and cross cut. That keeps the grain oriented the same direction as the walnut, so expension and contraction will be almost exactly the same. Screwing this desktop to the steel frame should hold it flat.

[Ronn W]

Just a design idea:  What if you made it out of 2 pieces that meet at the miter but put a strip of maple, maybe 2" wide, where the miter is.  This would make tjop less "busy" visually.  YOu could keep the maple strips on the free ends.

[Fapiko]

@Ronn W Something like this? 

I do think I prefer that visually. Never seen a breadboard done at an angle - not sure how I'll cut those tennons, but I like it. Probably a router with a spiral bit and a fence would work.

[Fapiko]

@wtnhighlander I'm not too concerned with the breadboards staying flush. I'll probably leave them a bit proud when I build it. The steel frame pieces that attach is only ~16 inches I think - not enough to go across the full panel. To be fair, it probably doesn't need the breadboards to keep it flat, but I think they'll look good especially with maple dowels for the drawbores.

I'm a bit split right now as to whether or not the purple heart/bloodwood will look good. I might take a single strip off each after I get the walnut milled up and set them together to 

[Chet]

I don't know about the bloodwood but the purple heart over time will turn a brownish color and may almost blend in with the walnut.  If you use a finish that contains a UV inhibiter it will slow this change down but eventually it will happen.

[BonPacific]

On 10/9/2023 at 12:51 PM, Chet said:

 

I've got a few things made out of bloodwood and can confirm it also turns a sort of mahogany brown over time.

[Coop]

I would keep it simple(r). Make it from two rectangular top pieces, eliminating cutting the miter,  and have the maple bb ends on the two outside ends only and replace your purple heart and blood wood inlays with maple. Or, keep the miter but still eliminate the two inside bb ends. As you mentioned, the bb ends will be proud of the top itself and the two inside ones would break up the continuity of an otherwise smooth top which would be an obstacle. 

[Just Bob]

Keeping with what @Coop said, I would eliminate the miter and use a masons miter.  It is the joint that you see mostly in kitchen c ounters, but would work well for your desk.  I don't know what tools you have.  The masons miter requires a jig, and a router and a couple of  "dog bone" connectors It is a glue less joint that allows you to adjust over time if wood movement occurs.  

[Fapiko]

I went with the breadboards in the miter because I can't get boards long enough to continue the grain around the corner. I was hoping the BB would make switching boards and lack of grain continuity unnoticeable in the miter. 

Do you think it would look better with no BB and having different boards meeting at the miter?

Am planning to keep it unglued - it will be too big to move in one piece.

[Coop]

Walnut is my favorite wood to work with, albeit the most expensive in my area, and I am making a king size bed now with it. I think as long as you keep the color consistent on all of the boards, the grain won’t be as noticeable. 

 

[curlyoak]

I have 2 L shaped desk tops. 4/4 quarter sawn white oak, kiln dried. No bread board ends in the mitre. Bread board ends on the ends. Been there of 20 years. Mitres are tight like new. The edge where the bread board meets is perfect by eye. By feel it is off a 32nd. It stays off but of no consequence. I cant take a picture of it because both tops are covered with the normal litter of a busy office desk. And I am not cleaning it for pictures.

Making bread boards it is important to use titebond III. Long ago when I was more rebellious I made fully glued breadboard ends. No offset bore hole for a dry joint. It worked! After many people said it would fail, I called Franklin glue company and spoke to the engineer. Titebond is not allowed in trusses or engineered beams. Because the glue allows "creep". Their words. And creep makes titebond a woodworkers best friend as  it allows wood to move.

Titebond hit the market in the 60's. Well received. The creep factor was not known early on. 60 years later many still use the draw board joint. I don't.

[Chestnut]

I've made visually busy tops like this and as my woodworking hobby progresses i have reverted to liking simple best, this is my opinion. For L desks I don't like miters i think it leaves too many issues with wood movement for the long miter to never sit closed. This depends on climate, for example in Florida it's continually humid and wood movement there is a far smaller concern. I live in MN where our home's humidity goes from 65% in the fall to 15% in the winter. For me that long miter would only be close on the days where the humidity matched the conditions i made it under. I wouldn't want that in a desk. My advice is probably too late.

This is a desk i made in 2017. The joint is floating M&T that were not glued. I used these to connect the tops.

[Fapiko]

Yeah, I started cutting the wood yesterday. I've decided to eliminate the purple heart and bloodwood as others have said on here it will turn brown over time, and instead will do a single strip of curly maple down the center that's 1-2 inches to make up for whatever I have to trim off the edges of the walnut to keep the top 30" wide. Planning to keep the miter unglued so I can move it in two sections and join it with these countertop fasteners: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092CJTSGJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Mark J]

Keep us posted with progress reports. 

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:41 AM, Fapiko said:

Yeah, I started cutting the wood yesterday. I've decided to eliminate the purple heart and bloodwood as others have said on here it will turn brown over time,

Wise choice. It just looks worse and worse as the color changes over time. Brown and purple do NOT go well together! Same goes for Padauk and most of the brilliant colored tropical stuff. 

On the other hand, that curly maple will retain that beautiful figure over time! 

[B1rdhunter]

Day late and a dollar short, but this is how I did my corner desk top.

[Fapiko]

Got the build done. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, there are a few things I'd have done differently in hindsight but I learned quite a bit during the build. Finished it with a coat of Rubio 2C, then another coat of their Shine.

[Geoffrey]

Looks both nice and useful! Congratulations on the build!

[pkinneb]

Very nice!! Is this for gaming, video production? Looks like quite the setup there

[Fapiko]

Thanks. I'm a software engineer in the video game industry, so a bit of a mix.

[wtnhighlander]

Beautiful desk, and a sweet computing setup! Can you type comfortable on the laptop in that position? I have a similar 4-screen setup at work, and hanging the laptop like that looks quite convenient.

[Fapiko]

It's not too bad for the occasional typing, the mount lets it move pretty easily. I don't use the laptop for much outside of video calls though, so I don't do much typing on it.

[Coop]

Now that’s cool! Well done. 

[Mark J]

Well done on the top.  Is the base height adjustable?