Too much work. Cinder blocks and a wood door.
2 draw file cabinets and a wood door.
Wood door mounted to studs in the wall.
The Story of My Desk
31–40 of 106 posts
Re: The Story of My Desk
#32Building your own furniture is the best! The only thing that you can't do (easily) are chairs and couches.
Also, is that polyurethane varnish for the second coat?
Re: The Story of My Desk
#33Building your own furniture is the best! The only thing that you can't do (easily) are chairs and couches. Also, is that polyurethane varnish for the second coat?
Nope, it's all Waterlox. 4 coats of it. I want to use poly for the next project just for experience. Waterlox does have a nice finish, but it takes forever to dry and takes several coats.
Re: The Story of My Desk
#34Here's Bezos at one of his famous door-desks (joined with flat corner braces) in 1999:
http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-10-09/feat_Bezo42__08__630.jp...
Re: The Story of My Desk
#35Can the armrests of your chair slide under the desk easily while keeping the top surface of the arms rests almost parallel with the desk surface? The cross section bar right below the actual desk surface could prevent this.
I actually don't have armrests. I don't know why, I just never used them so I took them off. You could have armrests if they are 3" lower than the desk top, but that doesn't seem very comfortable either.
You'll have this problem with any solid desk with aprons or a drawer. If you like it that way, you'll need something like a metal base so that you don't need aprons.
Re: The Story of My Desk
#36It's always great to see people jump into doing something new with their hands. That said, I predict cracks and early failure for the top. The author created something called "breadboard ends" (the left and the right side of the top writing surface have boards that run 90 degrees to the main boards of the top). Breadboard ends are a great technique - they keep the natural tendency of the left-to-right boards to cup (…
Yeah, I didn't think about that. There was so much research to do and eventually I just built the thing knowing I probably made mistakes. Thanks for the feedback; I didn't know it was called breadboard ends, and now I can research how to properly do that. If this ends up cracking in a few years, I'll just build another one!
The Woodwright's Shop is one of my favorite shows for learning techniques like this. He uses all hand tools, so you get a better understanding of the theory without getting too wrapped up in what tool to use. This project has a lot of breadboard ends: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365004559/
Re: The Story of My Desk
#37If you don't mind could you tell us a little bit about your setup, hardware and software?
Heh, here's a quick overview: Macbook Pro 15", Dell monitor (not sure what model, got it through work), old Microsoft mouse, Apple keyboard for hardware. Software: Mostly just Firefox and Emacs.
Re: The Story of My Desk
#38It's always great to see people jump into doing something new with their hands. That said, I predict cracks and early failure for the top. The author created something called "breadboard ends" (the left and the right side of the top writing surface have boards that run 90 degrees to the main boards of the top). Breadboard ends are a great technique - they keep the natural tendency of the left-to-right boards to cup (…
I've been thinking about making a kind of greene and greene inspired side table for my front entry... of course arts and crafts styles in general have a lot of the breadboard ends. Do you have more information on techniques to avoid cracks?
Greene and Greene?
My favorite style, bar none!
You'll find these two books quite useful.
http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-Peart/e/B001JS36Q2/ref=ntt_ath...
> Do you have more information on techniques to avoid cracks?
1) alternate the growth rings of the flat table pieces: one cupping up, next down, next up, etc.
2) keep breadboard ends in line with the plane of the tabletop by using splines
3) pin or glue the breadboard ends only in the center.
4) start reading Fine Woodworking magazine.
Re: The Story of My Desk
#39The table top should have been done with plywood. There is this persistent myth that plywood == cheap which is absolutely wrong. You can get very nice expensive plywood that will be stronger, prettier, cheaper, and longer lasting than a solid piece of wood.
It could have been done with plywood, but then he would have had to learn veneer edge banding to hide the end grain. Both approaches work fine.
Re: The Story of My Desk
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been thinking about making a kind of greene and greene inspired side table for my front entry... of course arts and crafts styles in general have a lot of the breadboard ends. Do you have more information on techniques to avoid cracks?
Greene and Greene? My favorite style, bar none! You'll find these two books quite useful. http://www.amazon.com/Darrell-Peart/e/B001JS36Q2/ref=ntt_ath... > Do you have more information on techniques to avoid cracks? 1) alternate the growth rings of the flat table pieces: one cupping up, next down, next up, etc. 2) keep breadboard ends in line with the plane of the tabletop by using splines 3) pin or glue the breadboa…
Darrell has classes:
http://furnituremaker.com/Greene_and_Greene_class.htm