What’s on the schedule for today? More of the same. Almost exactly the same in fact – I made a mirror image of what I made yesterday, then cut the three cross pieces. The cross pieces are located at the front of the desk, in the middle of the desk, and about 1/3 of the way up between the two back uprights. It really is an incredibly simple design.

More after the jump.

The jointing method that I’ve chosen across the desk is half lap joints with some screws thrown in instead of glue. I didn’t want to use glue mainly because, my joints aren’t machine tight and glue might not be enough and because I may want to take the desk apart at a later date if I’m moving somewhere else.

So if you’ve measured twice, cut all your pieces to size, and fitted them all together, it’s time to grab your drill. Hold the pieces together with clamps, or with a friend and drill pilot holes. Pilot holes are holes that are smaller than the threads of the screw and they reduce the risk of splitting the wood when you drive the screw. They’re crucial.

So get screw happy. Really screw happy. And you’ll end up with something that looks like a desk. Mine looks like this –

A couple of thing to point out here:
1. Haven’t cut the shelf supports yet
2. That’s not the finished top.

The top is just a piece of plywood I had lying around. I’m going to have to get a sheet of MDF to properly finish the desk off. And to make the shelves.

I decided to take a break from the project for at least a couple of days to let the proportions of it sink in. Right now I’m thinking that it looks too long. Not width or height wise, those are fine. But from the front of the desk to the back… it’s hard to reach to where the shelves are going to be while still sitting in a chair.

I might cut 6 inches from it to make it a little slimmer against the wall. The design is so basic that I can easily handle it.

Oh by the way, because of it’s size and it’s design the desk is a little shaky on it’s feet. So if you’re going to build this use plenty of supports, or improve upon the joinery.

My brief on this desk was to make a really cheap, single minded desk to put my laptop on, and store some books and junk that’s lying around my bedroom. And if I just wanted to plonk my laptop on it, it’s done. But I want the shelves, so I’ll get back to this desk within the next two weeks.

Just tag search “project” and you’ll get all the posts about the desk.

Thanks for tuning in