Project: The Ultimate Computer Desk

[seekermeister]

ultimatedesk,

Apparently I had cedar poisoning! Wonderful!

Apparently, you weren't wearing a dust mask while working on the desk...assuming that some part of it is cedar.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I'm just bumming that you've got to move as you obviously have stuff and if the other stuff is built anything like the computer stuff then I see a forklift in your future.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Staining the Desk Surface

slowly getting alone there
And yay for the nucense of moving, I know how you feel, Probably moving countries in 6 weeks :S

Yup, slowly but surely! Moving countries? Wow!

ultimatedesk,

Apparently I had cedar poisoning! Wonderful!

Apparently, you weren't wearing a dust mask while working on the desk...assuming that some part of it is cedar.

Nope, unfortunately. I've been wearing my mask almost the whole time I'm in the basement, especially during sanding and staining - this was a totally unrelated incident. Cut down 10 cedars in my friends backyard, chopped it all up etc.. the next week I'm feeling pretty sick. I go back 2 weeks later and we bring the cedars to the cottage and strip off all the bark - ie. hands covered in sticky cedar sap - and boy oh boy. I was sick for like a good 15 days after with very asthma like symptoms - pretty brutal.

I'm just bumming that you've got to move as you obviously have stuff and if the other stuff is built anything like the computer stuff then I see a forklift in your future.

Hehe, I think that would be awesome to have a forklift, but fortunately... it won't be necessary

This part of the project took a better part of a month. There was a lot of sanding, waiting, and sweating as I put on each thin layer of polyurethane on the desk surface.

Here it is at the start of the phase - what a mess!

You can see there was still sanding to do from when I put in the wood filler back in... November!

All cleaned up, ready to rock the stain. It was starting to get nice as well so it was time to lube up the 'ol bike chain as well!

Part way through the first coat

Note that this is the bottom of the desk surface. I did this intially without any kind of pre-stain or wood treatment to see if I could get away with it.

I actually noticed a significant amount of dark spots and uneveness, so for the top of the desk, and for all future staining, I went with a pre-stain, and two coats of Old Masters Gel Stain. Here is the desk surface approximately a month later with around 8 coats of polyurethane on top. It will be getting a good ol fashion rubbing out in another month from now once it has fully cured.

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

[Everlong]

Love the colour of it. Looks great

 

[brayway]

I love that colour too!
Amazing!

and yea moving countries for the 4TH time

 

[linnemeyerhere]

It's coming out amazing and should be a treasured desk for years and years. Is it going to fit into the space you're moving to? Likely a project of this size and scope you'll have all these details worked out with many tape measurements and door openings. Good luck with your move and hope you have many strong backs to help or better yet you can oversee professionals to move you.....though I've found that friends are often more careful even if they bitch more ! Oh and remember the golden moving rule......coffee and dognuts on the front end and sandwiches and beer on the back end after the move is done.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Prepping the Upper Desk

Love the colour of it. Looks great

Thanks!

I love that colour too!
Amazing!

and yea moving countries for the 4TH time

Thanks! Wow, 4th time eh? Good luck!!

It's coming out amazing and should be a treasured desk for years and years. Is it going to fit into the space you're moving to? Likely a project of this size and scope you'll have all these details worked out with many tape measurements and door openings. Good luck with your move and hope you have many strong backs to help or better yet you can oversee professionals to move you.....though I've found that friends are often more careful even if they bitch more ! Oh and remember the golden moving rule......coffee and dognuts on the front end and sandwiches and beer on the back end after the move is done.

Thanks! I'm not terribly worried about the dimensions while moving it - it DOES break down into 4 pieces very easily. I thought it was beer and sandwiches on the front end.. maybe that's why the past few moves haven't gone so well!


So, with the main desk surface out of the way, it was time to start focusing on the top shelf portion, which, at this point, hadn't been sanded, cut perfectly, or assembled. Here were all the pieces required.

A quick mock up:

A few tests with the biscuit joiner to make sure I was aligned properly:

I couldn't get it exactly in the center - the bottom of the joiner is a bit concave and it made lining it up a little difficult. The tool is generally used to join boards end to end, so there wasn't really any facility for on-face joining like this.

Assembly and glue up time:

Enjoy! You can never have too many clamps you know? I couldn't continue on doing the side pods until this stuff dried up first.

 

[derekimo]

Enjoy! You can never have too many clamps you know? I couldn't continue on doing the side pods until this stuff dried up first.

Looking good, and you're right... "you can never have too many clamps."

 

[Sam The Techie]

Im liking the look of this, keep up the great work!

 

[linnemeyerhere]

"may your biscuit joints always line up" !

 

[ultimatedesk]

Top Shelf Assembly

Enjoy! You can never have too many clamps you know? I couldn't continue on doing the side pods until this stuff dried up first.

Looking good, and you're right... "you can never have too many clamps."

lol yeah, every time they go on sale at Canadian Tire I can't resist purchasing just a few more... You never know!!! (Zombie Apocalypse clamp attack!)

Im liking the look of this, keep up the great work!

Thanks Sam The Techie!

"may your biscuit joints always line up" !

Ha, seriously. That should be a famous quote


With the first phase of the top shelf all solid and dried, I could continue on to the two side pods. Here's the initial mockup.

Notice the pencil lines for the biscuits I'll be installing.

Those biscuits are so dark and moody... lol!

Aaand, some gratuitous clamping shots. Like that extra-long setup? Yeah, that worked this time, but I don't recommend it. It wasn't too stable, but there wasn't really anything else I could clamp on to for that end-pressure required.

Mmmm glue.

So that's it for this update, I know it's a pretty simple one, but hey, it's one more phase done. Just needs to have some trim stuck on and then staining!

Have a good weekend!

 

[jeepmann4x4]

So when your done your gonna get started on mine right??

Looking great, I've been following this thread since the start and if you were not a wood worker/Cabinetmaker before you sure are by now!!

 

[kbronski]

I'm going to be bookmarking this thread. I'm so excited to see what comes of this. I've been considering doing some mods to my desk, like embedding USB hubs, cutting holes beneath my cooling pad to insert additional fans to promote higher airflow for more extreme cooling, drop-down swiveling monitors under my shelves with an HDMI expansion bay, etc. However, I'm currently stuck in two projects: updating hardware inside my desktop, and finding a new transmission for my car (yay). I'm glad to see someone's actually taken the initiative to start building a cool custom desk. I'm super excited to see how your project progresses.

 

[tomcott]

Yeah man, you seem to have a really good idea and the skills to do it, keep it up mate!

 

[ultimatedesk]

Top Shelf Trim

So when your done your gonna get started on mine right??

Looking great, I've been following this thread since the start and if you were not a wood worker/Cabinetmaker before you sure are by now!!

Heh, thanks jeepmann4x4, we'll see about yours next!

I'm going to be bookmarking this thread. I'm so excited to see what comes of this. I've been considering doing some mods to my desk, like embedding USB hubs, cutting holes beneath my cooling pad to insert additional fans to promote higher airflow for more extreme cooling, drop-down swiveling monitors under my shelves with an HDMI expansion bay, etc. However, I'm currently stuck in two projects: updating hardware inside my desktop, and finding a new transmission for my car (yay). I'm glad to see someone's actually taken the initiative to start building a cool custom desk. I'm super excited to see how your project progresses.

Thanks kbronski, be sure to post a log yourself! Oh, and good luck with the transmission!!

Yeah man, you seem to have a really good idea and the skills to do it, keep it up mate!

Thanks!

Ok, so it's been a little while since an update eh?

I've been busy, sorry folks, life seems to speed up in the summertime!

As a peace offering, here are the kiddo's, at about 4 months old now!

And, back to the desk!

I had a bunch of solid maple cut into more 1/4" strips so I could finish doing the trim on the top shelf and the cabinets.

My trusty compound mitre saw - got it reconditioned at a bargain place for like 60 dollars, and it's been pretty reliable for a number of years now. It's loud as all heck though!

And, my favorite part - clamping up!

And, since there was nowhere to place clamps in between this area, I had to improvise with a small block of wood!

 

[ultimatedesk]

Staining the Top Shelf

After the trim was glued on and then sanded flush, I proceeded with the staining and poly

Looks good, eh?

I also finally decided to buckle down and build myself a quick rig to store all my clamps. Since I'm moving soon, it'll also make it easier to move them to the new place! Nice lap joints eh!!

I proceeded to the cabinet drawers, where I finally sanded off the wood filler that's been attached for weeks (months?)

Lined up the drawer faces, glued them on (Was going to screw them on after, from behind. Lol)

And put a bit of weight on top..

Walked away for a bit, and realized... maybe it was a bad idea to glue them on first! Uh oh!

 

[ultimatedesk]

Staining the Drawers

I decided that it might actually be a lot easier to line up the drawer faces if I attached them AFTER I had attached the drawers to the drawer slides, to I ripped em off.

So, next on the list - staining the actual drawers!

Pre-stain on!

Mmm, they look so good

And, poly of course

Done!

And just so ya know, it really did basically take a month just to finish the top shelf and the drawers... more to come soon!

 

[PwnFrnzy]

Your desk makes me jealous D:
Looks great though, can't wait to see the finished version.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Drawer Face Staining

Your desk makes me jealous D:
Looks great though, can't wait to see the finished version.

Thanks PwnFrnzy, time to build your own!

With the drawers themselves all stained up, it was time to stain the drawer fronts!

Since most of the back of the drawer fronts won't be visible, I decided that I could probably stain and poly both sides at once...

Pre stain!

They look so nice like this... ahh, next project...

Some staining time

And some sweet, sweet gloss poly.

Woops! One of the drawer faces slipped off the painting cones and picked up a whole whack of saw dust and wood chips... at least this will never be seen on the final project!

 

[ultimatedesk]

Trimming the Cabinets

With the drawers and drawer faces all finished and ready for installation, it was time to turn to finishing up the two cabinets.

First up, finishing the piece that goes on the front of the left-hand cabinet.

And, well, not a lot of writing today, as the rest of it should look pretty straightforward. I had to cut up a bunch of trim pieces, and somehow arrange the clamps to hold them in the right place. A few of the arrangements required some creative thinking, but in the end, I got the whole cabinet trimmed up over the course of a few days.

Mmmm glue.

Enjoy! We're getting close to the final assembly, yay!