dining room table protector
- the wood whisperer issponsored by powermatic, and titebond. you know, in the idealworld i would spend everyday in the shop, but the realityis, i spend about half of my time in the office,editing video, answering e-mails, stuff like that. and unfortunately i tendto be kind of messy, and my old desk didn'treally give me much room to store the thingsthat i use all the time,
like external drives, all ofmy sd cards, or equipment. so this year i finally hada chance to build myself a big ol' desk, so i can sitmy big ol' butt in this chair and work. but it's got a lot oftechnological features and details that i thinkyou're really gonna like, let's check it out. we'll get this partystarted, with the legs. the legs will get their finalshape later, but for now,
we need to get them cut to size. next we can work on the rails. the lower front rail hasa long continuous curve that gets interrupted by the legs, so i'll take care to cutthose from a single board, accounting for the width of each leg. thoughtful grain selection is something that will help set yourwork apart from the rest. the remaining rails are then cut to size,
and the bottom rails all receive a curve. for the panels, we'lluse three quarter inch, cherry plywood. i want my panels to contrastwith the rest of the desk, but i don't wanna usesomething as drastic as maple, so i'm trying somethingnew to me, wood bleach. the bleach should help prevent some of the natural color changethat occurs in cherry, leaving the panelsslightly lighter in color.
we'll see how it pans out over time, but i think it's gonna look super sweet. the panels of the desk, are essentially, faux, frame, and panel, sothe rails are just face glued in place. to accommodate a wiregutter, we need cutouts in the two inside panels. the right pedestal,receives a back and bottom. the back creates an openspace for cables and power,
and the bottom panelis spaced about an inch from the back panel, toallow for additional airflow. the bottom panel is thenattached to the bottom rail. now we can cut a few holes, for power, wire grommets, and a ventilation fan. using a jig, i can drillholes for adjustable shelves. to join the lengths to thepanel, i'll use dominos. ya know, i've made a lotof mortise and tenon joints in my life, and sometimesit's just nice to do
woodworking on easy mode. here's the right pedestal,dry assembled, no glue yet. we can also cut mortises andassemble the left pedestal, which features three drawers. so now let's fancy up our legs. with a series of cuts at thetable-saw, the bulk is removed, and the rest of the work isdone by hand, at the bench. because this thing would beridiculous to move as one piece, i'll use knocked down hardwareto connect the center panel.
i've been wanting to trythe festool connectors, so this seemed like agreat project for it. these are incrediblypricey, but if you already have a domino, and youneed knocked down hardware, it's a really sturdy option. a much cheaper alternative is the standard cam-lock hardware that we've all seen in store bought furniture. so let's make some drawers.
dove tails, and box joints are great, but sometimes it's niceto utilize a simple reinforced rabbit. the drawer bottom groveis cut into all the parts, and the frame is then glued up. the bottom drawer isactually a file drawer, so before gluing it together,i'll cut a few notches, for file hanger rails. now we can drive the screws,for extra reinforcement.
the drawer bottom stockis then cut to size, and installed in each drawer. the drawer sides i'm using are,soft close undermount style. the instructions are pretty complicated, but once you wade through it all, the installation is actually pretty easy. on the drawer, we'll use alittle jig to help pre-drill for the locking mechanisms. and now, for a quick test.
haza. the drawer fronts, can now be cut to size and attached to the drawer boxes. the oversized hole i drilled,allows for slight adjustment of the drawer front, after installation. just for funzies, i decided to integrate some sculpted pulls. the bulk is hollowedout with a core box bit, for the finger area, and thenthe front is roughly shaped,
at the bandsaw. the final shape isrefined at the workbench. the idea here is to createan illusion that the pull was carved out of thedrawer front, itself. so i'll remove a strip of material from the top of the drawer front. and now the pull can be glued into place. what's a big giant desk,without a hidden drawer? nothing, so we'll make one.
i'll install a wide drawerunder the left pedestal. the key to the illusion isusing the bottom inside rail, as a false front, when it's closed, it's completely concealed. now let's work on a door. the parts are cut to size, andthen i can do a traditional loose mortise and tenon joint. i could use the dominoagain, but in the guild i like to show multipleways to get things done.
this simple shop-made jig, makes it easy to cut the mortises. the great thing aboutloose mortise and tenons is that it's pretty easy tomake perfect fitting tenons. before gluing up the frame,we can cut the rabbit for the glass. now i'll install a grid work of muntins, which is perhaps my favoriteword in woodworking. i'll measure and cut the muntins,
so that they crossover with half lives. then i can drop the muntins in the frame, and mark the shouldersfor rabbits on the ends. next i scribe the muntins,into the frame's rabbit, so that we can make some little notches to accept the muntins. the muntin grid is then glued into place. muntin, muntin, muntin. to install the knife hinges,i'll actually use some
ca glue to hold the hinge in place, while i scribe around the perimeter. next i'll route the bulk,and cleanup the mortise with a chisel. finally we can glue theright pedestal together. now that everything is assembled, we can test the fit of the door. the door needs a handle, soi think a modified version of the drawer pull should look nice.
to prevent the door fromswinging in too far, we can install a stop. a magnet helps keep the door closed. the desk panels willreceive decorative styles, with slight tapers. these are just glued and pinned in place. the front of the deskgets two unique styles that make good use of sapwood. the wire gutter is pretty simple to make,
and connects between the two pedestals. now for the top, i'm actuallygoing to intentionally put sapwood into two of my joints. there are two types ofpeople in this world, those who enjoy the look of sapwood, and those who are wrong in the head. the top is then shaped withan alcove on the user's side, and a gentle curve on the front. (lighthearted guitar music)
to allow wires to passthrough the desktop, i'll route a little access hole. the lid, is cut to fit,and features a little gap for the wires, with ashape that mimics the top. i also bleached this pieceso that it matches up with the sapwood. whenever designing furniture,try to find tasteful ways to echo shapes and colorelements throughout the project, to make the piece more cohesive.
now i'll locate and route the recess for my wireless charger. installing it like this, allows it to be completely hidden, while also allowing easy replacement when the time comes. the top will be attached tothe base using shop-made clips. the domino does a great jobof making these mortises, but a biscuit joiner orrouter would work as well. at the back of the top drawer,
i'll cut a hole for a power outlet. this one features usb, aswell as standard receptacles. the door requires a glasspane, so i'll cut it to size, and use my fancy glasscutting mittens to break it. to hold the glass in place,i'll construct a little rabbited frame, that'll bescrewed to the back of the door. for the finish, i'll makemy own oil, wax blend. my mix is three cups ofpolymerized linseed oil, one tablespoon of beeswax, twotablespoons of carnauba wax,
and a bucket load of spag love. you can add more or lesswax, depending on the results you're after, but the more wax you add, the harder it's gonnabe to apply the material to the surface. the mixture is slowlyheated, and then added to a squeeze bottle for easy application. i'll apply the finish using a buffing pad, on my random orbit sander.
this allows me to spreadthe finish quickly, while also driving athin layer of oil and wax into the grain. i can then, wipe off the excess. i'll use the buffing pad anywhere i can, and then go manual for the tight spots. just so you know, this is by no means, an incredibly durablefinish, it's an all natural, old school finish that will likely require
maintenance in the future. but on the plus side,there are no harmful fumes, it's incredibly easy to apply, and spot repairs canbe done in the future. though, as the cherrydarkens, a spot repair can become an eye sore, butthis is no time for logic, let's just enjoy thecherry, coming to life. i applied a total of threecoats, with at least 24 hours between each one; oiltakes a long time to cure.
now i can install my electronics. and cut my file hanger bars,and then move this beast into the office. now if you want moredetails on this build, you should definitely checkoutthe wood whisperer guild. i've got over 20 videoson this project alone, showing you every detailfrom top to bottom, as well as a full set ofplans, and a sketch up model, and of course i'm thereto help you along the way
if you have trouble. and this year we've actually added a bunch of new instructors to the guild, and i think you're gonnabe interested in the things that they're building, andthe stuff that they can bring to the table as well. so be sure to check thatout, in the meantime, i've got very importantthings to do today. (bouncy electronic music)