Project #3: Desktop

I have a standing desk from Fully (the Jarvis model) and love it. It’s very useful for my ergonomic issues. Since it looks like Jana and I will still be working from home for many months, Jana decided to get one for herself; however, due to high-demand, only the frames are in-stock (the table tops are back-ordered for month(s)). So, this was a fun opportunity to learn how to make my own desktop.

Went to a nearby lumberyard, Longleaf Lumber, which exclusively sells reclaimed lumber!

I knew I wanted to make a desk that was 47” in length and between 25”-29” in width. Bought two great boards for a total of $110. Each board has a “good” side with minimal wear and an “ugly/rough” side.

They were 9’ and 10’ in length. These are the good sides.

I cut the lengths to 47”. They were already planed on all 4 sides. There was no bow, cup, or twist to them, but 1 board had a section w/ less thickness (a dip) and several huge dents/pockets. I don’t have a table saw, so this is my only chance to cut their lengths exactly the same; can’t later trim the edges after glueing them together. It was very satisfying to line them up together.

Time to glue everything together, piece by piece. The wood looks darker now merely because it was wet with glue and water (from trying to wipe up the excess glue). This is still the good side.

With all 4 pieces glued and clamped, I let it sit in my basement for 24 hours. This is the good side.

Tarp ensures glue doesn’t stick to other wood.

The “ugly” side is very rough.

The dark spot takes a pretty big dip into the wood. Nearby areas are flaky.

After sanding with a random orbital sander for quite some time, it’s much smoother.

After sanding, now it’s time to add stain. I used “nature wood grain”, which should accent the natural wood grain while adding no tint. I start w/ the ugly side, for practice.

The ugly side, after its first coat. I would later apply 2-3 coats of stain per side, while resting for 4-12 hours between each coat.

After staining, I applied 2-3 coats of polyurethane (oil-based, satin, clear).

Had fun rounding the corners w/ the sander, but would have done it differently if I could repeat it.

Now, it’s time to assemble the desktop to the metal frame! I pre-drilled holes, which in some ways, was the scariest part for me because I could mess up the entire project by pre-drilling in a slightly incorrect position — I’d then limit where I could position the frame, if nearby sections have craters from drill holes.

All holes pre-drilled and sanded, and vacuumed the remaining dust.

Done! Here are several pics of the final project.

And here is her original desk (a dining room table).

Her previous desk (dining table) was perfectly sufficient. She gladly used it for almost a year. So, I didn’t need to do any of this, but I’m glad she was open to getting a standing desk, and it gave me a fun excuse to try building an indoor furniture piece for the 1st time. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a bunch of things for what I’ll do differently in the future.

Woodworking