Now that all the pieces are done for this desk, it is time to assemble. The problem is that the slab sides are quite heavy and the top with the attached stretchers is very heavy so it has to be assembled in-place and I had no free hands to take assembly photos.
The assembly, if I had photos would go like this:
- Stand up slab sides.
- Put in lower stretcher and tap down into the dovetail (no glue).
- Lifting the top by the stretchers drop them down into the dovetail slots (no glue) and tap into place.
- Catch breath, take pictures.
In reality there were a few more steps, because at step three I noticed that with the lower stretcher in place, the top stretchers were missing the mark by roughly an inch. The lower stretcher was too long. This was the problem with having curved sides with no single reference edge to measure from, to. I had to make another stretcher. Fortunately I still had the plastic dovetail template and could reproduce the dovetail ends. I torched it to get the black color and then hit is with a few coats of spray shellac.
Back to pounding the stretchers into place. One of the dovetail sockets was tight. The dovetail fit in smoothly while testing, but now that all four had to be in the right places at the right time, one of them was not lined up quite right. So I had to do a bit of last minute chisel work. The drawback to the floating top is that there is not a great way to hit the top of the dovetail with a mallet. I had to use a piece of scrap wood at an angle, and hit that with the mallet. The desk is now solid with no bit of movement to be detected. And if necessary, because it is soo bleepin heavy, it can be disassembled for moving.
My original sketches were for the swell from the butt of the tree to face outside the desk. But in thinking about it during construction I realized that having the swell stick out, would limit options of being able to put the one side of the desk up against a wall. I didn’t want to limit future placement options, so I spun it around so the swell comes out under the desk.
I really like the wider part of the tree trunk facing in. It gives it a great look, and helps prevent racking.
Firsts
There were a lot of firsts for me on this project.
- First time making a floating top.
- First time texturing wood with a gouge.
- First time using epoxy (Stone coat Countertop) as a finish.
- First time using TransTint dye.
- First time making an artificial river (previous efforts were natural cracks).
- First time fuming oak with ammonia.
- First time using both dried wood and wet wood in the same project.
- First time using Dark Tung Oil.
- First time using Shou Sugi Ban as a method to ebonize and texture wood.
- First time using black dye. Should have used Shou Sugi Ban on that part too.
- First time using dual sliding dovetails to combat wood movement.
- Sculpting wood with an angle grinder.
Regrets
There are a few things that I wish I did differently:
- I wish I made the floating less high. The gap is in the neighborhood of three inches. After seeing it all finished, I think it would have looked better with a float of only an inch or so. It would have been more subtle. More refined.
- I really like the appearance of the textured stretchers, and the color choice. However I do wish that I used the torch to get that color rather than the black dye. The torch would have softened the crisp peaks of the gouge cuts and would have given it a better look and feel.
- The original footrest stretcher had a bit taller profile. When I had to swap it out at the last minute for a slightly shorter one, it was also not quite as tall, so it looks a bit too spindly. I need to re-make that.
- That my son has so much stuff on his desk that it completely blocks out the awesome river we worked so hard on.
Thanks for following along on the journey.
Previously
- Slab Side Legs
In August 2018, I was taking my morning walk with my dog around our neighborhood. I spied several people with chainsaws and safety gear. Then I saw their target. A double trunked water oak…. my precious. I spoke to Steve of Steve’s Tree & Hauling and inquired if it was headed for lumber mill or […]
- Stretchers for a Floating Desktop
The desk top for my son’s river desk is kiln dried Southern Yellow Pine. The uprights for it are 2″+ thick red oak that was cut and milled less than a year ago. Most woodworkers will advise not to build with wood until it has dried at least a year per inch. that is probably […]
- Prize Trace Hook from Dirty Shed Creations
I started watching the YouTube channel Dirty Shed Creations when they began their wood log throne series about 6 months ago and I have not missed a release yet. I like Dirty Shed creations both for its enjoyable cast of characters (Uncle Al, Camera Boy, and Tammy) and the projects they come up with match […]
- Epoxy River Desktop
My son was pretty adamant that he wanted his new desk to have an epoxy river on it. He has enjoyed the few times we have used epoxy to fill gaps in the past and he wanted to do more. We were going to be making the desktop out of Southern Yellow Pine so the […]
- Floating Top River Desk with Slab Sides – Intro
My son currently uses a desk that is a simple trestle style that belonged to his grandfather. I like the style of it, but it was from an era that knew nothing of laptops and mice and was a bit small for today’s deskly duties. He has simply outgrown the desk and was in need […]
- Easy clamping cauls
A few years ago I saw these bar clamps made by Sergio Acuña Padin on Youtube. His channel is full of clever, inexpensive tool builds. I liked these clamps because they were simple, effective and cheap. They are perfect for panel glue-ups. I have quite a few pipe clamps, so I didn’t really have a […]
- $4 Planing Stop
I have a bunch of dog holes on my bench and a bunch of bench dogs of various thickness. However, in practice when I am face planing a board I can almost guarantee that the bench dog will either be too thick, causing the plane to catch the top of the dog, or in the […]
- Driftwood and Hurricane Shelves
I call this “The shelves that blew in.” It is made from a driftwood root and some wood that Hurricane Maria blew down in my neighborhood in 2017. Back in April we were walking on a beach near Stump Pass in Florida. My son was looking for a stick to play with and grabbed what […]
- Black and Decker Electric Chainsaw
I recently needed a chainsaw to take care of some wood that had found its way to my driveway. I pulled out my 16 year old 16″ Poulan chainsaw that had not been used in over 10 years. I quickly discovered that all the fuel lines had deteriorated. So I bought replacement lines and filters […]
- Safety glasses – my favorite Radians passes the test
Safety in my workshop is important to me. Especially eye safety. One of my eyes is in pretty bad shape (not from the workshop) so it makes me all the more protective of my one good eye. Over the years I have gone through a lot of safety glasses. Many of them have failed due […]
- Gang Saw
I wanted to build a frame saw for resawing wood, especially large slabs. Previously my resawing logs technique has either been to use my bandsaw milling sled for smaller logs or my one-man rip saw for logs that won’t fit on my bandsaw. Then I thought about the old saw mills that used to use […]
- Snakeskin Ring
The other night, the cat was watching something intently that was just outside the pool cage. When we took a look, there was a corn snake laying on the rocks outside the pool cage. He had just started shedding his skin. We watched him wiggle out of the thing 1/4″ at a time. It was […]
- Rose Petal Ring
A few weeks back I made a ring from shavings off a mango branch, followed soon after by a ring made of cat hair. With Valentine’s Day approaching, my son wanted to try making a ring from rose petals for his mom. So we bought some roses and some super-glue and got to work. We […]
- Log Toggle Coat Rack
I have seen a bunch of these flip down toggle coat racks and have been intrigued by the designs. Modern and unobtrusive. Toggle a peg down if you need it, up if you don’t. I find them clever, but they are too modern looking for my taste. So I started imagining one that was based […]
- Mango Shavings Ring
I was planing a piece of mango wood for a coat rack I am making, when I got completely sidetracked by something. The shavings were so pretty, the urge struck me to try making a ring out of them. I have never made a ring before, and for the past 24 years I have only […]
- Live Edge Oak Coffee Table
I got a nice section of a Swamp Laurel Oak log from a neighbor that was cutting one down a little over a year or so ago. I wrote up a post about slabbing an oak log by hand. The entire time I was sawing the slabs out of that log, I knew I wanted […]
- Making a Tapered Slab
You can’t throw a stick without hitting someone that has posted a youtube video about making a router sled and using a router to plane a slab of wood flat. They have become very common. I have covered making a router planing sled and what router bits to use for planing. Usually router sleds are […]
- Router Planing Bit Options
I built a router sled back a while ago to use in flattening some slabs. Over the course of flattening multiple slabs, I have had the chance to try a few bit options. Keep in mind that when planing with a router, you want to only have half the bit working at removing wood. So […]
- Curvy Bow Ties – Fun with Woodworking Keys
I have seen a few variations on keys. The wood bow ties that are mortised in cross-grain to prevent further splitting of a crack in a slab of wood (aka dutchman). I’ve seen dark wood keys in light wood, light keys places in dark wood. I have seen fancy carved keys in the shape […]
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