Desk for the nipper

[Random Orbital Bob]

Now that the youngest is getting to the age where homework needs to be taken seriously I got on with a job my wife has been asking me to do for some time now. It also allowed me to use up some really old antique pine boards that I rescued from next doors loft some 5 years ago where they had been used as floor boards. Floor boards that are nigh on 30mm thick! Floor boards that were coated in a thick, bitumen, tarry deep brown gunk that was disgusting until I planed through it. I'm not sure how old next doors cottage is but certainly, it's at least 200 years and likely more. Plenty of worm holes so I'm not sure of the age of the pine, or the species come to think of it, but it's lovely stuff.

Anyway, the brief from the guvnor was to paint the apron and legs but leave the top so that's what I did.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

With the top glued up and squared off, next job was to knock the corners and edges off. Then it was aprons and leg joinery. The long apron pieces are salvaged from an old bed and the short sides, offcuts from the antique pine. All different colours, hues but the painting will deal with that and all were thicknessed prior to the joinery. Which incidentally were 2 x 10mm dominos per apron meets leg for strength and to prevent wracking. Then it was just a question of priming and painting the apron/leg sub assembly before joining it to the top. To avoid the problem of wood movement I nabbed some brackets off a friend of mine which had been salvaged off another table with slotted screw holes and I let those in to the underside of the apron. I was going to make those little wooden thingummy's that slot into a routed groove in the aprons but Bill offered these old chunky metal brackets that did the job just great.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

All downhill from now, just joining the two sub assemblies. It's a bit farmhouse for our very modern home but I had already made one 20 years ago which my other son has and we're pretty certain we'll end up back in a cottage one day. Also, my Missus thinks the painted bottom makes it contemporary and I'm not planning on arguing with her anytime soon.

 

[monkeybiter]

That's a nice job, the legs make it special.

 

[morturn]

I certainly like that, great work.

 

[AndyT]

Well that's a proper job!
I think the kitchen table style looks right with that (Ercol?) chair and means it will be useful for years to come.
And I always like to see good old wood put to use again.

 

[nev]

8) =D>

 

[MattRoberts]

Nice one, looking really good!

 

[Woodmonkey]

Lovely job, great copy turning on the legs, i couldn't spot any variations.

 

[paulm]

Good job Rob, very satisfying to recycle some old timber too I imagine

 

[DTR]

=D>

 

[DiscoStu]

Very nicely done. I'd be very chuffed if I'd made that. I hope your son likes it. This thread reminds me that my daughter desk has a quick clamp supporting it at the moment and I really need to sort that out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bigbud78]

Lovely job, what lathe are you using ? I'm looking at a potential upgrade to the CL4 xD

 

[Nelsun]

Very nicely done Bob. Not sure I'd leave the top unprotected from either of my two little ones though. Personally, I'd spec in 10 coats of PU, a sheet of 10mm steel and encase the entire thing in concrete Anyroad, it's a crackin desk and earned you some brownie points I should hope.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

LOL...that made me laugh Nelsun

Thanks for the comments chaps, most kind of you.

I agonised a little on the finish and ended up selling myself on the idea that if it does get muck on it I can just run a plane over it or a cabinet scraper or a sander. The downside which I was really wanting to avoid was that inevitable "orange" look that old pine takes on with almost any finish. I applied as neutral a test as I could to the underside as a swatch/colour test with plain sanding sealer and it looked horribly orange (like Des O Connor's fake sun tan!!.) In the past I've also used clear cuprinol just to protect and bring the grain out a bit but everything seemed to lead to orange so in the end I went with nowt. It's the only part of the project, decision wise that I'm not entirely comfortable with to be honest. I guess we'll see!! Knowing my youngster, he'll have gouged an enormous furrow in it long before it gets stained :shock:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Lovely job, great copy turning on the legs, i couldn't spot any variations.

That was the one aspect I assumed would go horribly, badly wrong so I practised on dummy short pieces of Ash I harvested myself and therefore cost nothing until I felt the muscle memory was there to do the real thing. I also made a scratch stock to mark repeatable dimensions from the pommel through those first few transitions since that's where all the visual complication is that would screw it up if done really badly. That worked really well as a technique and I would highly recommend it. I nicked the idea from a production turner called Steve Jones who is a demon with the skew and in fact, apart from the coves, all those legs are turned with a 3/4" skew. I also did each one directly after the other, again to try and lock in the muscle memory for the design and maximise tool control. Even I was moderately surprised at how evenly they turned out as I did fear the dreaded copy turning, as we all do (apart from Steve Jones of course....and Richard Findley.....and Chas.....and Richard Raffan......and oh you get the point)

In fact the 3x3 rubbish Scandinavian deal I bought for the legs was the only actual outlay (£14) in terms of folding stuff, the rest was salvaged and I already had the paint. All my personally harvested stock just isn't long enough or if it is, it's split at the log ends, otherwise I would have avoided buying the stock for the legs too!

 

[Halo Jones]

Great job! As for the finish - Chris Schwarz now has a thing for a soap finish. Looks simple and easy to top up. He has lots of details over at the lost art press blog.

 

[n0legs]

Good job Bob =D>

 

[Baldhead]

Nice, I like that.

Stew

 

[custard]

Fully up to professional standards. You've nailed all the details that often catch the home woodworker out, like you've safely and cleanly rounded the corners of the table, all the legs look reasonably uniform, the top looks flat and accurately jointed, the aprons are nicely shaped and echo the leg turnings.

Congratulations to your design director too, the bare wood top with an ultra traditional painted frame is right on trend and exactly what the market wants these days.

Top work!
=D>