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Simple desk from weathered 2x12's & old steel

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    Simple desk from weathered 2x12's & old steel

    For the first 6 months of COVID-19, I moved my laptop around from the dining room table, to the breakfast table, to an old sewing machine. Finally, I decided that this work-from-home thing is going to last a little while, and I need a dedicated desk or table to set up at. I didn't really want to buy some cheap particle board junk from a big box store, so I looked at Etsy for homemade furniture. I really liked this desk by IndustEvo, but was a little put off by the $874 price, and the fact that it is made to LOOK like reclaimed wood, without actually using any reclaimed materials. I'm not knocking the company. They make some beautiful furniture, and the price is probably fair for what it is. I just got to thinking that I could probably use some old materials that I have lying around, and build it the way I want it. In other words, I'm an incurable DIYer.
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    #2
    Just to be clear, the above picture is NOT my handiwork! This was just my inspiration.

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      #3
      building materials

      OK, so I got to looking around my hunting property for materials. Here's what I found. The first picture I posted already, in a related thread: https://discussions.texasbowhunter.c...d.php?t=782160

      I pulled some old 2x12's off of what remained from an old mower shed, and some steel from the hand rails of an old dock.

      To me, the desk is more interesting if I can build it from materials that I found on my land, rather than buying new stuff from Home Depot.
      Attached Files

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        #4
        Nice in for the finished product!

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          #5
          rough-cutting and joining boards

          I figured that a 48" wide x 24" deep desk would be enough for my laptop, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. So, I rough-cut two of the 2x12's to just over 48" long with the circular saw. One of the 2x12's had a "live edge" on it, so I thought it would be fun to include that on the front of the desk.

          Of course, the boards weren't straight, so I had to cut a thin strip from one long edge of each one, before joining them together. I did that with the circular saw and a piece of extruded Al clamped down as a cutting guide. The first pic is those 2 boards sitting side-by-side and right-side-up on the floor of my garage.

          I don't need the joint to be very strong, because I'm going to tie everything together with steel. But, I do need them to stay together while I do some additional work on them, before adding the steel.

          I decided to do a spline joint, so I bought a 3/8" high x 3/8" deep slot cutter for my 1/4" chuck router. I didn't have any 3/8" thick wood laying around, so I thinned some 7/16" plywood with the router and cut it to 3/4" width with the circular saw. Wow, that was time-consuming. I should have just bought some 3/8" thick wood.

          Then, I discovered that the 3 pieces didn't fit together. The spline fit nicely into the slot in each 2x12, but not into both at the same time. That's because the boards have different bows in the long direction. So, I painstakingly trimmed the spline and the slots with a wood rasp, until I could force-fit them together.

          After gluing them together, I realized that the desk wasn't deep enough. Of course, 2x12's are only 11.25" wide (not 12"), minus the live edge, minus the little bit that I cut off to get straight edges. So, I cut a 4" wide strip from a third 2x12. This time, I was lazy and didn't bother with the spline joint. I just cut a straight edge on both boards, and did a butt joint with wood glue.

          In the second picture, the desk top is upside-down, with all 3 pieces glued together. You can see some of my test finishes from the other thread, in the back corners. Since it's on the underside, I'm not too worried.
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            #6
            Oh yeah that will work!

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              #7
              That is gonna be pretty nice.

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                #8
                we need steel

                Thanks, SC338.

                At this point, I had a heavy slab of wood held together by weak glue joints, so I needed to add some steel.

                I cut two pieces of ugly 1.5" angle iron (from the dock handrail) to 25" long, which is the depth of the desk. These are going on the underside, to tie the 3 pieces of lumber together. But as you can see in this next picture, the underside of the desk is not flat at all, because the thickness of the wood varies so much. I was afraid that if I screwed a straight piece of angle to this uneven surface, something would break. So, I used the router to cut a couple of grooves in the wood. I laid a couple of flat strips of steel over the wood, to provide a smooth surface for the router to glide over. And I clamped some extruded Al to the wood, to guide my cuts, so they would be sort of straight.

                These grooves should provide a better surface to mount the steel angle on the bottom of the desktop, so I don't crack the wood.
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                  #9
                  with bottom angles

                  Here it is with the steel angles temporarily attached to the bottom of the desktop using some #6x1.25" drywall screws. I'll through-bolt it later. The legs will be welded to these angles eventually.

                  With everything tied together like this, I trimmed the short ends of the 2x12's nice and straight. Again, with the circular saw and a piece of Al for a guide.

                  Unfortunately, I damaged the live edge when I was clamping the 3 pieces of wood together. That edge was already a little soft in places. So, I had to trim most of it away, to get a front edge that's clean and won't crumble later during use.

                  Oh, and I forgot to mention that I drilled a 1.25" hole for cords, and rounded its edges with the router. Unfortunately, I did that before realizing that I needed to add the third piece of wood, so the hole is not as far back as I had wanted it.
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                    #10
                    Following. Gonna be pretty cool.

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                      #11
                      end angles

                      Next, I used the router to cut down the top surface at the ends, for my angle iron end caps. This time, I remembered to take a picture before removing the C-clamps, so you can see my (somewhat crude) setup for doing this.

                      On the other end, the desktop was not as flat, so I had to put shims under that flat strap, to create a fairly flat surface to guide the router. Otherwise, the router follows the frown-face shape of the desktop, and then the straight piece of angle doesn't fit it well.

                      I also used the router to round over that sharp outer edge of the wood that's nearest the camera, since the steel angle has a "fillet" radius on the inside.

                      Next picture is with that angle sitting loosely in place.

                      In the third pic, I'm not gluing anything together. Just trying to hold the angle pieces tightly in place while I drill holes through the wood. I'm using countersunk screws, so the heads won't protrude too much.

                      Unfortunately for you, that brings this thread up to the present day. Since I'm slow, the "real time" updates are not going to be as fast, going forward from here. But, I'm excited about this table. And, if I know that people are watching this thread, that helps to keep me motivated to get it done. Thanks for following along.
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                        #12
                        only thing better than a DIY is one made with leftover scraps. get that to the finish line and share some finished pics!

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                          #13
                          Great idea, I can't wait to see it finished!

                          Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

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                            #14
                            In for the finish!

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                              #15
                              following !

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