Plywood Desk In Progress

[buffalobo]

When using the cheapo PIA plywood, I run dados/rabbets on table saw with stack dado.

Great project, minions love learning with dad.

[JohnnyEgo]

When using the cheapo PIA plywood, I run dados/rabbets on table saw with stack dado.

Great project, minions love learning with dad.

Yeah, I got lazy in not wanting to change my dado blade and cartridge back and forth. Should have, though. More on that in a subsequent post when I complain about the router being the most dangerous tool in my shop, and probably the fact that no project I've ever worked on can truly be considered complete until I've bled all over it.

But until then, Day 6:

The very easy way to make drawers would have been to simply butt-joint all the boards together with glue, and possibly pocket screws, and then stick a false front on it. But we designed this around the idea that we would use every inch of the 4x8 sheet, and while I secretly replaced half of it with better ply, I wanted to keep the math illusion going. So I decided to go with a lock miter over other options, mostly to maintain some degree of uniformity while also not using any extra wood. The only problem is that it is a fiddly joint that requires an annoying degree of precision to be effective.



I've always found lock miters to be better in theory than in my actual execution, but I have picked up a few good tips here on how to do a better job. One of the most useful has been to carpet tape a piece of MDF to ride the fence and support the material, particularly when all but a very thin 45? outer edge gets routed away.


Drawer face gets routed flat on the table, drawer sides get routed vertically.


Not bad for a first try. Only issue is that the drawer side miter is fractionally taller than the face miter. Should be an easy adjustment. One in which I will spend the next two hours and convert all of my remaining stock to scrap trying to perfect. Only to end up back where I started.



The good news is that the punch list is getting much smaller. Pretty much just final trim for the table top and pedestals, possibly a stretcher between the pedestals, and then disassembly, final sand and paint. Depending on how much time I get in the next two days, would like to have it in primer by Saturday.