Plywood Desk In Progress

[JohnnyEgo]

One of several lessons I tried to impart to my son on this project is working within a budget. And while I secretly blew through that budget when I swapped out half the sheet of Ecuadorian Sandeply for a half sheet of Baltic Birch, he doesn't know that. Which brings us to today's post about improvising. We had talked about putting wheels on the desk, but that would cost an additional $20 on top of his $120 budget. He has a little cash savings that he has been building up to buy the new Pokemon game. So I told him if he really wanted the wheels, he could come off his own savings for them. In life, when you go over budget on a job or a contract, it often comes out of your end. He thought about it, and decided he'd rather have the game now than the wheels now. Fair enough. Enter the 'free' 2x4 from the wood pile

Cut into four pieces, planed and jointed, and glued together into two pieces:


Gave each piece a 15 degree bevel on the ends:


Marked them to round the corners with the belt sander:



Finish with a mild round-over, and we have two 'free' table legs:


Then we have final trim. Ripped one of the 1/2s into a couple lengths of 5/8" strips.


Fit them to the table top as with the drawer trim:



Wouldn't normally go with 5/8" edge banding, but the extra thickness lets me put down a kid-friendly corner radius on the top:

[iego]

Wow JohnnyEgo, I'm so impressed. To be so good at a "trade" or skill, is something to behold, and your posts are fantastic, fun and informative.

One thought I had, is that you should have the whole Scout Troop over some time and give them too a bit of your knowledge, fun, enthusiasm, etc. (and, ask them to sand things, a task I never fully understood, or appreciated, from my Dad.

Very special, and your son is very lucky to have you as a Dad.

-John

[JohnnyEgo]

Thanks for the kind words. I am the dad my son got; gloriously flawed, but doing the best I can give him an entirely different set of issues than I got from my dad, just like my dad did for me, in the tradition of dads from time immemorial.

I hosted a toolbox building party for his Cub Scout den last year. No greater expression of faith does a parent have for their child than holding the nail while the kid holds the hammer.


Last part of the actual build, speaking of sanding:

The veneer on this ply is paper thin. To minimize the risk of my son sanding through it, I drew light pencil lines across it and told him to move on the moment they were erased.



He had a pretty good eye for the high spots.


And final mock assembly:



Finally have a desk. Because it is 20 degrees and a blizzard at the moment, I probably won't break it down for paint until it warms up a little bit later in the week. But overall, looks like a desk, works like a desk, and taught some important lessons on budgeting, measuring, and calculating areas in the process. It was simple and fairly fast to knock out, while still being within my boy's skill level such that he really could feel like a part of the process.

[iego]

Yes, for sure. I think you underestimate the value of what you are teaching your son, and I don't doubt that I will see him as President or something, some day.

Really cool, JohnnyEgo,

-John

[Frac]

But I still need clearance between the stile and the top of the drawer. This is where the playing cards come in. Normally, I'd use only one to space out the drawers, but I feel like a coat of primer and two coats of paint might eat into that space pretty quick, so I am using two cards as the standard for this one.

Love the playing card trick! Did you mean rails instead of stiles?

I always enjoy these build threads of yours! I spent my high school and early college years learning cabinet making from Dad. Your posts bring back great memories!

[JohnnyEgo]

So this has been finished up for a little while now, but for completion's sake, I'll stick up a few more pictures of the finished product.

Two coats of primer and a little bit of filler to smooth out some minor dings and depressions.


Two coats of Rustoleum black enamel. This stuff dries pretty well in the cold, and is fairly tough, though not necessarily very hard even when fully cured. Will require a writing pad on the top of the desk, and had I really thought about it, I probably would have laminated the top instead of painting it. But it is very easy to touch up and should hold up to middle-school level abuse reasonably well.



Drawers slide smooth under load, and don't droop even when pulled out all the way to the last two inches of travel.


Plenty of room to sort Pokemon cards, do homework, read about Pokemon on the internet, store Pokemon, and sit and think about Pokemon:

[iego]

They call these "workstations" today... little do they know.

-John

[Duman]

Now you need to pick up some cubicle walls.... hehehehe.....

[UncleDave]

Good job on this project. These are lessons your son will carry for a lifetime. My dad hated working with wood. He said it always changes on you, not like metal. I still remember many life lessons he taught me 40 years ago working in his shop on cars. While I am not a professional mechanic anymore, I have taken the lessons of work ethic and precision into every area of my life.