Haven't been on too much the past week because I've been quite busy building something.

http://imageshack.com/a/img708/4673/lwvw.jpg

I currently have one that I bought from Staples a few years ago and it's starting to show it's age. It's made of several pieces of press board and they are beginning to separate and sag. I've wanted to build a desk myself for some time now and figured this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. It's not professional grade or anything but I think it's turning out nice. The top is made out of cabinet grade 3/4" oak plywood sanded smooth and then the edge has an oak veneer (real oak not plastic) applied to it. The top of the shelf is also 3/4" cabinet grade oak plywood that will also be sanded smoothed with an oak veneer on the edge. The legs are a 1.25" poplar at 28" long and they are attached to an oak sub frame that was glued and screwed to the oak top. The top valence is 3/4" pine that is glued and nailed to the sub frame and the bottom supports are also 3/4" pine that is just screwed to the legs. Figured it'd be better to just screw them in place so that the whole table/desk can be disassembled and moved. I'm not too happy with the pine supports that tie all the legs together and may end up doing something different with them down the line. I got most of the parts at Home Depot including all the hardware. I do have some desk grommets coming in the mail and I want to plan for wire management and it'd be nice to get an in desk USB hub at some point. The desk will be stained a dark oak and then polyurethaned to a high gloss. Then I'll polish it and put my computer, Xbox and games on it as well as some of my Star Wars Legos.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. The desk measures 27" deep by 4' wide on the short side and 69" on the long side. The shelf is 12" deep by 39.5" wide and it stand's 8 1/8" tall (approximately) and I can put all of my Xbox games and some of my PC games under it comfortably.I had originally planned on putting a few shelves on the one side in between the legs to hold the printer but the problem is that it'd have to stick almost 2' off the side. I may still put some shelves there but they'd be smaller. I'm also thinking of installing a shelf underneath it to house my subwoofer for the speakers on the computer. The total cost for the desk was probably $200.

Have any of you built anything?

Looks excellent man, good work. How much time did you invest in this?

Wow, man, that is really well done. I know for a fact I couldn't build anything like that. Looks really good man, should suit you well.

If I made a desk, it would look more like http://www.cmstatic1.com/620/620.44864.jpg

I started it on 10/12 Saturday and am still working on it. So, I've had four full days on it and then I probably put an hour or two each night on it during the week. So, maybe 40 or so hours. It's still not done, it's getting close. I have a ton of sanding to do on it yet, then it needs to be stained and poly'd. I was thinking about leaving it natural but I do have a tendency to put drinks on it and my daughter is known to spill things.

That's actually a pretty cool looking desk.

That actually looks pretty good considering the materials used. The connections are flush and smooth, everything fits together, and it seems to be standing levelly. The maker just used a junk piece of wood for the top for whatever reason, probably made with pieces found instead of bought. Even then he smoothed it down and polished it up so it doesn't look half bad.

My point being, I'm not very good a building things like that with my hands.

That is mighty nice looking; simple, practical, elegant, and overall a pleasure to look at. Good job to you. I build a new piece of furniture from time to time, but mostly for other people. Never have I made a desk though and seeing this, it makes me want to build one. Consider yourself an inspiration to another.

That looks really good, well done. Next a chair to go with it?

Well, my brother with his two sons visited the last week, and i discovered i'm still pretty handy at building with legos

I never was any good at building anything out of wood or metal Always had 6 (on scale of 4 to 10) in handicraft (not sure if that's the right word) at school

But yes, that's looking mighty nice

Nice desk, certainly will stay together longer than any of those RTA desks you get at Office Depot Staple Max.

You can use a clear poly to keep the natural color and it will protect the desk. If you go with a stain, test it on a scrap piece of wood to see what it will look like. Remember, to sand between poly coats if you want a super smooth finish.

You may want to think about using a pre stain wood conditioner should you choose to use a stain on your desk. Also, I'd recommend using 320 grit sandpaper between coats of your desired finish (Lacquer, polyurethane, tung oil etc.) http://woodworking.about.com/od/finishing/p/woodConditioner.htm

Desk does look very nice, but unless you have prior experience with woodworking, I'd recommend a pre-built chair as they are more difficult to build... and YES, I am a trained cabinetmaker, although I haven't worked in the field for many years now.

Nice job, simple and clear-out! Handmade stuff is always the best if you know what are you doing.

If I'm not mistaken, the rocking-horse above the desk are there for that purpose. Now that'd be hilarious!

Looks real good, T..

What BarrettsFloyd said about chairs.. they're a royal pain in the wazoo.

So.., you can finally start planning the planetary invasion and world conquest by your species, now that you have a proper desk.

I bought a leather chair last year so I'm good with the chair.

Thanks. I do need to make another run to the store for sand paper and tack cloth so the 320 will be on my list. How many coats of poly should I use? How long should I let it dry before sanding between coats? I've never built anything of any practical use before so I honestly have no idea what I'm doing.

Trust me, I'm not very good at making things with wood. I'm not great at math so the measuring is difficult for me. I always try to end my measurements in whole, half or quarter measurements. If it gets crazy lith 16ths, 8ths, 3/8s or anything else I can't figure it out. I resort to counting each individual "tick" mark and then writing down the measurement this way, 1' 5" and two marks past 3/4 because I don't know what it is beyond that. OR I employ the use of my 14 year old who is still in school and can figure it out easily. But usually my projects come out screwed up. This is definitely the first one I've ever made that came out right. Generally for me it's measure four times and cut 900 then get pissed that it's screwed up and smash it.

Yes. I FINALLY have a place for my blueprints for that super weapon I've been meaning to construct.

I admire the craftsmanship. It's not my style, but it's very minimalist and clean. I also like how it looks so professionally done and probably a fraction of the cost.

Looks good. Like Barretsfloyd & CCNA said definitely put some stain and finish on it. Nothing like the pride you get when you build something with your own two hands that you will use all the time.

I have built a porch with a roof on it. Some other minor things too but nothing as extensive as that porch. I know I was proud of that svcker.

My daughter put her rocking horse, bag of toys and box of rocks under the desk as I was attaching the shelf. She's been helping me sand and felt that it needed some stuff under it. On a side note, I've sat on that rocking horse. It's not very comfy.

It's been quite a few years since I've been in the field, but IIRC generally there's going to be one or two coats as a sealer, then probably two-three coats for the final finish. At least that's how I remember it.

Makes sure to leave enough drying time between coats of finish. There's pretty good guidelines for how to proceed on the can of your preferred finish.

How many coats? 2 to 3. If it's stained poly, then how dark do you want the finish? Again, test on a scrap before you put too many coats on the real desk.

How long to wait, the can will tell you, but it's around 20 to 30 minutes for water based, and 3 to 4 hours for solvent based Poly.

I have oil based poly. I haven't even really looked at the can of poly or stain. I was holding off until I was ready. But tonight I'll take a piece of scrap of both the pine and oak and give each a few coats to see how it'll look.

pine is a more porous wood than oak is, therefore it would absorb the stain easier than the oak. Just something to keep in mind when you get around to the actual finishing phase.

So I should use less stain on the pine then the oak? Also, what's a prestain? I literally have no experience with painting or staining.