Desk project progress

Eric Eckman

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20
Location
Brunswick, ME
So after a lot of help in the general woodworking section on lumber selection, I decided to go with poplar and baltic birch plywood for my desk project. I've been working pretty steadily and making good progress, most of the intricate work on my base is finished. Tomorrow I have to finish the panels and then glue up all four bases (two for a corner desk and two for a matching straight desk). I'm excited to get that done with, because then I get to make the desk top and it'll finally start looking like something.

This is the biggest furniture project I've done yet, so I'm excited to see it take shape. It was intimidating to get started, but it's like the saying goes: "How do you eat an elephant? . . . .. . One bite at a time."
 

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I've just completed the base desks and moved them into the room, what an upgrade from the shaky little table I was using before. I still have to build the shelf/cabinet that will sit on top of the side table, but at least I can use this as a desk in the meantime.
 

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nice work eric but i think you forgot toshows us a few steps yu went from some planer dust to the end panel to finished today ..hey we paid for the whole show:)
 
Sorry guys, I wouldn't want to leave you high and dry on the photo front. I wish I took more photos, but when I get into a project, I just pound away at it and barely remember to stop and eat lunch, let alone take photos, so I don't have as many as I'd like. Here are a few more- of course I got an obligatory photo of the smoothing plane in action. Since I just started woodworking recently, I really had no idea that a hand plane could replace sandpaper. After reading more about it on this site and others, I got one and am happy to say that I probably spent a grand total of 5 minutes using sandpaper on this project, all the rest was done with the plane. I doubt I'll ever go back, it seems to me to be such a time saver, not to mention that it's quiet and clean! To the point where I'm dreading making the cabinet/shelf system since there will be a lot of plywood involved so I'm guessing I'll have to do a little bit of sanding on that.

Anyway, here are the rest of my photos, I know it's a pathetic collection and I should have gotten a few more of the joinery like my first attempt at haunched mortis and tenons, but I really wasn't thinking about it as I went along.
 

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Haha, sorry to disappoint, Larry, but I didn't make the panels with my plane. I beveled them on the tablesaw. I did smooth the bevels entirely with the plane though, which was great because it allowed me to keep good, crisp lines on the bevels that sandpaper would have rounded over.
 
Thanks so much, Stuart! I'm still somewhat in the middle of this project because I need to build the shelf/cabinet system that goes along with the desk. After that, I need to build a hallway table and a buffet for the dining room, so they're probably the next two larger projects.
 
Since I just started woodworking recently, I really had no idea that a hand plane could replace sandpaper. After reading more about it on this site and others, I got one and am happy to say that I probably spent a grand total of 5 minutes using sandpaper on this project, all the rest was done with the plane.

Fess up Eric, I see more than one plane. You need to hide the evidence of your addiction a little better. If you look in the background of the plane photo, you can see another laying on its side.
 
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