| Project by dataman | posted 566 days ago | 683 views | 2 times favorited | 8 comments |  |
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Working weekends a friend and I built our roll top desks from scratch. Always wanting a roll top desk we decided that if we worked on our own we would never get one done but combining our tools and efforts we could accomplish it.
It took us three years only working on weekends and excluding the summer since my friend golfed every weekend. We stated from scratch with rough wood. I used oak and he used cherry wood.
We did use a pattern for the basic measurements but it was a secretary’s desk so we had to change everything. The drawer areas where too narrow for the computer to fit into so we widened the drawer area as well as making it deeper again to accommodate the PC. Probably the most difficult change was the top portion. The original design had the top tapering back quite quickly and then raising up. Needless to say we could not fit a CRT (all there was at that time) into it. We raised the top by at least 10” and brought it way forward and minimized the curvature. We used a lot of cardboard templates to check the fit. Obviously now with flat screen monitors we have tons of room on top! I finished it with many coats of Tung oil. This was a long project and one of the most rewarding projects that I have ever made.
8 comments so far
GaryK
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9530 posts in 884 days
posted 566 days ago
Looks like it was worth the three years it took to build! Fantastic job.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Randy Sharp
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198 posts in 568 days
posted 566 days ago
Wow dataman! Beautiful work. Of all my woodworking goals, a roll-top desk tops my list. Working up to the courage to tackle such a job. Thanks for the encouragement!
-- Randy, Tupelo, MS ~ May I become more like the Master Carpenter every day.
Scott Bryan
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20694 posts in 717 days
posted 566 days ago
Dataman,
This is a beautiful desk. You did a wonderful job on the construction and finish.
Thanks for sharing this project. I really enjoyed looking at this.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
lew
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4488 posts in 651 days
posted 566 days ago
Dataman,
Beautiful work!!!
I envy you. I have always wanted to build one of these ever since I saw one in an old W. C. Fields movie.
Lew
Grumpy
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14926 posts in 747 days
posted 566 days ago
timeless piece, great job.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
Woodhacker
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1145 posts in 619 days
posted 565 days ago
Dataman, I’m jealous! I’ve always wanted to try something like this. That looks like it would be a lot of fun to build…you did excellent work!
-- Martin, Kansas
Kipster
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1072 posts in 648 days
posted 564 days ago
3 years of building will give decades of use.
Thanks for posting.
-- Kip Northern Illinois ( If you don't know where your goin any road will take you there) George Harrison
ND2ELK
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6200 posts in 669 days
posted 561 days ago
You guys did a great job on your desk. Looks very nice. Thanks for posting.
God bless
tom
-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa