# Taliesin Desk in Cherry



## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Getting started*

I've been working my way up to this project over the last few years. I have an old "80's oak" desk in my home office and while it is fine, the style is out of date. When I started in woodworking, my hope was to learn enough and hone my skills to be able to replace my desk some day.

I can across this design by Kevin Rodel on the Fine Woodworking site, but there was not much information on it just a few photos. I came across a free plan from Mr. Rodel (FWW July/Aug 2005) for an arts and crafts coffee table. In the article there were dimension given for end tables, a sofa table and a dinning table all in this style. Looking at the desk design and the dimensions of the dining table, they appeared to be similar proportions.


















I started drawing the desk up in Sketchup, and a new LJ friend Dan M. helped finish them up.

So, enough with the planning and dreaming… A few weekends ago I took a drive to LL Johnson's Workbench in Charlotte, MI. I could have bought the rough lumber closer to home, but LL's prices were pretty reasonable so why not a take a closer look. This place is huge with 7 or 8 warehouses full of every type of wood you can imagine. The guys there were very helpful setting up my account and pulling down stacks of lumber for me to pick through. Their selection of cherry was great and I ended up buying 94bdft of various thicknesses. The guy at the desk even gave me the 100bdft price (30% off).










Now the fun starts…


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## aksarben1010 (Mar 15, 2012)

JimYoung said:


> *Getting started*
> 
> I've been working my way up to this project over the last few years. I have an old "80's oak" desk in my home office and while it is fine, the style is out of date. When I started in woodworking, my hope was to learn enough and hone my skills to be able to replace my desk some day.
> 
> ...


Why do you call it the Taliesin Desk? Is it influenced by FLW in some way?


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Getting started*
> 
> I've been working my way up to this project over the last few years. I have an old "80's oak" desk in my home office and while it is fine, the style is out of date. When I started in woodworking, my hope was to learn enough and hone my skills to be able to replace my desk some day.
> 
> ...


Hi Ben,

That is what Kevin Rodel calls it. I believe it does have some FLW influence in it, and having been to Taliesin West it would fit in there.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Marking and mortising*

Continuing on with my desk project…

I milled all of the lumber roughly to size. I left everything a little oversized in case any internal stress warped the boards. Also, my planer blades were shot and leaving raised lines. For now I'm sticking with the HSS blades and got two sets on Amazon for a decent price. The new blades cut like butter. After a few days, I dimensioned all the parts for the legs and all the end pieces.

Next, I marked all of the mortise locations. I used blue painters tape, my marking gauge, and a hobby knife to score all of the 40 mortises. Next I used my router and a jig I have to rough them out. The smaller mortises I used my drill press and a forstner bit. I've been attacking them a few each night, making sure to knock off before I start getting sloppy.



















On one of the legs, I cut a 1/4" slice off and routed a 3/4" channel and glue the leg back together. This will be for a power cord. The glue joint came out pretty good, and I don't think you'll notice it on the finished desk.



















Well, off to knock out a few more holes.


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Marking and mortising*
> 
> Continuing on with my desk project…
> 
> ...


The mortises look nice! Which brand of chisels are you using?


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Marking and mortising*
> 
> Continuing on with my desk project…
> 
> ...


Hi Dan,

I'm getting better with the chisels. I have a set of four Woodriver chisels from Woodcraft. I'm not sure on the quality, but when I get a decent edge on them, they cut well. I love the sound of sharp metal cutting wood in the morning. They were only ~$30 on sale and to me they are fine for cleaning up and paring. I keep trolling on craigslist for a better set of bench chisels, but have not found anything recently.

Any suggestions on what I should be looking for is greatly appreciated. I'm still new at this and trying to learn.

I still need to work on my sharpening skills. I 've read a lot on the "scary sharp" technique, but for now I've got a two sided oil stone and an angle jig that is working okay for me.

I've got all of the blind mortises done, and I'll hone up the chisels before I tackle the through mortises. I want to make sure these are as close to perfect as possible since you will see these.


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Marking and mortising*
> 
> Continuing on with my desk project…
> 
> ...


Hi Jim:

I am looking for some quality chisels too. The ones I have are just from Sears and Home Depot. I do now have a good set of diamond sharping stones, and they worked good on my current chisels, but they dull quickly.

Dan


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Marking and mortising*
> 
> Continuing on with my desk project…
> 
> ...


Hi Dan,

I received a brand new Woodriver No. 4 plane for Christmas. I've gone over it, but my sharpening stone (Arkansas) is not wide enough for the iron. I'm looking at a set of waterstones, but what type of diamond stones do you have?

I've found several nice chisel sets on Amazon, and there is a nice english set of Mortise chisels that I'm dreaming about.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Legs and Grill Work*

We'll it's been a while since I updated my desk build blog. I had 40 mortises to square up on the legs, so I've taken the "15 minute" approach to this build. Whenever I had a little spare time I would knock out another mortise.

With all of the mortises done, it was on to the tenons. I bought a Rockler heavy duty tenon jigs a while back, and tried it once with mixed results. Prior to that I have been using a home made jig for my router that holds pieces flat to hog out the tenons. The router jig really makes a mess with all the chips, so I decided to spend the time and properly setup the table saw jig. It was not as bad as I thought. I did go through a pile of scrap pieces to get the saw blade and vertical face of the jig aligned, but now I can knock tenons quickly and accurately with little mess. I make the shoulder cuts with my sled, and the cheek cuts with the jig.




























All in all, I am happy with the fit of all the pieces. There was a bit of adjustment to the mortises, but nothing major. I've really tried to slow down with this project and and make everything as accurate as possible, and enjoy the process.

For the through tenons on the lower stretcher, I took the parts into one of the weekend build sessions for the high school musical, and used the power miter box and stand that I built for them last summer. The ends of the tenons are cut at 30 degrees to form a peak. I then drilled two 3/8" holes at the base of each tenon and cut the slot for the wedges with my band saw. I used a makeshift fence to get the slots as straight as possible. The holes thin out the bass of the tenon that will need to bend as the wedges are driven in. This should allow them to bend and not break.



















We had a band new blade on the power miter box, but the cut was not as smooth as I would have liked. I was trying to avoid having to sand too much on these parts to keep the crisp edges., but oh well.

The last things to do on the legs are to cut the arches in the bottom stretchers and route out the inlay areas. I made up some templates from hard board, but I'm out of two sided tape to attached them. I rough cut them on my bandsaw, but the final trim with a pattern bit will have to wait.

I moved onto the inlay areas. I used the same router jig that I use for roughing out mortises. I have a 3/4" straight bit and set it for 1/4 deep and 3/8" from the edge of the board. A couple of passes on each leg cut the edges and one more pass down the center completed the inlay.




























The bottom edge of the inlay will be cleaned up by hand with a chisel. My plan right now is to use "ebonized" walnut for the inlays. I looked at real ebony, but it was really expensive and the veneers were all stripes of black and tan and not what I was looking for. I have some black trans tint dye and have also read up on ebonizing with vinegar and steel wool. I have some walnut veneer and a chunk of walnut for the wedges and other accent pieces. So, I'll be experimenting to see what I can come up with. But that will have to wait for another 15 minute break.

Later,


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

JimYoung said:


> *Legs and Grill Work*
> 
> We'll it's been a while since I updated my desk build blog. I had 40 mortises to square up on the legs, so I've taken the "15 minute" approach to this build. Whenever I had a little spare time I would knock out another mortise.
> 
> ...


Jim, this is a great write up for your project. I'm looking forward to the next installment.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Legs and Grill Work*
> 
> We'll it's been a while since I updated my desk build blog. I had 40 mortises to square up on the legs, so I've taken the "15 minute" approach to this build. Whenever I had a little spare time I would knock out another mortise.
> 
> ...


Jim, this is coming along nicely. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Legs and Grill Work*
> 
> We'll it's been a while since I updated my desk build blog. I had 40 mortises to square up on the legs, so I've taken the "15 minute" approach to this build. Whenever I had a little spare time I would knock out another mortise.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind words. I got a little more done tonight between helping my daughter with her homework. I'll post again shortly.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Walnut Inlays*

I've got a few days off for the holidays, and i've been able to get a little more work done on my desk project. I've been trying to figure out what type and color wood I want for the inlays and accent pieces. After talking with the guys at the local woodcraft, I picked up some trans tint 0 black dye, a chunk of walnut and some walnut veneers. I played around with these (and after dying my hand black, be careful with this stuff), but did not like the pitch black look. A friend can to my rescue when he was getting rid of some air dried walnut that he had laying around for a while. He had several pieces 2+" thick. After cutting into one log, the quarter sawn grain was beautiful.










I used a thin rip guide and slices off several pieces about 1/16" thick. The color was not enough contrast for me, so I picked up some "dark walnut" trans tint dye. Mixed thin with alcohol, a few coats evened out the color and darkened it nicely but still allowed the grain to come through.



















I like the contrast, and the different textures of the wood should add some interest to the piece. I plan on using the same dyes and wood on the wedges for the through tenons.

I used regular wood glue for the inlays, and a plywood block to distribute the clamping force. I cut them a little long and made sure to tap them down to seat them tightly to the bottom of the recess. I cleaned up the top with my block plane. This was an all day affair on Thanksgiving with gluing up on piece, clamping it, letting it set up for at least 30 minutes, rinse and repeat.

Lastly, I cut a small chamfer on all the pieces and a larger one on the bottom of the legs. With that, I was ready for the first major glue up. With all the grill work, I 'm doing this in two steps for each side, first the 4 center spindles are glued to the top and bottom. Second, I'll add the smaller "window frames" and the two legs.










Thanks for following along,

Jim


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## Tomoose (Mar 1, 2009)

JimYoung said:


> *Walnut Inlays*
> 
> I've got a few days off for the holidays, and i've been able to get a little more work done on my desk project. I've been trying to figure out what type and color wood I want for the inlays and accent pieces. After talking with the guys at the local woodcraft, I picked up some trans tint 0 black dye, a chunk of walnut and some walnut veneers. I played around with these (and after dying my hand black, be careful with this stuff), but did not like the pitch black look. A friend can to my rescue when he was getting rid of some air dried walnut that he had laying around for a while. He had several pieces 2+" thick. After cutting into one log, the quarter sawn grain was beautiful.
> 
> ...


Looks good, Jim. Keep up the good work.

Tom


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Walnut Inlays*
> 
> I've got a few days off for the holidays, and i've been able to get a little more work done on my desk project. I've been trying to figure out what type and color wood I want for the inlays and accent pieces. After talking with the guys at the local woodcraft, I picked up some trans tint 0 black dye, a chunk of walnut and some walnut veneers. I played around with these (and after dying my hand black, be careful with this stuff), but did not like the pitch black look. A friend can to my rescue when he was getting rid of some air dried walnut that he had laying around for a while. He had several pieces 2+" thick. After cutting into one log, the quarter sawn grain was beautiful.
> 
> ...


Look'n Good!


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## jhurrell (Jan 29, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Walnut Inlays*
> 
> I've got a few days off for the holidays, and i've been able to get a little more work done on my desk project. I've been trying to figure out what type and color wood I want for the inlays and accent pieces. After talking with the guys at the local woodcraft, I picked up some trans tint 0 black dye, a chunk of walnut and some walnut veneers. I played around with these (and after dying my hand black, be careful with this stuff), but did not like the pitch black look. A friend can to my rescue when he was getting rid of some air dried walnut that he had laying around for a while. He had several pieces 2+" thick. After cutting into one log, the quarter sawn grain was beautiful.
> 
> ...


I love the inlays. I think you made the right choices with the wood and finish.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*

The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.










For the through tenons, I used a small amount of glue on the faces of the tenons to minimize squeeze out. Once the legs and "window frame" pieces were all clamped up, I taped off around the mortises. I then forced glue into the top and bottom of the mortise before driving the walnut wedges in place. Removing the tape left a clean joint.



















After letting the glue set up, I trimmed the wedges and sanded them flush with the tenons.










The finished leg assemblies look pretty nice.










Tonight, I was able to finish up the central arches. They have wedged, through tenons, and a gentle arch to the bottom. After roughing the arch with the bandsaw, I used a hardboard template and pattern bit in my router.



















It's starting to look like a desk!


















Next up is the front apron and drawer supports.

Thanks for following along,


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

JimYoung said:


> *Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*
> 
> The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
> 
> ...


What beautiful legs and craftsmanship.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*
> 
> The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
> 
> ...


That is looking nice now. Rodel sure included a lot of details on this desk. Very handsome.


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

JimYoung said:


> *Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*
> 
> The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
> 
> ...


This is going to be a masterpiece.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*
> 
> The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind words, but I think stefang is getting a little fresh! ( ^ ;

I made a lot of chips tonight milling down the apron pieces. I had to stop and clean the shop and empty the dust collector (2nd time for this project).

Any suggestions on wood for the drawer boxes? I'm thinking about using "soft maple" rather than birch plywood.


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## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

JimYoung said:


> *Second Glue Up and Wedged Tenons*
> 
> The second part of the leg glue up is pretty complicated. Luckily, my Father In-Law was in town for the holidays and he gave me a hand getting all the parts in place.
> 
> ...


Beautiful and right up my aesthetic alley  On no plywood on this please


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Coming together*

The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.

The drawers were a straight forward as well. I just needed to be careful since I am using one piece so the grain matches from one drawer to the next. It took me two tries on the drawer fronts, because my router bit came loose in the middle of routing for the accent pieces. I added a chamfer to the bottom edge of the drawer to be able to grip them better when opening them.




























I cut a small block with a v-groove to match the accent pieces to tap them into place without marring them.



















On the drawer side, there are pieces that are tenoned into the legs. These were easy to glue in place.










The next glue up was pretty easy as well. I did not put any glue on the through tenons of the central arches. I glued up the front apron, and used several pipe clamps to pull everything.










Next I taped off the through tenons, applied glue to the top and bottom gaps and drove in the walnut wedges.










I love it when a plan comes together!


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Coming together*
> 
> The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.
> 
> ...


Beautiful work. Looking forward to the next episode.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Coming together*
> 
> The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.
> 
> ...


Jim, this is looking very good.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Coming together*
> 
> The front apron and drawer fronts we the next thing to tackle. The front apron is pretty straight forward, but it has four walnut accent pieces inset in it. The walnut pieces are faceted to mirror the through tenons. Also there a four slots routed on the back of it to hold the drawer supports.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys.

I started working on the top last night. I cut the boards I had on hand down to ~6' and I'll take them to the local mill to have them planned and one edge straightened (I can't handle that long of a board in my shop yet). Unfortunately, my couple of mistakes and one badly warped board left me about a foot short of the total width I needed. I'll have to pick up a couple more 5/4 boards at the mill. I'm also going to pickup some soft maple for the drawer boxes.

I got my first batch of cherry at a different mill, and it was marked as kiln dried. I'm not sure what the local mill carries if it is air or kiln dried. Should I be concerned about mixing air dried and kiln dried wood from different sources? This is for the top, which will be pretty obvious if the wood doesn't match. I'm not planning on any stain or dyes, just a clear finish. The first mill is about an hour drive, and if made sense when I was buy 100bdft of wood.

Later,


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Drawers*

I trekked to the local lumber mill this morning, and picked through their pile of 5/4 cherry looking for a couple more boards for the top. I also took the rest of the top boards since my planer sled can only handle 4'. They jointed one face and rough planed them all for $8. I have them stickered and weighed down in the basement for a day or two to let them settle a bit.










I also picked up a piece of 5/4 soft maple to start the drawer boxes. I've never worked with soft maple before, but it is nice stuff. It machines well and doesn't burn when cutting or routing. The center drawer is about 17" wide and the two side drawers are about 6" wide. All are 24" deep with a "secret compartment" at 16". I re-sawed them and planed them down to 1/2" and cut a groove for the bottom in all the pieces.










I used my box joint jig and in pretty short order I had a set of drawer box frames.



















I only had enough 1/4 plywood to finish up one drawer. I guess it's another trip to the woodworking store.

Thanks for following along,


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Topping it off*

I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.

I glued up the top in two sections. It did require a bit of clamping pressure to bring the edges together, so I made sure to let the glue dry a full 24 hours before unclamping them. Thus the three days to complete this task. I used painter's tape along the glue joints to minimize cleanup from drips and squeeze out. This worked well and the glue did not seep under the tape edge.



















I did need to borrow a couple of 4' clamps for the final glue up (it helps to have neighbors who are also woodworkers).

For all the glue ups, I used some scrap boards with clear packing tape and clamps to keep the joints flush. This worked pretty well and I was able to clean up all the joints with my RO sander.

I do have one small knot hole in the middle of the top that I'll fill with epoxy and filler stained dark brown.










Next, I used my circular saw to cut the ends of the top square. The overall dimensions will be 36" wide and 68" long after the two 4" wide breadboard ends are attached. With a straightedge clamped to the top, I routed the tenon that will fit into the end pieces.










I milled the breadboard ends and started routing the mortise, but my router made a horrible noise and the 3/8" spiral up cut bit spun out of the collet! Luckily the end piece wasn't ruined, but the bit left a larger hole than planned. This also happened on the test piece I used while setting up this cut. I thought I just didn't have the collet snugged down enough, and made sure to tighten it before starting on the real piece. The bit has been used, but I didn't thing it was that dull.

Have I damaged the collet on my router? Looking at cut, the bit must have been trying to climb up as I cut and as it did the slot it was cutting got wider and wider. Like the bit was not spinning straight anymore. Anyhow, I ordered a new bit and it will be here in a few days. I 'll double check my router and see if I can see anything with the collet.

In the meantime, the plywood to finish the drawers showed up, so I glued them up and mounted the hardware.










Two of the drawers fit a little tight, so I'm going to run them through the table saw to shave a little off.

Thanks for following along.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Topping it off*
> 
> I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.
> 
> ...


That's going to be one nice desk. Breadboard ends are a pain, but I'm sure they will come out great.


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Topping it off*
> 
> I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.
> 
> ...


Some nice tips on the glue up. I plan to use them for my next table top.

Dan


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## Macan (Jan 8, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Topping it off*
> 
> I have some time off for the holidays, so I've got the top glued up. This took three days to accomplish. I put together a long ripping jig to to get a straight edge on all of the boards. I had an old oak shelf with a machined edge on it, and I used a couple of scrap blocks screwed to the board. I could then screw through the blocks into the edge of the boards to hold them while I ripped a straight edge on them. I made sure to have the top up on one edge and down when cutting the other edge. This way if my saw blade was off a little the boards would still fit together nicely. This worked pretty well and I didn't need to run next door to have my friend edge joint them.
> 
> ...


Your desk is awesome. I found this desk on Kevin Rodels web site a few years ago and have wanted to build
it ever since. I finally finished remodeling my kitchen and bar area so I can get back to building furniture. This
desk will be a challenge because the pieces are pretty large. I do have a 12 inch planner and an 8 inch joiner so it should work out.
Would you be willing to share the dimensions of the desk? I've determined the overall dimensions (LxWxH) but I'm
unsure of cross members and uprights. 
At this point I think I'm going to build a mock up out of some extra plywood I have. 
Thanks


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Breadboard Ends*

I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.

I ended up going back to my plunge router base with guides to finish them up. I was concerned about using this setup, since I would be routing a pretty deep slot in the edge of a 4" wide board. In the end this worked out better and gave me a cleaner mortise. I still got some vibration when routing, so I'm wondering if the bearings I replaced a year or so ago have gone bad already. I don't feel any play in the bottom bearing, but I do see a lot of electrical arcing from the motor brushes when the vibration happens. The vibration is more pronounced when cutting a full slot. When widening the slot with the bit only cutting on one side, the vibration is much less if at all. Not sure it this is a characteristic of the spiral bits grabbing the wood?

The original plans called for a 2" tenon into the breadboard ends. The $50 carbide bit only has a 1 1/4" cutting length, so I cut down the tenon to 1". We'll see if this is enough.

Next, I faceted the ends of the breadboards and routed a series of 1/4" deep slots on the outside edge for some walnut accent pieces. These pieces will cover the screw holes that mount the breadboard ends.










I used a 3/8" forstner bit to make counter sink for the mounting screws. I slotted the screw holes to allow for movement. I had some 2" screws with a hex head and wide washer surface left over from my deck. With all four screw snugged up, the breadboards are very solid. No glue used here.










The walnut accents match the ones on the drawer fronts and front apron. I milled a 3/8" strip, then ripped a 30 degree bevels on it, and finally cut them to length. They are just tapped into place with no glue in case I need to remove them later to access the screws.



















With that, all the major construction is done. I have a couple of the wedges to repair where they broke when I was pounding them in. This left a ragged edge that I'll fill with tinted epoxy and filler. Then it should be a final sanding and shop clean up before applying the finish.

It's back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone!


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Your table is looking great! How are you attaching the top of the desk?


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


I've ordered a bag of heavy gauge "figure-8" fasteners. These allow for movement of the cross grain top to the long grain side aprons. I've used these in the past on my other tables, and they work nice. I figure I'll use 4 along each side to make sure it is strong enough to lift the desk by the top.


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## DanMelander (Dec 20, 2013)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Please post of photo of the figure-8 fasteners when they are attached to the base. I would be interested in how you install them.

Thanks, Dan


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## avlamonte (Dec 31, 2015)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Table looks awesome! I have used the figure 8 fasteners also…they work great…


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Looks great. Really sharp.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys. I picked up some Arm-R-Seal Semi-Gloss today and have done a few test pieces.

I also have a 2" cable guide since I will be using this a desk for my computer. I'm not looking forward to drillings a 2" hole in the top! 8^o


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## Macan (Jan 8, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Your desk is awesome. I found this desk on Kevin Rodels web site a few years ago and have wanted to build
it ever since. I finally finished remodeling my kitchen and bar area so I can get back to building furniture. This
desk will be a challenge because the pieces are pretty large. I do have a 12 inch planner and an 8 inch joiner so it should work out.
Would you be willing to share the dimensions of the desk? I've determined the overall dimensions (LxWxH) but I'm
unsure of cross members and uprights. 
At this point I think I'm going to build a mock up out of some extra plywood I have. 
Thanks, Jim


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Hi Jim,

The base is 44 1/2" x 30 1/2", and the height is a standard 30" for a table/desk. My top will be 36"x 68", but this is easy to adjust for your needs and space.

Dan and I have a full Sketchup drawing with all of the pieces exploded that you are welcome to, just send me a private message with your email, and I'll pass it along.

I have a 13" planer, table saw, and a router. It is not terribly difficult to build, but once you glue up the legs and top you have some big pieces to move around the shop. I still consider myself a noobie, by what I see on this site, but as long as I take my time and plan things out it is doable.


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## Macan (Jan 8, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Hi Jim,

Turns out I can't send a private email until I have posts on the site.
So I guess I'll take a chance and post it here. [email protected]

I sure appreciate the file. Thanks, Jim


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Quick update (not enough for a new post).

I've got a couple of coats of Arm-R-Seal oil based Semi-Gloss on the desk. I used a foam brush and laid down two coats and then sanded with 400grit to level it out. I'll add either one or two more coats. The top and drawers are pretty straight forward, but the base took over 2 hours to sand. All those nooks and crannies.

The finish really brought out the color and grain, and I'm very happy with how it is coming out. I have a 3000 grit pad that I tested, and it knocks down all the dust specks and leaves a beautiful, smooth, satin finish. My plan is to rub out the final coat with this pad and finish with a coat of paste wax. This should be a lot cleaner than using steel wool. I have an old can of Johnson's wax, any suggestions here?


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## EarlS (Dec 21, 2011)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Jim,

I prefer Behlens Deluxing compound rather than regular Johnson's wax. It gives a much nicer finish that lasts longer too. It is a wax product. Follow the directions otherwise is dries and is a pain to rub out. I usually buff it off with a soft cloth and it gives a nice durable finish that stands up to wear quite well. After my first use, I threw my can of Johnson's wax in the trash.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Breadboard Ends*
> 
> I've been pretty productive over my holiday break. I received a new 3/8" up cut router bit and collet. I tried finishing up the mortise on the breadboard ends on my router table, but was still getting a lot of vibration and weird sounds from my router. I tried slowing the speed down even more, but that didn't help.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it.


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

*Finally!*

We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.

I had some issue with the finishing. I had the top all done, and decided to add one more coat. I had wet sanded it down with 400, and wiped on the final coat. The coat did not cover like when I was brushing it on, so I let it dry for 6 hour and brushed on what I thought would be the final coat. When I came back, the finish had bubbled in several spots. So, back to sanding. I'm glad to report the final coats went much better.

Once the finish had set for a week or so, I started rubbing it out with Behlen's Deluxing Compound at EarlS's suggestion. This worked pretty well, and I'm happy with the results. The base was a real pain with all the nooks and crannies. For the top I got out my car RO buffer and it went pretty fast.

Next up was to route recesses for the figure 8 fasteners I used for the top. I just free handed these, with 4 per side.



















The final bit of construction, also the scariest, was to cut a 2" hole in the finished top for a cable guide. I taped off the top, measured twice and started with a hole saw. No issues, and I have a plastic trim piece from Woodcraft to finish it off.

Last night I moved the old desk out of my office, steam cleaned the carpet, and today started moving my new desk in. I'm actually type this blog on my new desk.

All in all, I am very pleased with how it came out. There are a few mistakes here and there, but looking at in my office, I'm the only one who will know they are there. I think I learned a few new things, honed a few older skills, and gain some confidence to try similar size projects.














































Thanks for following along,


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## DonB (Jan 11, 2011)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the blog. I am impressed with the clean design and ultimate finish. Well done.


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


Jim - I love the prairie style and this is such a great piece.

I can imagine how nerve wracking it must have been to cut that hole.

Your finish looks great, you really overcame the challenges.

Great job!


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## JimYoung (Jan 20, 2014)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


There were several nerve wracking times in this build. The legs were very complex and I had a limited amount of 12/4 cherry, so every time I had to work on them I made sure I had a plan and knew what I was going to do.

Thanks,


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## ShapingGrain (Mar 3, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


I love this design. Great job on the project and an inspiration for the rest of us.


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## grimgrinnin (Nov 2, 2016)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


Beautiful Desk!

Would you consider sharing your sketchup file?


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## proto55 (Dec 29, 2017)

JimYoung said:


> *Finally!*
> 
> We'll its finally finished. I've been busy since my last entry, but I kept pecking away at it.
> 
> ...


Hey Jim,
Would I be able to get plans for this desk, I adore the design.
Thanks!


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