Making Biscuit Slits

The biscuit slits were actually really easy to make with this specialized too. Since the side panels are about 1 1/2 inches thick, the cutter was set up at precisely 3/4 of an inch. 

Specialized tool for creating biscuits. 

The end result was perfect, except for a few issues in the leg... After the cuts were made I connected the newly formed slits together with small football shaped pieces of wood. The connections were great, and as far as I can tell there are absolutely no errors. 

Finished Mortise Hole

The process of drilling the holes in all four legs went very smoothly. Not a single mistake on these, with each marked out before hand as to where to drill is to enter so there is a smaller margin of error compared to other methods.

Even without tools or looking to closely, one can tell that the hole for each leg is slightly off center. The tenon of the side stringer, when through the mortise, will line up so that the hole drilled into the tenon is basically centered in the leg for more stability in this connection.

There may have been no problems while drilling into the legs, but many had occurred when it was time to create the peg holes in the tenons. For example, the first two I drilled I had not pushed the tenons into place correctly, so the drilling points were wrong and ended up not pulling the tenons in, or even matching up at all. This created a huge problem, and so we ended up cutting a bit of the 1/4 inch peg the width of the tenon and gluing it into the newly made holes so that the area could be reused.

Setting Up for Drilling of the Legs

With a shorter tenon for the side stringers causes the issue of not being able to drive wedges into mortises at the ends of each. The solution: small quarter inch wooden pegs that can be driven into holes in the hole of the leg perpendicular to the entrance of the mortise. Another hole will be put 1/32nd of an inch to the further out area in the tenon to pull it tightly and erase any possibilities of instability.

This is the quarter inch drill bit that will be used to drill out the hole in both the leg and the tenon. There is scotch tape about an inch and a half up to prevent drilling through the leg as the point is to keep the 1/4 inch wooden peg in as tight as possible with few exits. 

Staining Reflection

Staining with polyurethane turned out to be a much different experience compared to simply painting one's room or using compressed air to paint small objects. It required a lot of patience and precision, especially with the legs and stringers as they are very thin and the stain should not go near the edges to prevent dripping. As all of the objects painted during the first coat session had four sides that needed to be stained, two saw-horses were set up to keep the surfaces touching to a minimum. I put a layer on the top side, then I would rotate the piece to the right and finish the next side for each to keep a consistent pattern. To dry without any errors, such as marks from a surface touching the fresh areas, there needed to be about a 2 hour interval between painting the first two sides, and the last two sides of each piece. So, of course, we went to lunch then finished up in the afternoon. After finishing each piece of wood, they need to be sanded to rid of any extra dust or drips. The plan for our next session is exactly that; sand, stain the second coat, and hope for the best.

Finishing the First Coat

The process of staining the first coat was really fun, but at the same time absolutely horrible. Everything had to be done perfectly, and I could only do two sides of each piece at a time so that it could dry before being placed on a surface. The problem with doing only two sides and then waiting for it to dry is that it takes around 2 hours to dry, and sides would tend to drip as they were perpendicular from the level ground.

The final look of the first coat is really beautiful, it turned a much darker brown than the original reddish chocolate color. It took around 6 hours give or take to finish painting all of these pieces, and that was entirely in a stuffy controlled environment which made things more uncomfortable. 

Painstaking Staining

Over the past weekend I stained, or painted, the first coat for all of the piece of the desk. The best method to stain walnut wood is to use clear satin polyeurathane and use long strokes. Since staining the finished pieces is very risky business, the process had to be very slow and precise to make sure there is no dripping and no puddles. 

The first part of the coating. I started on the easiest piece, the side panel. There aren't any mortises in the way, or tenons to avoids. It went well for the most part with minor dripping on each side. My plan for the next few pieces is to put as little substance on my brush at a time as I can to try and avoid any dripping or excess. 

Fitting and Wedges

The legs and supports so far that are sanded and cut to perfection have now been assembled! The look is fantastic even unfinished, all that is missing now is the side panels and two of the longer supports (these need to have the tenons cut again, and sanded of course). 

To keep the supports in place, a smaller mortise has been cut into the tenons on the longer supports. Small wedges will be added, but since the mortises are all different sizes and they also stick out at different lengths, the time that will be needed to create the wedges to fit perfectly will be quite a lot. 

Sanding and Cutting Tenons

For a few hours of work yesterday (Sunday May 11th) I had to cut the tenons on the ends of the top supports to easily flush with the top of the legs and side panels to allow the top to fit without any movement or issues. Along with creating flush tenons, the tenons also had to be sanded to fit perfectly into the mortises. This was a grueling exercise, for it took hours to make the tenons fit correctly, or at least it seemed. 

I'm really happy with the end results. At this point every piece is cut and sanded together, and I'll assemble everything to make sure the desk holds up. There's a ton of more work to do, but pretty soon I'll get to the finishing portion of the project (painting and more sanding. Yay!). This is the only part of the project that is bothersome so far, as sanding is extremely tiring. 

Upcoming Weekend Plans

This weekend I'm planning on going to my grandfathers to work on the legs mostly. The unfinished portions are the length of the legs, the height of the tenons, sanding and finishing of almost all of the wood, and putting biscuits on the sides of the side panels (aprons) to easily attach to the legs. Since the inventor design now needs an IDW file, I can create that in the near future (dimensioning is quite time consuming).

Hopefully the door I acquired will be usable, although I'm suspecting since it cannot be nicely cut due to a hallow interior I'm going to need to stick to the 3 layer idea. This is whiteboard on top, and two layers of MDF underneath, one smaller than the other, and walnut on the edges to create a stylish look. The MDF will be made slightly smaller so that it can fit into the frame and the top section will overhang to create a tabletop look.

A Door for the Top

I went to Serene Elements, an antique shop after school. I went looking for an old door to use as the top of my desk, as they are extremely sturdy and already made to be a mostly correct size (except for the length, which is about double my intentions). I went in and the manager greeted me, saying the store was closed but if there was anything I needed specifically. I explained I needed a door without any details, like indents or fancy engravings. I'm assuming this question had been asked previously, as he immidiately went to "oh, for a desk?". He led me to the back, and there were about 5 doors. Most of them were quite beat up as they were scrapped from old buildings.
I had to choose between a lamenated, in my opinion prettier door, and a plain reddish maple textured door. I felt that even though the lamenated option looked better, glueing and working with it would be a pain. In the end I took the red maple door, and I have high hopes for this piece. With my updated design I recently uploaded, I can easily attach a piece of plywood to the bottom so it can slide into place.

Desk Redesign

After some building and talking about my previous design with my grandfather, we came to the conclusion that the top needed to be attached a different way. This would include a drop down into the new frame, which now contains new support beams and side panels. The top will be made  of a slice of a door for the very top portion, and a plywood 2 inches less in width and length that can drop into the frame..