I decided to build a desk for the house we bought. Currently we just have small little crappy desk so I wanted something big and better. At my work we sell desks, but for what I wanted i would be paying over $3000. So I made up some plans and made a model in sketch and did a lot of drawing and measuring and making blueprints etc... This is not going to be a project log so there will likely not be progress shots. Here is what I designed in Sketchup. Some of it has changed. All of it is going to have a wood finish unlike the screenshots show and the standing cabinet is going to have doors as well. I use a program called Cutlist to enter all the pieces i need cutting and it figured out placement for them on the sheets of wood I bought. it even calculated the grain direction that i wanted. Here is where I am at now. I have built the drawers, standing cabinet and overhead cupboards. Not 100% done but getting there. I also did a test piece for staining to see what the color is like and how many coats i will want to do.
Red mahogany: Don't spill any of it, though. People will ask, "OMG, what happened?!?!?" every time. My back porch looks like a crime scene.
heheh did two coats of clear on that test piece today. will do a light sand then a 3rd coat tomorrow. also got the handles for the drawers put on too. did a little test with the hinges for the overhead cabinet. got the dimensions figured out so tomorrow I will probably do that as well. then I need to cut the doors for that tall cabinet. i ordered the hinges for it tonight. originally we weren't going to have doors on it but it will look much nicer with doors, plus we had a big extra piece from all the cutting.
good stuff dude. something i would not be capable of doing. how much would you charge for something like that
funny thing about furnitures... i wanted to buy a vanity, they tried to charge me $3000 for a couple of sheets of plywood that is glued and nailed together... i opened account with local lumber yard for wood bought myself a festool plunge saw bought myself a bunch of other tools that i did not need for this project and still came out cheaper than retail cost of vanity.
It is 3/4" particle board with birch veneer. not a real fancy veneer but it was on sale for about half price so i take a cheaper veneer than pay double well materials for the whole thing will end up around $700 maybe. I dont think i would ever do this for someone unless I had a cnc machine to cut it all. Id probably put on another $400 - $600 in labor though. Would still be way cheaper than buying one ( $3000+ ) I plan to make all new kitchen cabinets for my house in a few years. current ones are old and not so great. i can do it for less than 25% of regular price and almost just as good of a job. maybe if i like it i may have to get a cnc machine someday and startup a side business ?
Use the real wood on those kitchen cabinets. That particle board crap they sell now as high-dollar equipment lasts about as long as your first leak. I've rebuilt a lot of kitchen and bathroom cabinets with that stuff. It just melts when it gets wet.
^ This! I work with wood from time to time with my grandfather and father and they use REAL wood.. in fact when i was young.. I built an desk with my father and grandfather.. it's a very good one.. but right now it's in Storage..
Looking good. How are you joining those panels together, dowel, biscuits? That chipboard will last forever if sealed properly and kept away from water.
For the drawers and cabinets I did glue and air nailer. For the desk top and sides I will use Minifix Knock Down Fasteners. I agree, if sealed correctly particle board will last forever. And you wont get the warping/shrinkage you might get from solid wood.
actually, for kitchen cabinets and furniture, you'll find much more stability from mdf and plywood... hardwood on the doors, but carcass, you'll do better with plywood. do yourself a big favor though... don't buy ply/mdf from home depot... find a reputable lumber yard... quality difference will be noticable...
little update.... the drawers and cabinets were totally assembled with handles and stuff. now took them apart, did the edging, sanding and now working on the staining. already did the first coat of stain on the drawers and doors and shelves. need to stain the cabinets, then do 2nd (final) coat of stain on all of it. no pics but i will see if i can take some this week... i also wired up my house with network cabling. got 4 lines to the office and 4 to living room. made a network box/mount thing for in the hall closet where the modem, router, and switches will be for distributing the internets to the house. now just need to relocate the DSL line to that closet and do all the punch downs and it will be good.
Allways enjoy seeing some carpentry going on To those talking about furniture for the kitchen etc... the only material to make furniture damp-proof and water-resistant is fully lacquered MDF. Atleast that's what I was told from my teacher during the seven years of working in the carpentry of my boarding-school, where we did all the furniture and the restorations.
You are correct that many woodworkers use quality plywood for cabinet carcasses, but most will advise against using MDF. MDF has its uses - its dimensional stability and sharp corners makes it great for jigs, and its density and acoustic properties make it useful speaker boxes. However, for kitchen cabinets or other large permanent furniture I would warn against MDF. It's dimensionally stable, but it has a higher elasticity than plywood or solid lumber. Plus, it tends to swell when it gets wet (more so than other woods), and is more prone to tearout from screws and other fasteners. I tend to agree about buying lumber from big box stores. I do it, but I'm cheap and I have no problem spending a lot of time sifting through boards to get decent stock. Good plywood is getting harder to find these days; my last couple of sheets were full of voids!
i personally hate working with mdf... looking to find a substitute to use as my spoil board for my cncrouter... but you're right, for jigs, it's fine... but damn... it's such a pain and the dust... and the weight! aint that the truth... luckily, i have a corporate account with a plywood supplier that deals in made in usa plywoods/formaldehyde free ply/mdf... just sucks to have to rent a van to pick up a couple of sheets. take a look at atlantic plywood if you have one near by... they have awesome plywoods.
...and the carcinogenic formaldehyde bonding agents! My biggest complaint about MDF is the weight. A standard sheet is stupidly heavy, which makes it awkward to cut to size.
heres the pics after 2nd (and final) coat of stain.... not perfection but it looks really good in person.
