Planning Best Mouse surface to integrate into a desk?

I completely agree, leather in general will look awesome and it's a great mousing surface.

 

Leather looks and feels great, but it's a little grippy for a mouse. Not just for gaming, but if you are trying to do something quickly, the mouse doesn't glide like it will on a hard or fabric surface.

I think i've seen wood being reccomended before, but i've never remembered to try it...
And i just tried a minute ago, but i'm still out

 

One mouse pad I DO NOT recommend is a RatPadz GS. Less than a year of regular use (very little gaming) it is worn out and barely works.

I recently bought a Xtrac Pads mouse pad. Works amazing!

 

I don't set much store in mousepads.

$5 for a slab of foam? I might as well use an old book. So in all honesty, useing a slab of wood might work, as long as it's smooth, and if it's painted even better.

 

I just tried a flat piece of walnut stained pine - no clear coat, just stain, and it was:

My mouse glided effortlessly, and tracked 100% accurately!!!!111
I'm guessing stained wood will last alot longer before resanding and recoating, compared to painted wood, since the stain has been absorbed deep into the wood, it doesn't sit on the surface. I love woodgrain finishes aswell

 

I'm using my white painted wood desk..mouse pads...pffft...

 

Hey guys, sorry i haven't replied the past few days, re-formatted my pc. Iv read through the posts and i think ill leave out the metal/stone idea. The reason i don't like the wood idea so much is that wood is natural and therefore not perfect, it has grain lines which attract dirt and dust and also its really hard to clean the grain out.
I have finished the top of the desk with a wax oil finish after sanding down the desk with a fine grade paper. Will this work well?

 

RANT WARNING ***Wood as a lump of timber is natural yes, MDF with a laminate finish is not, it doesn't suffer from many of the dificulties that a piece of lumber produces (most notably warping , demsional stability can be a very dificult thing to acheve in the long term, think of any wooden draw that sticks) *** RANT OVER

A waxed or oiled finish looks good, but may be suseptable to attack form the oil/grease on your hands/wrist, this takes a long time to build up, but is dificult to remove (asuming you want to, the natural patina of use can be seen as an attractive effect) and besides that the wood will need periodical re-waxing/oiling, not an onerous task, it can be quite enjoyable. I recomend saddle soap, it's really intended for leather, but it works great on wood too.

A wipe-on laquer may be the ticket (pratice on a scrap bit first to make sure you can get a good finish) it produces an inpervious layer, which is wipe cleen and by building up several layers can compleatly remove grain texture and give a perfectly smooth finish, it can be opticaly netrual, tinted, you can rub it down to produce a satin effect or a high gloss; possibilites are endless. Down side is it can be fairly nasty to work with (depending on the type of laquer), requires a bit of finessing, and is a bit trickey to repair if it gets chipped or scratched.

Regards,
Alex

 

I'm talking more desk leather. Like this.

Also... on the topic of finishes, there are spray on lacquers and polyurethanes that would work quite well for a desk. Even shellac could work well. If you're looking for a recommendation on finishes though, I would say stick with polyurethane as it's easy to work with and lasts a long time.

Be sure to take pictures of this whole thing when it's done, I'm interested to see how it turns out.

 

I was talking about desks with a leather top aswell! I wasn't talking about using a mouse on the back of a dead person or anything like that.

Maybe if the leather is freshly moisturized, then things will get nice and slippery... but i dunno if the moisturizer will make the mouses accuracy go to crap? And again, i'm not talking about lubing up a dead person.

 

MV,

You really seem to have greased up dead people on your mind tonight. Anyone in particular and especially, anyone WE know? IGOR, Grab the grease!

john

 

Oh, sorry, didn't HEAR you...

 

Try hard leather like scabbard(?) leather. A mouse slides like a dream on such a surface.

 

Well the desk finally got put together and its in place now.
Currently the desk is finished with 6 layers of wax oil, after each layer was applied it was rubbed down with extra fine wire wool (along the grain) and after the last coat it was given a final rub down with wire wool and cleaned obviously
Been using the desk for around 30 mins now and the mouse glides over it so easily cant feel any grain or imperfections at all, hopefully the smooth finish will prevent dirt from sticking to the desk also,
I'm glad i didn't router it and put glass or metal in the desk now. Ill post pics tomorrow as its late now and i have work in a few hours

 

I would use a piece of black delrin, which is smooth and pretty durable. Plus it's plastic, so it's easy to clean.

 

Here is a bit of love for a roof shingle clad in rugged nylon. Worked a charm even tho i smoked and spilt loads of stuff on that thing. At the end of it, all it needed was a wash with some soap. The fabric is cheap as chips btw, so just remove the old and stick on a new piece using spray glue.