Scratch Build – In Progress Twenty - Update 7th September

Does the wire wool give more of an aged effect? It seems like it would erode the surface unevenly. -If so, it's something to put in the idea arsenal.

 

Praise from quizz_kid - that's praise indeed! Thanks - I'm loving your projects, I might need to quiz you (pun intended) about one of the methods you use to stain wood.

I'm generally not a fan of doing anything with wood as it's usually beautiful enough as it is, so other than a wax finish, some clear varnish, or other slight colour alteration I leave it as is. In this case though I think the Meranti is ugly, and I want the top to stand out so thought that black legs would be the best way to accomplish this.

 

The wire wool only serves to flatten down the surface, as even though I'm using spirit stain the grain was raised a little. If you use water based stain you get a load of raising of the grain, with spirit stain there is little to none. You can use fine sandpaper but that's still typically more abrasive than wire wool.

I'll be finishing off the legs by burnishing them (rubbing them with some rolled up cloth). That should give me a really smooth finish which is what I'm after. The rest of the desk will be finished in much the same manner, however in this case I'll be using a clear oil rather than a pigmented finish. I can't wait for that bit - but it's a while off yet!

Anyhow, if you want an aged look try rubbing a candle over the surface prior to staining (not everywhere mind you, just randomly). Then apply the stain, let it dry, and sand off with fine sandpaper. The spots where the candle wax was should have less stain than the other areas, so you should get a sort of weathered look. Another one to try is to add wire wool and steel nails to vinegar, let it stand for a week or more, then use that on the wood. This is great on Oak (as long as you leave it long enough) as it turns the wood a very dark colour. Have a look here for details.

 

Thanks - hope to have another update soon, I've been rather lazy this weekend as far as the workshop goes, instead I've been purchasing stuff online for some of the electronics. There are some absolutely beautiful case-mods out there with wood being used (and I too love the stuff).

 

I didn't get over to the workshop at the weekend so only a small update from me tonight. I've now stained the rear brace as shown below...



Next on the agenda is some planing to get the side bars flush with the legs, then some more wire-wool action on the legs and the rear brace.

Today I've had a delivery of some new drills too - these are "brad point" drill bits, as they have a sharp point that and outer flanges that make them cut better than standard drills in wood.



I must admit to being a bit of a drill fanatic - I don't know how many electric drills I have (it's somewhere between 6 and 10, not quite sure), a bunch of hand drills, and then loads and loads of drill bits. And now I have more. Yay!

And last but not least, here's an image of the DVD slot now that it's been stained...



I'm all excited too as tonight I ordered a load of stuff from MDPC-X. I plumped for the Titanium Grey MK II which looks the business. There are a few more packages on the way from various places, more on those as they roll in.

 

Today I spent a few hours in the workshop working on my desk. The first job was to complete the wire-wool treatment on the legs and rear brace, as this last part had been stained on a couple evenings during the week and so was ready to be sanded. I then started planing the opening section of the desk, here is in its natural (sawn) state before any work had been done on it...



After a while this morphed into the following...



It was then time to go out with the family, but after a few hours I popped back again with some bench cookies which had turned up today whilst I was out. These are useful when sanding wooden parts (well, probably anything really) as they keep what you're working on away from the bench. I usually use a couple of lengths of wood, but these cookies are better as they have soft rubber on both sides so are somewhat non-slip too.



If you don't raise your work above the benchtop you can inadvertently ruin your work (or at least make more work for yourself). When sanding you often get some grid on the sandpaper falling off, and this can go under your work, so whilst you sand the top of the piece, a bit of grit underneath your work is doing it's best to mess your work up. If you keep your work suspended off the bench a bit then is unlikely to happen.

I gave the benchtop a very thorough sanding, from 50 grit all the way up to 400, and it's now feeling exceptionally smooth - I can't wait to be sat at this thing typing away!

One more shot - another package that turned up this week are the speakers I purchased. I've fancied Kevlar coned woofers for ages, so as during this build I'm going to build some new speakers here's a sneak preview...



I hope to get some more work done tomorrow - there's a fair bit more sanding to do on the side and real rails, and I also need to break out the router to make a few grooves in the sides & rear to accommodate the base of the section where the PC will be put.

 

Another day another update! Today I spent some time checking the boards for the top for Winding - that's where there is a twist from one end of the board to the other. Looking at them on my bench (which was supposed to be flat) they do look like they're a bit out...



I checked for winding again on both boards and they seem to be OK, so then I checked my bench and it's that which is a bit out. Phew!

As you can see from the above there's big difference in the shades of the boards, I'll see what they look like once I've finished the machining on them, as I don't really want to stain one to make it look similar to the other if I can avoid it (given the quality of the wood I'd rather not cover it with anything more than I need to).

My next job today was to cut the hole for the cables feeding the DVD drive - I used a forstner bit for this and clamped a piece of sacrificial wood on top of the area I was drilling so as to avoid splitting the wood I was drilling into. It worked a treat...



With that done I planed the top and bottom edges of the side pieces and then glued these into the leg sections, and in a day or so those will be cured so I can do another assembly, this time with a few more parts completed.

I've been putting off the metalwork on this build but I can't for much longer, so it's time for me to buy some shiny bits.

 

wonderful woodwork mate!

 

Thanks - I'm really enjoying this build as it's been a long time in my head and is great to finally make it.

 

I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home from work this evening...



And I now have a pin extractor too...



Thanks Nils.

This will be my first attempt at sleeving so wish me luck!

 

How did you do the DVD drive slot?
I like it!

 

If you have a look at post 7 that shows the details (the pictures went walkabout yesterday, I removed them in error from my server).

Hope that helps - if not feel free to post again and I can go through in more detail.

 

just got caught up on the recent progress. Looking good so far!

 

Tonight I did some more work - the sides are now all glued up and so I put the desk together so I could measure the space where the box for the PC is going to go. I used ICE to stitch a set of images together, this time I took more images (on a tripod) and it's done an excellent job of composing the following...



I then planed the back so it's flush with the legs, then cut the 'front' part of the box and started sanding that and the back. Both of these will require a fair bit of work, they are ropier than the side pieces. I need to buy some grain filler too as these parts will need this before I can finish them.

One annoying thing tonight (well, two actually) was that I had two streaks of glue down the legs of the desk - I had diligently removed all traces before I went home on Sunday night, but this had continued to ooze out so I now have some re-finishing to do on both side parts. Ah well, worse could have happened!

That's all for today...

 

I'm back!

After over a year (where did that time go?) I'm back building the desk. Many excuses for not doing anything for the last year on this, mostly new job which includes a load of travel and getting bogged down in some other stuff. Anyhow, I'm back to dust off from where I left off.

Since a year has gone past I've naturally changed what I want to put inside the desk, and also changed some of the ideas I have for the desk itself. One major change is I have decided to make more space "inside" the desk, mainly so that I can get more clobber into it, but also realising that I want to keep this desk for a long time, giving myself room to change components as I inevitably will.

So, I restarted by planing, jointing and glueing up a couple of boards for the base of the area where the components will be housed...



I used biscuits to join these two together, and didn't notice when I was tightening the clamps that one end had an offset (you can just see it in the image above on the end furthest away). When I went over to the workshop last night I immediately saw the error, so initially thought I would plane it down - but then realised that would just cause more problems in the long run, so sawed them in half again, jointed them again, glued them up again and this time made sure that the boards were properly aligned before I went home...




You'll also see something else I've been working on sat on top - I've been researching finishes for the wood and all along have wanted to try my hand at French Polishing, there's just something about it that appeals to me. The board sat on top is my 3rd attempt, the others were simply awful. I think I now understand the technique, so will be doing some more practicing before I commit to doing the top of the desk which is my goal.

Next up is unclamping these boards, some planing & sanding, and that will hopefully be this week.

 

Looks great! *Subbed*

 

Thanks - liking the look of the Hive too! B&Q do a reasonably priced cutting service, some cuts are free and then it's something like 50p for subsequent cuts. I expect you could find a local gaff that might be cheaper - just a thought, it might be a pint or two less for you at the weekend, but will get you going quicker!

 

Postman's just been...

And I have a lump of metal...



I've been toying with several ideas for the bottom of the legs for the desk, and after much deliberation decided on 10mm Aluminium plates at the base of each foot. These will be drilled and tapped (12mm) to take some adjustable feet I've bought. The floor in my office isn't particularly level (it's an old house and I'm in the cellar), so these will stop the desk from rocking.

My metalwork skills are rusty (pun intended!) so hope I don't make a hash of this.

 

It lives!

 

Man, I'm jealous of your shop.

Great woodworking and materials. I love that the desk isn't immediately recognizable as a PC enclosure.