A White Oak Desk

[Dodgy Loner]

Red Clay Hound (henceforth referred to as "Dad") called me out in this thread about a desk he "commissioned" about a year ago. He brought the wood that he wants me to use last summer and it has been taking up valuable shop space ever since. So I am about to do something about it

The wood is very special. It came from a very large white oak tree that had to be taken down from Rock Eagle 4-H Center near Eatonton, GA. My Granddad helped to survey the camp back in the 1950's. Dad and both of his siblings went to 4-H camp there. So did I. And so did all of my siblings. It was like my home away from home from 5-12 grade. And Dad has worked for UGA Cooperative Extension (including the 4-H program) for over 3 decades. So, in other words, Rock Eagle is a very special place for the whole family. Which means that this white oak lumber is also very special.

Dad and I emailed back and forth a good bit to nail down the style and dimensions. I worked up a drawing in Sketchup, and after some modifications, he approved it. Since the wood is quartersawn white oak, an Arts and Crafts desk was the logical choice. One of my favorite woods, and one of my favorite styles (remember this bed?)

So, here is the drawing I came up with:




I suspect some small design changes will be made as the build progresses, but the basic dimensions are:

34" wide
72" long
30" tall
24" between the banks of drawers
25" of vertical leg room

[dablack]

What you have drawn is almost exactly my desk at home.  I love the design.  Something my desk has that I really like is a pull out board that allows more desk area.  Both of them are between the top drawer and the top of the desk.  Really handy when doing taxes and you have ran out of desk area and need a spot to write the checks.  I might have to get pics for you. 

Austin

[Dodgy Loner]

Thanks, dablack. No need for pics, though- it's already in the design

[Magicman]

Congrats on the beginning.  That is the first step before finishing.   ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

Congrats on the beginning.  That is the first step before finishing.   ;D

Ugh. Let's not talk about finishing. That's my least favorite step by far :D

[yukon cornelius]

wow that will be nice! im sentimental about trees, lumber, well about anything. that's a project far beyond my skill level. good luck with it!

[Lud]

Make another top at the same time (best one goes on the desk) and you'll almost be done with a table to make an El to hold a computer, printer, etc. ;) ;)

[Jemclimber]

Thanks, dablack. No need for pics, though- it's already in the design

Please don't listen to this Dablack,  :D  We love to see pictures of wooden things.

[scsmith42]

Sounds like a great project.  I'm wondering if a pair of corbels added to the sides on each end under the top would add a nice touch?  I have a nice design that I can share if you're interested.  It's copied from a mission style dining room set that was made back in the teens.

[Dodgy Loner]

Scott, please pass along your design, that would be great. Corbels might be a nice touch, I have seen them on  a lot of old A&C furniture. I'm sure I will be doing something to give this desk a personal touch, but I haven't decided what just yet. On my bed, it was the heart and the tulip piercings on the headboard and footboard. I'm still very happy with that bed.

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like a nice desk there you've designed. I don't think I could get it in any room here, although the rooms here are 14 - 16 feet wide, still it would be all desk. ;)

[Dodgy Loner]

Wouldn't fit in my house, either, Donk! I started building a desk a year ago that had a top 19" x 60". Better size for me. But I never finished it

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, my butternut desk is 56 x 32 and a vertical section with shelves and pigeon holes, drawers on the left under the desk. Just right for me. I have to clean it off some day so I can find it. :D

[5quarter]

Dodgy...You should fume the oak Just before you're ready to assemble the pieces. Perhaps fume a couple scraps first to see how you like the look.

[Dodgy Loner]

I've always wanted to try that, but not sure how to get the industrial strength ammonia. Any ideas? I think the 1% stuff from the cleaning section would take forever on a piece this large.

Safety police can hold their peace about this, I know what precautions to take and have used the 30% ammonia to make blueprints before. By the way, 5quarter, I'm surprised you were even willing to mention it after all the fuss about microwaving a piece of wood in another thread ;)

[5quarter]

Dodgy...I was going to chime in, in your defense, as I occasionally oven dry wood samples in the kitchen, but it was getting a little too hot over there.  :D :D ;)

[SawyerBrown]

Wow, neat project!  I'd love to see pictures as you progress.

One other thing to think about, if you haven't already ... a fold-down center drawer.  I added this to the cherry partners' desk I made for my daughter, they put their laptops in there, then just pull the drawer out and fold it down when they want to use them.  Very handy, and very common in new desks these days.

[21incher]

I can't wait to see the finished project. I bet that desk will take 4 strong men to move into place. The ammonia makes me think of when I was in high school and in the drafting class we had a gallon jug of ammonia for the blueprint machine. A janitor opened it up and took a sniff one day to see what it was only to wind up in a ambulance on the way to the hospital.

[SwampDonkey]

That will certainly clear your sinuses. ;D

[scsmith42]

Scott, please pass along your design, that would be great. Corbels might be a nice touch, I have seen them on  a lot of old A&C furniture. I'm sure I will be doing something to give this desk a personal touch, but I haven't decided what just yet. On my bed, it was the heart and the tulip piercings on the headboard and footboard. I'm still very happy with that bed.

Here you go.  The first photo is of an original Mission style sideboard from the early 1900's. 



 

Here is the same design scaled up on a coat and glove rack that I built for my wife:



 

This is a leftover corbel from the coat rack shown against graph paper.  The scale on the graph paper is 1/4".



 



 



 

[Dodgy Loner]

I can't wait to see the finished project. I bet that desk will take 4 strong men to move into place. The ammonia makes me think of when I was in high school and in the drafting class we had a gallon jug of ammonia for the blueprint machine. A janitor opened it up and took a sniff one day to see what it was only to wind up in a ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Wow, he must have been a bright one. In my experience, you knew what was in the jug as soon as you opened the door to the drafting room :D

Scott, thanks for the pictures. I really like the drawer pulls on that old sideboard. I'm not as crazy about the corbels, but I'm wondering if I might be crazy enough to try some through-tenons. I also think that the detail of the leg going through the top is really neat, although it's not a feature I will be able to use, since the desk must break down for transport and to fit through the door to its final location.

[Dodgy Loner]

L'il bit of progress from last week:

I usually start with the top. It takes the most wood and requires the nicest boards that I have.

The material at my disposal is 8/4 QSWO. The top will only be 1.25" thick, so rather than planing off ¾" of wood, I decided to resaw ½" board off of one face. I can use these for panels later on. I start by jointing one face. It's a bit tricky with 6' boards on a 5' bench. Really wish I had a 7' or 8' bench right now.



Then I run the flattened face against my table saw fence, on both sides, leaving just some wood in the middle.



Then it's more handwork to remove the holding wood. (You might remember this old ripsaw from here)



The widest board for the top had 4.25" of wood left to rip, even after cutting as much as possible with the table saw. Took a solid 30 minutes of work with the ripsaw to get to this point.



When I resawed the top boards, I realized that the inside was still a bit too wet, even after 2+ years of air-drying. White oak is like that. So I stickered the boards and will leave them until the end of the build for more drying to work with them further.

Next order of business was the legs. These also required 8/4 stock. I need 8, so I prepared 9. I need quartersawn figure on 3 sides. That's hard to find in the wild ( ) so the next-best alternative is to glue a veneer to one of the flatsawn sides.



I let the glue dry for a couple days and finished processing the legs last night. They turned out great. I am not worried about the legs being a little wetter than I would like. At only 1.75" square, they're not going to move enough to cause me any trouble.



Well, that's it for now. I have blown through most of my 8/4 QSWO now, so I decided to pull out all of my lumber and mentally think through where I will get my parts before cutting any more lumber. I will make a few small design changes to match the stock I have on hand, but probably nothing noticeable. I have also decided to give the through-mortises a go. I have done them before, but this build will require a lot more than I have ever tried!

[SwampDonkey]

Very nice looking wood there. 

Yes, I remember you getting your old saw into shape. That's some hard sledding just the same slicing into that oak. Where's the band saw? ;D ;)

I've not veneered before, other than some thin ash I sawed for table edging where I used oak plywood. It was a table for a digitizing tablet, that adjusted on one edge at the back, piano hinged in front. Also used the ash edging on an aerial photo cabinet. Was wondering what glue you was using for the veneer?

Going to be a nice piece I believe. Magicman can help move it, since he's your neighbor and sawyer for hire now. ;D

[Magicman]

Magicman can help move it, since he's your neighbor and sawyer for hire now. ;D 

But I just saws um and leaves um.   ;D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

But I just saws um and leaves um.   ;D

That's just SO COLD.