Trying to build a desk

[Robert gree]

Well figures after i sell my shop and equipment i get the need to build a desk for myself. Got a good straight edge a circular saw and a small hand plane. The way i see it. Im limited to Plywood and edge band the end of the ply to hide the end grain. For the top im thinking of laying down some 1/2 ply and covering that with some nice 1/4-3/8 inch wood flooring and trim out the top with some oak or pine.

this sound about right?

[Robert gree]

Sorry to bump this. but am going to order materials friday and just wanted to make sure. My thoughts were correct.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you fasten a big area of solid lumber, like flooring, to a sheet of plywood, you may get into trouble. The lumber expands and contracts across the grain with changes in atmospheric humidity. If you edgeglue the flooring to make one continous sheet, you'll likely see warping in the table top. If you don't edgeglue the flooring, you're a little less likely to see warping, but you're more likely to see gaps between the boards. That's not nice for a desk surface, where you may be writing.

You might consider using hardwood-veneered plywood for the top. No gaps, and no warping. You still have to edgeband it, but you'd have had to do that with the flooring idea. Or you could use just solid lumber for the top. That gets you out of the edgebanding step. But you do have to allow the top to grow and shrink a bit against whatever base you have.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Yah use hardwood plywood.
Edge banding can be done a bunch of ways but my preferred is to adhere lumber to the underside up against the edges of the ply with glue so that you circumscribe the plywood.
Then take that hand held circular saw with the finest cutting blade you can get, set up a guide system (clamped planed straight boards) and cut 4 straight edges and that's your glue surface for the edge banding. Then I'd take some 1/4" thick material as the banding and use poly stretch wrap to glue it in place. Poly stretch wrap is fabulous for clamping things that are large and hard to get a hold of.

Planing the edge of Ply is usually a recipe for disaster. Splinters chipping galore.

[Dave Sims]

You might be able to get a piece of stone for the writing surface. Many of the places that install granite counter tops will have piles of left over stone that they really have no use for. If you don't mind a desk the depth of a kitchen counter top (25 1/2") and are flexible with length, give them flexibility in length (4 or 5'), they probably have something already cut laying around. I have bought pieces like this before and they charged me 1/2 price for the stone. It still pricey for a desk top, but its an idea. Don't be afraid to haggle a little, cash sale, no tax, etc.

[Robert gree]

You might be able to get a piece of stone for the writing surface. Many of the places that install granite counter tops will have piles of left over stone that they really have no use for. If you don't mind a desk the depth of a kitchen counter top (25 1/2") and are flexible with length, give them flexibility in length (4 or 5'), they probably have something already cut laying around. I have bought pieces like this before and they charged me 1/2 price for the stone. It still pricey for a desk top, but its an idea. Don't be afraid to haggle a little, cash sale, no tax, etc.

desktop is a l shape. 30"depth and 76" in one direction and 96" in the other.

[Robert gree]

If you fasten a big area of solid lumber, like flooring, to a sheet of plywood, you may get into trouble. The lumber expands and contracts across the grain with changes in atmospheric humidity. If you edgeglue the flooring to make one continous sheet, you'll likely see warping in the table top. If you don't edgeglue the flooring, you're a little less likely to see warping, but you're more likely to see gaps between the boards. That's not nice for a desk surface, where you may be writing.

You might consider using hardwood-veneered plywood for the top. No gaps, and no warping. You still have to edgeband it, but you'd have had to do that with the flooring idea. Or you could use just solid lumber for the top. That gets you out of the edgebanding step. But you do have to allow the top to grow and shrink a bit against whatever base you have.

im just worried about the veneer wearing. Is there any real tough finish i can put on it?

if i still had my jointer and such i would do a solid top.