Need help choosing desktop material...

[Troy Turner]

Well, there won't be any glass put down or anything like that. Good call on the grains and pores on the oak and ash. Might go back and rumage through their pile of maple and alder and see what I come up with. You wouldn't think a desktop would be so difficult to figure out what I want...just want to make sure it's the right material and looks good!!!

I really do appreciate everyone's comments...keep 'em coming!

[John Tallyn]

My preferences for a desktop has always been a 1/2" mdf core, with 1/4 inch ply glued to both sides. Place a good edge on it, I prefer using a "V" type router bit to install the edge. You don't have to worry about warping, wood movement or gluing up a flat top. Done right, you can't tell the difference between this type of top, and solid wood. Should you choose to go with solid wood, I agree with the others, find a cabinet shop you trust, and let them run it thru a large planer, or thickness sander. Good luck with your project, and hope you'll show some pics when you get done.
John

[John Mark Lane]

I'm very lazy...and practical, at least when it comes to things that are primarily functional. I am just finishing up a desk for my basement home office, which will also serve as a media room, bar, reading room and general hangout. Real simple. Oak veneer plywood, iron-on edge banding, a piece of yellow pine trim, some flat white paint and a little poly for the top. T-111 veneer on the front to match the walls (like I said, I'm lazy...and cheap).

FWIW, the "cabinets" to the left hide the gas meter and the electrical box, the shelf under it is sized for DVD's, the "box" on the wall on the right will hold my coffee maker. The riser on the top of the desk is just the right height to put CD's along it on the inside. Books on the shelves. Total cost...including paint and poly, well under $100. Looks ok to me. Should function nicely for my simple old man needs...

desk.jpg

[Jerry Olexa]

I have made many desk and tabletops all of them solid wood with no problems...I use biscuits for alignment and after glue up, the sanding regimen up to 220 removes any slight imperfections..Of course all pieces are jointed and planed prior to assembly...IMHO you'll like solid wood much better..

[ken gibbs]

Tony,

I built my computer desk out of walnut and sugar maple that I cut myself. Made the top about six months before I started constructing the desk itself. I used biscuits and type 3 glue except on the breadboards. My theory is if you want to use plywood or MDF, you might as well go down to K-Mart and buy a desk that isn't made out of wood. It is only a picture of wood. I have about thirty coats of thinned eurathane that were sanded or scrubbed between coats. And I found a new way to attach the top to the desk frame itself. Buy sheet metal screws with the big built in washers and screw them rfrom the underside to the structural members by countersinking a large, elongated hole (1/4" or 5/16th") at the screw so the top can float. Breadboards are beautiful. When a craftsman sees a breadboard, he knows that a furniture maker made the piece.

[Troy Turner]

Here's a couple of pics of my project to give ya'll an idea. The carcass is birch ply and the trim is the "good" pine. I'm starting to get out of the "whatever is available at Big Blue"

and into, hey, if I have to order, then so be it. Don't mind the ply top, it's just there for my reference.

No way in the world does this compares with Jeff's, but I did get some good advice from him!!!
Slide2.JPGSlide1.JPG

[John Tallyn]

Looks good, the wife keeps asking me to make her a desk, I may have to put that on my list of to-do's one of these days.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

No way in the world does this compares with Jeff's, but I did get some good advice from him!!!

I think that it looks very nice. I like it. I really like the beveled front section for the two sides, I think that it adds much to the look. Always hate to loose storage space but very well done.

[Jeff Monson]

I think it looks great Troy! Nice to see some pics on your progress. Keep us posted, you have gotten some great advice on solid tops.

[Paul Symchych]

Looking good. keep us posted.
I think Ken is confusing plywood with Formica type products and photoimaged films stuck on MDF. Hardwood faced plywood is a veneer of REAL wood applied to a core of cheaper woods. Much the same as veneers have been used for centuries for the finest of furniture, thus getting much more mileage out of expensive woods.
And IMO breadboard ends are a sign of ... breadboard ends.

[John Mark Lane]

Looking good. keep us posted.
I think Ken is confusing plywood with Formica type products and photoimaged films stuck on MDF. Hardwood faced plywood is a veneer of REAL wood applied to a core of cheaper woods. Much the same as veneers have been used for centuries for the finest of furniture, thus getting much more mileage out of expensive woods.
And IMO breadboard ends are a sign of ... breadboard ends.

What he said.

Desk project looks nice. I still tend to agree with your wife. A nice veneered plywood with sold edging would work very well. I don't know about where other folks are, but around here you can get some truly gorgeous "plywood", in everything from birdseye maple to black walnut to zebrawood. It's expensive. But it looks nice and ... it is flat. Getting long pieces of edge-glued hardwood perfectly flat and even is not so easy, unless you have access to a large sanding machine.

[Troy Turner]

WOW! Thank you all for the inputs and compliments! I've decided on a solid top, edge glued, and then I'll make her something or another for her to write on. Didn't think about a pull-out board in the design, which would've been great!

Will certainly post when it's complete.