Desk Material

Considering it’s high cost it seems natural to spend a little time to emphasize the wood used in building this desk.  The first thing that was specified by my customer was that they wanted the desk to be made out of cocobolo. I said “ok, are you sure?” They said “Yes!” I said “awesome, that is going to be very heavy and expensive”, once again they said “Yes!”  Okee dokee.

We went to the toy stores and purchased enough material for the desk surface to start with.

• Cocobolo for the main section, Gaboon Ebony for the breadboard ends
• (2) Planks of cocobolo roughly 6′ long by 7″ wide by 1″ (4/4) thick
• (1) Stick of gaboon ebony, 2.5″ x 2″ x 50″

Design

Since this was going to be an expensive proposition for my customer I wanted to make models to help with determining the final design. This would allow the customer to understand the concept of the design and allow for changes in the design which would keep the overall cost down.

The first design was based on input from my customer. He wanted a desk that folded up and slid up the wall into a frame. The desk was to have legs attached with hinges so they would fold up behind the desk surface in the wall frame.  Since the desk was to be located very close to a doorway he didn’t want it to protrude too far out from the wall which left us with roughly 2.25 inches to work with for the total thickness from the wall where the desk would be attached out to the doorway space. This was going to be a tight fit for a desk surface, legs and pivoting space all inside the confines of the wall frame.

That's one sharp chisel! Back honed to a mirrored surface.

Model 1

The purpose of the model was to prove the concept of a desk surface with attached legs sliding up into a frame on the wall. Emphasis on the sliding-up part. Turns out that most wall mounted desks fold down from the wall…..

The first model was a simple afair constructed with scrap pieces from my workshop.I made a simple desk surface out of a piece of plywood. Then I started on the wall frame.  Since the desk surface needed to slide up the wall I need some type of roller assembly to attach to the desk and a track of some kind to attach to the insides of the wall framet. Simple enough… not!

Went to the local family-owned hardware store to find some roller/track assemblies. Turns out if you don’t need the desk to pivot out (which is what makes it a desk) then there are tons of options from cheap drawer slides to industrial strength hardware. Well great, however since this is to be a desk I need something to pivot on and something to slide up into. So I settled on a cheap set of rollers with a stud that could be inserted into a hole on the edges of the desk. For the track assembly I couldn’t find anything remotely like what I needed that was also cheap… remember this is just a model. So I had to actually use my woodworking skills and cut a groove large enough for the rollers into the sides of the wall frame.

Proof of concept

In the end a model was constructed and it proved that I could potentially make a desk that folds-up and slides-up into a wall frame.  Model 1 ended up being approx 20” tall by 10” wide. However, I had some nagging concerns:

• This was going to be very heavy (the planks weighed approx 80 lbs before milling to size)
• You had to lift the desk, fold up the legs and then slide the whole thing up a wall
• The legs were on hinges which means that the whole desk surface was unstable, not that it would collapse but just that it would move every time you touched it
• The legs would need some kind of bracing to keep them in place which mean’t that the design just wasn’t going to be as elegant as I was hoping for… but I was trying to accomplish what my customer wanted.

My customer liked the concept, however, I wasn’t convinced that I was going to be able to build a desk that was worth the cost of the material and something they would be extremely happy with.  I decided that I needed to build a second model closer to life size so that I would know exactly what hardware was available, how well the rollers engaged the track, sort out the final dimensions, ease of use, and last but certainly not least – how it would look!

Stay tuned, installment 2 coming soon.

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Awl, showing grain reversed on each side

This is a piece I made for my friend Arnold on my Rikon lathe. I thought he needed an awl so I made him a fancy one. Probably too fancy which means he probably won’t use it for it’s intended purpose.

It is totally up to him whether he wants to:

• Use as a marking tool
• Use to pick ice
• Use as a weapon

I laminated (big word for glued together) two pieces of padauk and a piece of maple. The padauk was cut two different ways to show off the grain patterns.

How awesome of me don’t you think? Doing the lathework was fairly straight forward and then applied some “salad bowl” finish which works out real nice and is non-toxic after curing.

Awl Close-up

Awl full length shot

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I needed a new mortising jig because the first one I made didn’t work as well as I wanted. So I searched my Fine Woodworking magazine digital library and found what I wanted. Issue #30, Sep/Oct 1981. Title: Routing Mortises Author:  Tage Frid.

T-Bones mortise jig.

Using the mortise jig

The jig is used for routing mortises of any length (depending on jig length).  The workpiece is set inside the jig against one side, on top of shims of various thickness cut to length of the jig. The top of the work piece should be set just below the jig sides. I set mine to approx. 1/16″ below the top of the sides.  Once the height is set position the go-bars to hold the work piece in place.  After checking that the work piece is at the correct height and there is enough room on each side for the router stops then you can start routing the mortises.  Place the router on top of the jig and adjust the router guide so that the bit is where it needs to be to cut the mortise. I wasn’t intending on this article to be so detailed as to describe how to cut mortises. Maybe I will do another posting someday that goes into laying out and making mortises.

About the go-bars

The go-bars are a nifty clamping solution, however, there are some things to consider. They have to be made and you need a set for each different stock thickness that you plan to mortise. Having said that you don’t have to make each set all at once and you only need 9 or 10  for the first mortising project provided all the pieces are the same thickness.

Mortise jig go-bars.

This does 2 things,

1.  it keeps the hardwood from marring your work piece and

2.  it allows for adjusting tightness along the length of the jig.  If your jig ends up being 100% perfectly square and parallel along its entire length and you don’t care about your work piece then do what you want….. if otherwise then use the tape.

It is also possible to clamp your workpiece to the jig using traditional clamps providing the work piece is as long as the jig. Some times I use a clamp on each end and a few go-bars in the middle. Very flexible jig, that is why I like it.

The Modification

Frid’s jig had router stops that were different than what I ended up with. His had 2 stops which were placed on each end. They were pieces of hardwood with a slot cut-through in which a screw and washer were used to hold it in place. Mine aren’t necessarily better but I wanted to try using t-track so that I could put my router stops anywhere along the jig. Turns out that the original design would have worked just as well in most cases because the stops and router are so big. I still like the t-track but because I set it and it’s support 1/16″ lower than the jig side it causes my stop to rise up on the opposite end. Not really a problem, just kind of weird. Putting a couple of washers between the t-track and the stop piece made it sit better. If you click on the picture at top of this post you can see a small gap between the stop (dark brown piece on top) and the jig top.

Mortise jig without the router.

Jig Components

• Jig box, u-shaped with 2 sides and a 3-piece laminated bottom
• Stop blocks for setting mortise length
• Shims of various thickness’, for stacking up inside jig to set work piece height
• Go-bars, used to hold work piece in jig
• Clamp pads – for clamping jig to my workbench

Size:

• Length: 30″
• Distance between sides walls: 3.25″
• Inside wall height: 4″

Materials:

• 3/4″ Birch plywood – finished both sides
• 30″ length of t-track
• Plywood scrap for stop blocks
• Various materials for build-up blocks
• 3/16″ hard wood scrap for go-bars
• Hardwood scraps for router guides

Router Stuff

My mortising router is a 2- 1/4 hp Porter Cable router that I use for mortising.  I also have the Porter Cable premium edge guide which I highly recommend because it allows you to make controlled micro adjustments of the router bit location relative to where you want to cut the mortise.

Porter Cable router with micro-adjusting edge guide.

The standard edge guide is one where you have to put the connecting rods into the router and tighten them down with a couple of screws.  Holds great….. but loosening them and moving them a 64th of an inch is next to impossible.  This isn’t a problem with the router guide accessory.

Custom made base plate for router with adjustable edge guide.

I found it necessary to make a custom base plate for the router with an additional edge guide so that the router moved along the length of the jig without moving side to side. Without the extra guides the router can move away from the intended line and make some pretty rough looking mortises.

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Looking for a new buddy as sweet and playful as Yeti, please visit a no-kill rescue shelter and bring home a new friend.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay area please visit the Nine Lives Foundation rescue shelter in Redwood City.

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This past Christmas we did the pick a name out of the hat Christmas present thing and we had a $25 limit on the gift.  Since this was someone I love I wanted to give them something really nice and decided to make it myself.  I have to say up front that I exceeded the $25 limit by a few dollars but what were they going to do? Not accept it? Don’t think so!

So here it is. I found a really nice piece of maple burl at my friendly Woodcraft store in San Mateo, CA.

Original block was 6″x6″ give or take a little here and there.

I looked it over and over and over again and decided that I had to cut a chunk off of it as it would not result in the  deep cut bowl I originally intended to make. So you know I changed my mind after cutting some off and didn’t hollow it out like a bowl after all. So now I have a nice 1″x6″ piece that I am not sure what I will do with it. Could make a nice paper weight or slice it up into stock for making pens…. hmmmm what to do?  Well more on that some time later.

Long story short, I did the best I could with the skills I have and the recipient says she likes it. That is all I can ask for.

Here are some photo’s for you to enjoy and hopefully ooh and ahh over…

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I am sorry mom, for all the words that came from my often too-sharp tongue
I miss you mom, and I wish you weren’t taken from me when I was so young
I love you mom, if you were still here just think of all the songs we could have sung

I am sorry mom, for all the trouble that I got into
I miss you mom, it’s days like this that your memory gets me through
I love you mom, if I could I would redo it all, just for you

Over the years I’ve had so many moms, and I’m thankful for all they’ve done,
They have all tried to love me and treat me like their son,
But through all these 40 years it’s plain to see, there was really only one

I am sorry, I miss you and I love you mom!

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Thank you for attending the Pragmatic Marketing^® Practical Product Management^® seminar. Congratulations! You passed the Pragmatic Marketing Certification Test with a final score of 85%.

You are now eligible to use the Pragmatic Marketing Certified logo, available at www.pragmaticmarketing.com/seminars/files/certification

and invited to join the Pragmatic Marketing Certified LinkedIn Group at www.linkedin.com/e/gis/83982.     

…

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Problem: When planing or sanding unsupported table legs the pressure applied can weaken the fastening or even break the leg off depending on how they are fastened to the table top. The plant stand in this photo series has 4 legs that are not connected at the feet or in the middle. Just a simple plant stand for setting out in the garden. However when I attached the legs, the sides of the table and the legs were not flush. Since this drives me crazy I had to plane them flush.

First Solution: Because I am always in a hurry I thought I could make a temporary support to do the planing and be on my way to add the finishing touches….. so I took 2 pieces of scrap and clamped them together in a “T” and put them under the legs to work on.

Temporary support didn't work very well.

The temporary support worked to a point but kept moving around as I applied planing pressure and at one point I heard a crack and thought that was the end of one of the legs….. ok, so this wasn’t working so well.

Did you notice the beautiful chip that this Japanese plane produced?

Doing the right thing:

It was obvious that if I was going to make more of these type of plant stands that I needed a better support. So instead of finishing this stand I decided to make the right kind of support so it would be available for the next time.

5 Sticks, lot's of holes!

Material: Since I had some 1-3/8″ square redwood stock on hand I used that for the first attempt. If it works out to be a good support I would probably remake it out of hardwood for durability sake. I also had some assorted hand wheels with 1/4″ threaded inserts for making some other jigs that I didn’t quite get to yet, and some 1/4″ threaded rod. How convenient!

Side view - not bad huh?

Assembly: Fairly simple process for what I hope turns out to be a very versatile support jig.

1. I cut 4 pieces to 16″ length (legs) and 1 piece 24″ (support beam). Size was totally arbitrary. Since I have a 4′ clamping table I will probably make a longer support piece to cover a wider project.
2. Laid out a series of  horizontal lines across each of the 4 pieces at 3/4″ intervals and drilled 18, 1/4″ holes along the center line using my drill press.
3. Laid out a series horizontal lines across the main support beam at 1″ intervals and drilled 22, 1/4″ holes along the center line using my drill press.
4. I cut 2 pieces of threaded rod to match the width of the 3-piece structure and attached them with the hand wheels and a couple of washers.

In Use: Found the closest set of holes to match the height of the table legs, put a piece of scrap in between the support legs and clamped them to the clamping table and then clamped the support legs to the scrap piece.  After clamping the plant stand to the clamping table I then put some shims between the support beam and the table legs and presto… ready to finish sanding/planing.

Using the adjustable support jig.

After the first trial use I decided that I will bolt a permanent clamping piece to the bottom of each set of support legs to avoid using more clamps.

Finished plant stand-corner support added.

.

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Material: ambrosia maple, also known as wormy maple.The brown, gray, and black striping are caused by staining associated with the worm holes in the tree.

Ambrosia maple comes from regular soft maple trees that have been infested by the ambrosia beetle. The small beetle bores a network of tunnels and short galleries called cradles. A fungus is responsible for the black and gray streaks that accompany each tunnel and adjacent wood. The streaks add a unique look to this hardwood without affecting its structural integrity. This wood is mostly found in the central part of Eastern United States.

Started with a 5″x5″x3″ block, final size approx 4.5″ dia. by 2.5″ tall.

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