Josh Hepworth » woodwork

Starting the Desk

Josh — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:11:04 +0000

Well, it’s gotten to be that time of year where school is coming quick and as I move into a house this year I need more furniture. Besides my bed, the next most important piece I needed was a desk. I’ll be at this thing a lot over the next two years working, playing, and organizing. Which is why I needed to build it myself. Sure there are hundreds of options out there and I could have found something that I could mold to fit my needs, but I didn’t want to settle for anything less than what I needed.

I started with a list of things I will need this desk to accommodate:

Desktop PC
Two 23″ Monitors
Keyboard & Mouse
Laptop
External HDD
Xbox 360
PS3
Speakers
Tons of cables
Headset / Headphones
Lighting
Filing Drawer for various papers
Random Stuff Drawer
Storage Drawer

With those “requirements”, I came up with a model that I was pretty happy with and used those as I went to price out my adventure at the local Home Depot. At this point, I have modified my plans according to changed needs and finished basic construction of the desk. As I complete the staining and finishing of the wood I hope to revisit and detail the process of construction, with pictures, and explain what I’ll be doing differently next time.

Also, the handles are mad sexy:

Summer Desk Project: Planning

Josh — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:57:51 +0000

Partially inspired by my friend Andy Mangold’s recent wood project and partially inspired by the need for a desk next year, I’ve gone ahead and begun planning my summer wood project. I mentioned on twitter that I was looking for some sweet desk plans, and not being satisfied with anything I found, I just began creating the desk in Google SketchUp.

While it isn’t really anything ridiculous, it’s very special because it meets exactly my needs. It fits every electronic I want, and provides my with plenty of storage for trinkets, more electronics, and papers. In addition, it has ample desk space, with a place to push my keyboard and mouse under the monitors when I find myself needing more space still.

While these plans remain far from final, they represent the desk at it’s most basic requirements. I still need to consider technical aspects and design choices for the desk. During its two plus year stay at Penn State, it will undoubtedly take a beating from myself and my housemates.

As far as materials go, I haven’t even decided what kind of wood I will be making this out of. While I would love to make the entire thing out of figured maple, I feel this to be unreasonable. Maybe my personal wood expert will have a suggestion besides oak.