Mahogany Desk

[kevin clifford]

I built this piece for a customer who didn't want to have a desk taking a whole lot of space up in her spare room. She wanted a desk surface for when she needed to work, but wanted to have it more tidy when she is done for the day. Bookshelves with adjustable shelves, and plenty of drawers for storage.
The wall it mounts to is a solid concrete wall, and her electric outlets were surface mounted. As a result of the outlets being where they are, I added an outlet to the outside of the cabinet and left 6 inches behind the drawers and bookshelves in case there was ever a need to access the outlet or wiring behind the cabinet. For ease of running wires later the top is mounted on two hardwood runners in a dado set at 15 degrees. The entire top will slide out and away from the wall to get behind the unit.
Hardwood edges on shelves and the top and using a lipping planer makes that a snap. 3 coats of semigloss lacquer finished it all of.  Installing it took about 45 minutes.

 

[bobfog]

Nice piece of furniture, but where do the users legs go when they want to sit at it? Is the sliding top to get at the electrical stuff also intended to slide out when sitting at the desk?

 

[kevin clifford]

More photos.

 

[bobfog]

Ah now that makes sense!

 

[stvrowe]

Nice work.  I really like it when a craftsman takes care to match grain.

 

[Holmz]

OK that is nice.

...
...For ease of running wires later the top is mounted on two hardwood runners in a dado set at 15 degrees...
...
Hardwood edges on shelves and the top and using a lipping planer makes that a snap. 3 coats of semigloss lacquer...

Does this imply that the shelves are MDF with veneer added, or a purchased ply/MDF panel faced in mahogany ?
So biscuits glue and then lipping? Or biscuits, glue, lipping and veneer?

Was there anything other than (under) lacquer used?

 

[kevin clifford]

Thank you Steve, if it wasn't grain matched it would drive me bonkers!
Holmz,Thank you.  I used already veneered plywood, saves me the time of laying it up. For the lipping, I used the Domino jointer and set it so the hardwood was about 2mm proud of the veneered surface. I used the biscuit jointer for years before I got a domino, but biscuits leave a tad bit more slop and I didn't need the pieces shifting.
For the lacquer, two coats of lacquer sanding sealer and one topcoat of a semigloss. the writing tops and top surface got an extra coat of the topcoat because they will see more abuse.

 

[Billedis]

Very nice work, thank you for sharing.  Bill

 

[Knight Woodworks]

Nice!

What lipping planer did you use?

John

 

[kevin clifford]

Thank you for the kind words everybody. I used an older Adler lipping planer. Makes quick work of hardwood edges!

 

[dltflt]

Beautiful desk Kevin.

 

[nako]

Hey Kevin, great outcome on a unique solution of purpose built furniture that meets very specific customer criteria.  Fits into that space like it was always there and waiting to be used.  Nice work and thanks for sharing.

 

[Jasonj888]

Excellent design and beautiful execution. I can see this being a very popular piece for you.

 

[Shane Holland]

Yeah, the matched grain is a nice touch. Nice project. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ajones]

Quality work thanks for sharing

 

[chrisrosenb]

Nice work & nice design