On 14 Nov 2004 12:25:15 -0800, (Kathy) wrote:

I need a desk for my computer & can't bring myself to buy anything on
the market. All the desks out there in my price range are made of
particle board.

it's disgraceful the crap sold and the prices had for it.




I'm an amatuer in woodworking. I've built a picnic table & a play set
for my daughter. Never made anything for indoors. Never did anything
with plywood, but I came up with a design for a desk using plywood,
mostly. I have limited skills, few tools, & no space, so this should
be easy, right? LOL

Here's a drawing of it & a cutting layout for the plywood.

http://www.peggyelliott.com/deskplan.htm

you have some geometric stability issues here. find some light stiff
cardboard and make a scale model. it'll teach you a lot.



Now my questions;

What kind of plywood? I assume I should be using 3/4", right?
I keep reading about birch plywood & baltic birch, what's the
difference & which do I need? Or something else?

baltic birch comes in 5 foot square sheets. everything else comes in 4
by 8 foot sheets.

baltic birch has all of the layers made of birch. everything else will
have something else for the middle layers.

3/4" is about right.



I'm hoping to get my local independent lumber store to cut the pieces
out for me, is that likely?

policies differ. don't expect that their equipment will be accurate,
sharp or operated by people with the same qualities.


They made all the cuts for the play
center, but that wasn't plywood.

How do I attach the plywood to plywood, do I use a nail gun? I'd have
to rent one. Should I hammer nails in? What size nails? Should I use
screws instead of nails? I assume I should also use glue, what kind?
Should I attach 2x4's or 1x4's underneath & in the back to make it
stronger?

for this first project I'd recommend you use something like angle
brackets and screws. it'll let you make mistakes, take it apart again
and put it back together differently.





By reading here about plywood, I gather I should attach a 3/4" molding
strip to the edge of the desktop with glue. So using a router on the
edge doesn't work on plywood?

I kind of like the look of the edge of baltic birch plywood sanded
nice and finished as is.




What else don't I know?

an *infinite* amount.

like the rest of us....




TIA
Kathy