How to build and finish a desk top / DIY Table top

What's going on? I'm Brandon from Walker's Woodworks. Welcome back to the channel. I've been getting a lot of questions lately about how I put together these large

desk

s and

table

s and today I'm going to show you how I do it. The client for this

build

wanted maple, so I went out and bought some nice eight-quart stock. This will be used as a

desk

, but the same process can also be used for a

table

. The width of this desk will be 32 inches, so each board can be ripped to just under six and a half inches to make it appear symmetrical.

I buy most of my woods surfaced on three sides or what they call s3s with s3s wood, you actually only have to trim one edge to get the final size as the other three are already surfaced, buying it this way will really save you a lot of time, especially if you don't have a planer in a wood shop to get it down from the raw wood to this state once it's all cut to the final width. I lay out the tables. and make sure the end grain pattern is turned on each board, this helps combat twisting or warping later on, after I have laid out all the boards how I want them I label them so I know how they go back together.

Yes, I already had them. tagged, I hate when you press record on the camera and it decides not to. I put all my tops together using biscuits which help keep the boards aligned during gluing. You can also use dowels or dominoes if you want to get really fancy. Here I am. just marking where I'm going to place them, I usually start about four inches from the end and then about every 10 to 12 inches, after that I use a T-square to mark a line all the way around for reference when the moment. To cut the slots I always use number 20 cookies and only try to place them in the center of the material.

They make expensive biscuit joints, but this ryobi has worked very well for me for years. You want to cut grooves on the inside of the two outside boards. and then on both sides of all the interior boards, once I cut all the slots, I put the boards back in order in the clamps and lined them all up starting at one edge. I lifted each board to expose the edge and cookie slot. where my glue will go, leave the last one in place even though it doesn't need glue. I've been experimenting with this roller attachment on a glue bottle from Rockler.

It seems to work very well and spreads the glue evenly. I'll leave a link to it and all the other tools I use in the description below so you guys can check it out. I like to use quite a bit of glue on my joints and only put glue on one side. I prefer the 3 tight link because it is extremely strong and has a long working time. I put a little extra glue in all the slots where the cookies go and then go over everything again with a brush to make sure everything is covered. This is where it can get messy.

Place each board and snap them together and then. Slightly tighten the clamps until the piece is together, but don't tighten them yet, just tighten them a little and then you'll want to use clamps on the top between the bottom ones to distribute the pressure evenly once you have them. By squeezing everything in little by little, alternating up and down, making sure it stays flat as you go. I usually let the glue dry for about 10 minutes and then go back and scrape off any excess I can. an old chisel, this saves me a lot of time later scraping off the glue, the next day I came back after everything was nice and cured and took it out of the clamps.

This is kind of a challenge with a big top person, the last top I made was a 10 foot long by 44 inch wide Top that sent me to the chiropractor, be careful guys, it's okay there are many different ways, but that's how I flatten my tops. I used to use a belt sander which works fine but the Rotex works much better. I started. Scoop with 60 grit to flatten everything out on both sides and then move on to 80 grit to really smooth it out. I did the same flattening process on the other side if it's a very wide or long top like this, I like to use c-channel on the bottom to help prevent it from warping or cupping over time.

You can purchase it at any metal supply warehouse or even a local home store. You usually have a few for this top. I used three pieces of C channel and placed them where I wanted them even on each side and then marked each one you want to make sure the holes in the channel are also elongated across the width to allow room for movement of the wood. Talk about good timing in this shot. Here I am using my router. using a quarter inch drill bit to cut the grooves for the channel lag following my markings. I do this in several shallow passes.

Hey, I also cut an eighth of an inch deep from the center to allow the channel to be flush with the bottom of the top. Using a large flattening bit and chisel to clean up the ends, I can then install the inserts that will accept flat thread machine allen bolts. I really like these ramp ones, they're probably the best ones I've ever used. I like to use ca. glue when I install them just to make sure they don't come off, although I'm pretty sure they never will. I like to put them back a little so that the threads are well secured. there and not removing the wood after they are all installed, I placed them in the seat channel and tested all the bolts to fit.

One thing I should have mentioned before is that I always leave about two extra inches on all my boards so I can come. Come back later and square them after gluing them. I use my chain saw for this, but you can use a ruler and circular saw. It will work fine. I made a few passes on this because maple is very hard and doing this makes it easier with the saw and blade, I removed the channel and went to my favorite sander. Marketers, you are looking for a sander with high content. I recommend it as I always say, but I went from 120 to 220 to

finish

sanding. the bottom and then I took a router and went around the outside edge with a quarter inch bit just to smooth out all the edges.

This is what people call water popping or lifting the grain because I will use a water-based

finish

on this. This would lift the fibers of the wood and make it feel a little rough, so using water beforehand and then again sanding at 220 prevents this from happening. Basically you just spray a light coat of water, rub it into the wood, let it dry and then I re-sanded the chamber, blew the top with some air and then cleaned it all up like I said I used water based polyurethane on top, it won't yellow like oil base does over time and keeps the maple looking really good. natural, I like to apply this in even coats using a foam brush.

I also learned to make sure the coats are not too thick when applying them. You'll be tempted to go thick, but just do thin coats and sand in between. Two or three coats and you'll be ready to look back again. I should have installed the channel before turning it over. Well, live and learn. I used the same process on the top, but applied four coats and sanded with a Scotch Brite pad. between them, makes it much more fluid. I always name my work and everyone always asks me where I get my brands from. I get mine from a place called Gearheart Industry.

I highly recommend them, great people there off camera. I reinstalled the channel. I invested it. It was finished and this was ready for delivery. Well that's it. I hope the video has helped you. If you gave me the thumbs up, leave me a comment below with what you think about it and subscribe if you haven't already. I really appreciate it, also watch this video. I'll see you in the next one.