JKM Woodworking

Hello everyone. This project was building a desk with my son. Here is a picture to remind you of where we were:

four legs and four aprons

The lid was already glued up so next we picked some hinges to attach the lid to the stationary top piece. Here is some brass hardware I got from a thrift store:

selection of hinges

We went with the more curved style in the top left. I think they're a nice shape and they can be face mounted. I was worried just a few screws 1/2-3/4" long wouldn't be strong enough for the heavy lid, but they've held up fine. I

The top has a flat board with three narrow pieces to make a gallery. Here they are before being cut to size:

gallery back and side pieces

That brings us to the big mistake of the project. The top had already been cut to size, and it was too small!

coming up a bit short!

I think I had planned to cut the side aprons a few inches shorter and never did, leaving the base too deep. Since the base had already been dominoed and glued and pinned it was easier to make a new lid. Luckily I had a wide piece that was almost long enough.

replacing 1/2 the top with a wider piece

Note at the bottom of the picture the new piece is at least an inch shorter. This caused some problems as I had planned for a generous overhang on the sides, and now it would barely cover the base.

The base was out of square and I thought I could just work around it. But once the lid was cut shorter I realized I had to correct it. So I steamed the four corners and squeezed the longer diagonal to try to get it square-er.

steamer nozzle and squeezing the long diagonal

So back to the gallery. The two short sides and long back were dominoed together. I don't remember how they were fastened to the base. Usually I use a loose or sliding connection for cross-grain joints, but at about 6" long this may have been too short to worry about.

just trace a round object! gallery

Next we move to the inner section. I glued supports or cleats around the edges, along with one central support that was screwed to the front and back aprons.

adding cleats to support the bottom

You can also see the pocket holes drilled to later attach the gallery/stationary top to the base.

The bottom I made out of some cheap, thin plywood. I had to cut out notches in the corners to make room for the legs:

thin plywood cut to fit into opening

I mixed school glue 50/50 with warm water and slathered it over the plywood. Then I applied black felt all around. Once when replacing my car headliner I read a tip to use oven mitts when smooshing the fabric around, so I tried that here also.

applying watered down glue to plywood trying to flatten felt to plywood

After it was dry I cut it to size, leaving a little around all the edges to cover the gaps. After putting it in the desk the plywood was noticeably bowed:

underside of bowed plywood

This bothered me and I debated ways to fix it, but after a day or two it relaxed and flattened on its own. The bottom is not fastened or glued.

I don't have pictures of the finishing. For curly maple I apply water based transtint, then sand it lightly with 220 or 320 grit sandpaper. This is supposed to leave dye in the curls and remove it from the fields, making the curls stand out more. After doing that 1-3 times we applied several coats of zinnser sealcoat shellac with a rag.

Here's the curly maple Schoolmaster's Desk assembled and in place:

finished with lid open

Here you can see the battens under the lid have a fixed screw closest to the hinge, and slots for screws further out:

wood movement is real!

Here you can see how the sides of the gallery also work as a stop when opening the lid:

gallery sides stop the lid from opening too far hinges and gallery the lid and gallery are both angled where they meet the front apron, front legs, and sides all have matching angles

All those pictures are from May when the project was finished. Since then there have been requests to add a lip or a trough across the front to keep things from rolling off.

I had some thin slats leftover, cut one to size, and then glued it to the front.

adding a lip to the front edge need to use wedges to keep things lined up

Not trusting glue alone, I added 1/8" thick bamboo skewers as wooden nails.

wooden nails in addition to glue clip with diagonal pliers, then plane or scrape lip attached

So I think we're officially finished with that project.

Now my daughter says she needs a desk for her room.