whats the best wood for desks.

[blockers]

Hi.

Hopefully ill be making/trying to have a go at making some desks. I was wondering what would be the best wood to use. MDF, or proper wood?

Propbably wont be screwing anything in...to give you an idea. (tried 6 times to make a picture.....then gave up...)

itll be backing onto a wall, so i may require some sort of L bracket (if thats the right thing?)

Anyone done DIY desks/shelves before, and would like pass some on invaluble knowledge?

THanks
Will

[Shad]

Depends on the sort of desk you are trying to do (diagrams are a must) but kitchen work-top is pretty good.

[petrefax]

proper planning is a must i'd say, or you'll end up with lots of bits of different length wood

a lot of the larger DIY shops (B&Q, do it all etc) usually offer a wood cutting service if you buy timber from them so if you have a plan & know what lengths of timber you need it may work out easier to get them to cut it for you - probably not as satisying as starting off with one giant plank & turning it into a table all by yourself but if its your first foray into carpentry it may work out cheaper and easier in the long run

one thing tho, whatever you chose to do, you're gonna need a spirit level sooner or later, so you may as well get one ASAP & save yourself some bother

[Knoxville]

Mahogany

[Theo]

Oak+Linseed Oil. Last you forever, love you long time.

[TeePee]

Firstly, forget B&Q. Any wood, be it MDF or Timber can be sourced from a lumber yard at 1/3-1/2 the price. They will also stock mahogany and oak, and can cut it for you. Any other bits or tools you need, try www.screwfix.co.uk or www.diytools.co.uk, from where you can get a cheap circular saw or router for less than £20.

Personally I would use MDF and veneer for the main panels, with the edges made from timber and rounded over. Use real wood veneer, not the plastic stuff that comes in rolls from B&Q. If you are making drawers as well, then mahogany and dovetails are the order of the day. If you have to match other furniture, then red oak veneer with wood dye is the easiest way of doing it. If you want something really special, use a shellac-based polish to finish. If you take your time, you should be able to make something really worthy and certainly better than your Ikea flatpack.

Of course, the easy option is pre-veneered MDF, a few angle brackets and some ronseal, but you don't wanna do that!

[Theo]

Good post TeePee

I also have to stress the importance of dovetails in items such as drawers. You should spend quite a long time on getting these to fit as tightly as possible. Measure each dovetail slightly too small, cut them with a dovetail saw, and file them with a wood file to make sure each one fits perfectly.

Always have a good ruler/tape measure with you to check on how much left you have to file. If we're talking about quality woodworking, nothing, imo, looks less professional than poor fitting dovetail joint, filled with glue, and painted/stained over. Bloody awful!

-edit

Just done a little google and found a girls GCSE project:

http://www.btinternet.com/~hognosesa.../karen/ana.htm

Although the box is nice, the quality of the dovetails is terrible. Each dovetail should be identical in size, imo, for aesthetic purposes..

Plus! She didn't rub out the pencil lines before she stained it! Duh

[Shad]

I think that's pretty flippin good for a 16yr old [girl] though!

[scottyman]

get it flat and straight!
if you're going to bolt it onto the wall, a la workbench - make sure you've used a holesay to cut cable holes into it first, but before anything else - make sure that you've got a wall which you can mount things into - it's a bit of a mission when you're going through plasterboard like water - hit iron cladding, then through to brick!
Not nice!
I've got an old desk, metal supports, and a huge plank of wood across the top. cost me £20 to rent a trailer to bring it back from my office. The bank around the corner went and threw out their antique oak desks a couple of weeks ago, and posted a note on the community noticeboard saying "first come first served" - they were all picked up by locals.
Keep an eye out for things like this, as you can end up with a smashing desk, which looks the business!
My old one back in NZ was a bank desk, with leather blotting pad across the middle, hidden compartments - the whole works - but was simply too heavy to ship over to the UK!