How to Make a Plywood Desk With Minimal Tools
by
Woodbrew
4 Materials
$100
3 Days
Medium
This week we are building us a desk! It's been a while since we built a piece of furniture for us so it was quite nice. We needed a long desk so the two of us could sit and work at the same time. We also wanted a little bit of storage because the office doesn't have any right now. The style we are going for is a little scandinavian and a little modern mix. Thank you guys so much for watching!
OTHER VIDEOS TO CHECK OUT: Office Renovation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Cfp6FrjYY&t=25s
Instagram: (Its popin) https://www.instagram.com/woodbrew_/
{
"id": "4717764",
"alt": "",
"title": "",
"video_link": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/5EDwgZkgQro",
"youtube_video_id": "5EDwgZkgQro"
}
{
"width": 634,
"height": 357,
"showRelated": true
}
We desperately needed a desk in our new office space, but we wanted to be cost effective and make it something easy to build. Hopefully y'all enjoy this tutorial on how we built it:)
Cut 29 2" wide strips from 3/4" plywood.
Cut the desk top to final length and square up the edges.
Use a 2" Forstner bit to drill two holes for the legs. The hole should be on the bottom of the table and 1" deep.
Apply several coats of clear finish to seal the top. We used a triple thick Polyurethane.
Use clamps to glue 15 of them together. The reason we only glued 15 together is because its easier to keep them flat. Let them dray for 2 hrs and remove from clamps. Glue the remaining 14 strips together. Once dry, glue the two sections together to form the entire top. Use a sander and hand plane to flatten the high spot on the top. This is difficult and takes time so beware... Cut the desk top to final length and square up the edges.
Use a 2" Forstner bit to drill two holes for the legs. The hole should be on the bottom of the table and 1" deep.
Apply several coats of clear finish to seal the top. We used a triple thick Polyurethane.
Measure how deep you desk top is and subtract 1" to get your cabinet depth. You also need to decide how wide you wan the drawers to be and the height of the desk. subtract 2" from the desired height of the desk and make that the height of the cabinet. Use glue and trim head screws to assemble a simple box.
Decide how deep your drawers will be and make 3/4" slots in the sides of the cabinets that will land in the center of each drawer. We did two 11" drawers and one 4 7/16" drawer. These slots should stop 3" from the back of the cabinet. The slots will be used as drawer slides later.
Every drawer is made the same way so just repeat these steps for all three. The larger drawers have 7” tall sides and the one short drawer has 3” sides.
· Grab the sides and back piece of the drawer. .
· Use glue and trim head screws to secure them together.
· Grab the ¼” drawer bottom and secure it in place using glue and trim head screws.
· Grab the drawer front and again use glue and trim head screws (you will need to fill these holes later or use a nailer instead of screws).
· Cut the drawer pull out of the front using the diagram below for dimensions. We used a hand saw and coping saw for this.
Sand all the edges smooth.
· Grab all (6) ¾” x ¾” (Drawer runners)
· Slide the bottom drawer in place and slide a drawer runner into each slot.
· Secure the runner with glue and screws
· Use a spacer block and a piece of cardboard to space the second drawer in place and secure the next set of drawer runners to the drawer.
· Lastly do the same with the top drawer.
· Sand the slots smooth until all drawers easily slide in and out.
· Grab the (2) 2” dowels and (1) 1” dowel.
· Make a mark 6” up from the bottom of the two 2" dowels (this is the center mark for the next step)
· Drill a 1” diameter hole with a forstner bit that’s 1” deep on both dowels.
· Use a small drill bit to drill the rest of the way through the 2” dowel. This will give you a pilot hole for a trim head screw.
· Put the 1” dowel in the hole and pre drill into the dowel with the drill bit used in the last step. Secure the dowel in place with a trim head screw.
· Repeat this with the other leg.
Once your legs are done stick them into the 2" holes drilled earlier in the top and set the desktop on the cabinet. I apologize for the lack of detail i could only use 15 photos... But Apply finish and your DONE!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?