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HOW TO BUILD A DOVETAIL DESK WITH WOODWORKING HAND TOOLS (PART SEVENTEEN)
You’re not going to believe it. My family didn’t believe it. Remember how I started building a dovetailed desk a very long time ago? Well it’s finished! And here is the final video and some photos to prove it.
If you remember, I was building this desk for my two oldest boys’ Christmas present…in 2014. And it would have been finished in 2014 if I hadn’t decided to use this project as a series of lessons here at WoodAndShop. I wanted my viewers to learn how to make the different joints and other skills required to build a desk.
Here’s are all the previous articles/videos from this series, in case you want to go back and check them out:
- Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools – Part 1: Dovetail Carcass
- Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools – Part 2: Legs
- How to Chop Mortises {Part 3 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Clean Mortises {Part 4 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Layout Tenons {Part 5 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Cut Tenon Shoulders {Part 6 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Cut Tenon Cheeks {Part 7 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Square Tenon Cheeks {Part 8 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Fit a Mortise & Tenon {Part 9 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Drawbore Mortise and Tenon Joints {Part 10 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Make Pegs for Drawboring Mortise & Tenon {Part 11 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Make a Through Mortise & Tenon {Part 12 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Attach a Desk Top {Part 13 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Use Traditional Cut Nails {Part 14 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Make Breadboard Ends {Part 15 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
- How to Make Breadboard Ends {Part 16 of “Build a Dovetail Desk with Hand Tools”}
Since the last tutorial on breadboard ends, I’ve worked on a bunch of little details that didn’t really need tutorials, like painting. When building with pine (especially with pieces that don’t all have the same coloration) I really like to use historic-looking paint as a finish. Some of my sisters have been raving about chalk-based paint for years (matte finish, easy application, no priming), and my sister Heather recently showed me her dining room table that she painted with Chalk Paint ® by Annie Sloan. Yes, the name is copyrighted. It looked really nice, and very similar to milk paint, which I love because of it’s matte finish that lacks any sheen (see my milk paint tutorial here). I had a very hard time spending $35 for a little quart of paint, so I did some research and found out how simple and cheap it is to make a chalk-based paint (similar to Annie Sloan’s paint, but I’m unsure if it’s exactly the same). If I get enough comments below this post requesting a tutorial on how to make chalk-based paint, I’ll do a tutorial on it.
In addition to painting the desk I added some historic-looking hardware. Many antique desks hide the hinges under the desk lid, but these hinges are decorative and I wanted to show them off. I purchased these hinges at Lee Valley & Veritas (here). To screw the hinges to the desk I modified modern zinc coated screws into historical-style screws. I will be releasing a tutorial on how to do this soon, so you won’t have to spend a bunch of money on buying historical-style screws.
I added some trim to the base of the desk carcass to give it some visual separation between the carcass and legs/rails. I think it turned out really nice.
I used some of this moulding to create a pencil and book holder. And here you can see that the breadboard ends still show through the paint, which is nice. I want my hard work to be appreciated!
Since it won’t be seen very often, I did not paint the interior of the desk, which is very common on historical desks:
I had originally decided to do straight legs because of some colonial desk designs that I had seen, but after the desk was assembled and glued-up I really decided that I prefered tapered legs. So, even though it was difficult, I awkwardly clamped the whole desk down (prior to attaching the lid) and planed the tapers on the legs to give them a more delicate look. I think it was definitely worth the hassle. I would, however, heartily recommend that you taper your legs BEFORE you glue the desk up!
I really hope you go back to part 1 and watch the whole process as I build a historic hinged-top desk. Below you’ll find photos and the list of tools that I used to build this desk. And remember that the breadboard ends tutorial was given by Will Myers, and was offered as a free tutorial from the amazing upcoming DVD where Will shows how to build a collapsible dining trestle table with hand tools (Click here to be added to the list to be notified when this DVD is released).
WOODWORKING HAND TOOLS THAT I USED:
Even though I have a helpful hand tool buying guide (here), I’m still often asked for a list of and links to the tools that I use in my videos, so here is a list of tools that I used in this series of videos on desk building (I also included tools that I used in steps that weren’t covered in the videos):
SPECIALTY:
WORKBENCH:
- Sjoberg Elite 2500 Beech Workbench (with optional tool cabinet)
- Moravian Workbench (portable and sturdy)
- Gramercy Holdfast
HAND PLANES:
- Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Rabbet Block Plane
- Lie-Nielsen No. 62 Low Angle Jack Plane
- Vintage Stanley No. 71 Router Plane
- Lie-Nielsen No. 73 Large Shoulder Plane
- Vintage Stanley No. 4-1/2 Smoothing Plane
- Vintage Beading Plane
- Vintage Wooden screw arm Plow plane
SAWS:
- Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw
- Lie-Nielsen’s thin plate 16″ Tenon Rip Saw
- Lie-Nielsen cross cut back saw
- Vintage Millers Falls Miter box and miter saw
- Robert Larson Coping Saw
CHISELS:
MARKING & MEASURING:
- Starrett 6-inch combination square
- Vintage metal try square
- Vintage sliding bevel square
- Vintage Starrett Dividers / Compasses
- Veritas Wheel Marking Gauge or Veritas Dual Wheel Marking Gauge
- Lie-Nielsen panel gauge
- Wooden Straight Edge
- Vintage Stanley No. 62 Folding Rules (24″)
- Marking knife (chip carving knife)
- Staedtler Mars 780 Technical Mechanical Pencil
What a wonderful series. Many thanks for your work and all that you have helped teach all of us.
Glad you liked it Martin! Have you started building a desk or table?
Lovely work Josh!
Thank you for all your detailed explanations. I will be making desks for my children and this has definately given me a good inspiration of what i will be doing.
Thanks again
Tassos Aristidou from Cyprus
Glad you liked it Tassos! Be sure to add progress photos of your desks here so it can be featured: https://woodandshop.com/submit-your-woodworking-project-workshop/
How did you like the Bow Saw video that you won?
Of course ill be adding photos!
Just bought some lovely beechwood a few days ago…!!
As far as the Bow Saw video it is fantastic! Please let Bill know that he is a true professional! and like many, im definately inspired and anxious to make one in the near future!
Thank you for that Joshua.
Did you have to have beech shipped to you? Hope to also see some photos of your bow saw!
No, luckily there is a local lumber yard/dealer a few miles from here and i bought it from there.
Bow saw definately in my future plans!
Kind Regards
Tassos