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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.

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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.

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Here’s are all the previous articles/videos from this series, in case you want to go back and check them out:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Since it won’t be seen very often, I did not paint the interior of the desk, which is very common on historical desks:

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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!

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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).

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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:

HAND PLANES:

SAWS:

CHISELS:

MARKING & MEASURING:

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Martin
Martin
April 7, 2017 5:44 am

What a wonderful series. Many thanks for your work and all that you have helped teach all of us.

Tassos Aristidou
Tassos Aristidou
August 1, 2017 2:34 pm

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

Tassos Aristidou
Tassos Aristidou
Reply to  Joshua Farnsworth
August 1, 2017 5:26 pm

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.

Tassos
Tassos
Reply to  Joshua Farnsworth
August 2, 2017 6:06 pm

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

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