Plywood desks for the kids

— 4 minute read

I still had plenty of plywood scraps laying around so decided to make desks for the kids. ​

I bought plans from the nicest woodworker in the southern hemisphere and went to work. I still had enough material for the base and drawer unit and only had to order the tops. I went with 29 mm birch plywood with a laminate top layer.


New tools permalink

Plywood Desk
Never thought I could be in love with a pencil, but this new Pica dry marker is simply great. I had been using cheap mechanical pencils for years and was fed up with the lead breaking all the time. Marking on dark wood was also rather hard. Enter the Pica dry marker!

Plywood Desk
New Makita tracksaw. Finally some dust collection which was sorely lacking on my trusty Dewalt.

Drawer units permalink

I started making the drawer units first.

Plywood Desk
A simple box in 18 mm plywood with rebates, joined with glue and brad nails.

The drawers themselves are made of 10 mm plywood.

Plywood Desk
Cut

Plywood Desk
Assemble

Plywood Desk
Repeat

Plywood Desk
I routed out a section on the back of the 29 mm thick drawer fronts to be able to fit the handles which were designed for 18 mm material.

Plywood Desk
Looking mighty fine if I say so myself.

Leg assembly permalink

I used the miter gage on my table saw and a quick and dirty tapering jig to cut out the leg parts from 10 mm plywood.

Plywood Desk
Miter away!

Plywood Desk
Mitering jig from MDF with some toggle clamps.

Plywood Desk
Truing up the top of both legs.

Plywood Desk
Marking the mortice for the back stretcher.

Plywood Desk
Dry fitting the base.

Table top permalink

For the undercut bevel, Neil uses his table saw but I was not very comfortable doing it that way (one of the many laws of woodworking I abide by, don't make the cut if you don't feel comfortable doing it). I used my new tracksaw and overhung the track a bit. Worked mighty fine. This method can only produce 45 degree cuts of course. You could prop something under the track to make a bigger angle, but again, I was not very comfortable doing that.

Plywood Desk
This handy little lip prevents the saw from falling off the track

Plywood Desk
Bevel away!

Plywood Desk
The top is screwed in place. On one side through a cleat, on the other side straight through the drawer unit, which is also fixed to the back stretcher.

Final assembly

Plywood Desk
Used biscuits to space out the fronts. First tried to temporarily superglue the fronts in place but the plywood was having none of it. Used doubleside tape instead.

Plywood Desk
Clamped the fronts in place and drove in some screws from the back.

Plywood Desk
Even spacing baby!

Plywood Desk
Children, no more excuses, time to study!