The Desk - My Second Woodworking Project

Here's my second woodworking project ever (yes I'll probably stop counting them at some point) It's a Desk / Table! Check it out!

It's completely made from 1X4 pine from Home Depot - I guess it's the better grade because it was twice as much! but since I don't have a planer and jointer yet I wanted to get the best I could...

I glued up three boards together and cut them square for the legs and turned them on the Shopsmith lathe (my second turnings ever as well) - and I also glued up the top from 7 boards side by side - I did use dowels and I wish I hadn't because since I didn't drill the dowel holes perfectly that created a nightmare in the boards not being even - so I had to do a lot of sanding!

The legs are attached to the aprons with mortise and tenons. I made the mortises using a plunge bit and the Shopsmith in drill press mode - basically I hogged out most of the material by "drilling" between my marks and then locked the spindle down and pulled the board along the bit to smooth out the peaks... worked pretty well I think - at least I got consistent results

The tenons I cut with the Shopsmith in table saw mode and actually hand sawed the final cuts because I didn't feel safe enough doing them on the power saw - but I'll make one of the many jigs I've seen before I do any more although it wasn't too bad sawing the shoulder by hand

Finally I gave it a dark (almost black) stain - which my wife and daughter picked out) and a few coats of polycrillic to finish it