DIY Kid's School Desk

hey what's going on guys alex music here for mr build it welcome back to another week in the workshop if you're bringing the channel we're not experts we're just a bunch of diys who are not afraid to try and fail now if that's something you're into make sure you hit that subscribe button and tap that notification bell that way you'll be notified every time we put a video out which is every week now that being put aside this week we partnered with craig tools that's right the makers of the craig jig and so many other cool tools to bring back what we're calling just a trip down memory lane an oldie a goodie the vintage kids school desk and give it a modern day resurrected look now without wasting time let me introduce to you guys the modern day school desk and let's get into the video let's go in this video build we decided to tackle on the top writing storage compartment of the desk first now chances are you're not watching this video with a pen and paper jotting down the dimensions for your cut list so i decided to save that hassle for the end you can go the link in the description of this video and find the link to the buildsomething.com website and you'll find a full set of plans in the blog tutorial for you to follow things step by step now i did however want to elaborate on the side pieces of the writing compartment desk as you can see there's a taper that runs from a six and a half inch and drops all the way down to four inches to accomplish two identical cuts i sandwich the two boards together built a tapering jig for my table saw and then used the craig bench clamp system to clamp the two pieces together down i brought it to my table saw and then created one swift cut creating two identical mirror images of each other after ensuring a good dry fit we decided to start working on the lid the lid will be made up of two parts part one would be the narrow four inch part that would be fixated permanently to the compartment and the second part of the lid would be the part that actually lifts up and down and worked as the writing surface area we decided to continue the grain pattern so we took the overall big piece laid it on top of the compartment and marked exactly where the taper began this would split up the two pieces of the lid when assembling the top riding compartment itself we used the craig pocket hole jig along with pocket hole screws and wood glue to join all the pieces together we were strategic to place the pocket holes on the inside of the desk and the underneath side of the desk that way they would be hidden and you won't notice them from the outside [Music] now by this point you probably noticed i'm using tape to line some of these joints together and that's specifically to allow for the wood glue to squeeze out onto the tape it'll make for so much easier of a cleanup that way just remove the tape and none of it will get on the plywood the chair frame is another great example of a place we're going to repeat two identical cuts to do so we're going to also sandwich it together we're going to use tape to wrap the entire thing together mostly because the tape will allow for the project to be held together but at the same time allow us to actually draw on the area that we need now the third benefit would be to prevent tear outs but the band saw is probably the least tool that's likely to create that but this will definitely help after making our cuts on the bandsaw we're going to keep the tape on and bring the pieces over to our sander to clean up all the blade marks that are left inside the radius cuts we're also going to take the opportunity to round over all the edges that way we have two identical pieces that will create that same exact finish after removing the tape and examining our two replica pieces we're going to move on to creating the backrest and the seat portion of the chair as you can see here we're using the kreg jig with wood glue to attach the backrest and the seat portion to the side frames that we've created for our chair now one thing you're probably noticing here is that i'm using a little bit of a spacer block which essentially is just a scrap piece of wood to consistently sit the bottom and the back parts to the frames at the very same consistent depth now the base the base of our writing desk will be made out of a 2x4 douglas fir that later on will be painted after ensuring we finished all of our final cuts we're going to take and create the front and back 4x4 post for this project simply to do so we're going to take the pieces glue them up and set them aside for one or two hours of optimum drying time while that's drying we're going to take the remainder of the cut list run those pieces through our table saw to final three inch width trimming off the factory rounded over edges doing so will ensure that the project on the base looks like it's a clean sharp slick base like we mentioned earlier now that the posts are dry we're gonna trim into our final three by three inch dimensions another specialty piece we're going to create is the support for the underneath part of the compartment which is shaped in a t so we're going to call it the t support the t support is made out of a long piece and a short piece mitered at the ends and join it together with wood glue and pocket holes now let's put it all together the base will have pocket holes and wood glue and we're going to face the pocket holes down then we're going to drive attaching the post with four three inch long screws then the top of the supports are gonna be wood glued and driven down with three three inch screws now let's put it all together i'm gonna attach the seat through a two by four from the bottom using one and three quarter inch screws then for the top compartment i'm going to use it the same exact screws except we're going to stacker them as much as we can to prevent flex we're not using wood glue any of these parts just in case later on we need to take things apart and maybe refinish them now the top lid remember how it had two parts to it well we're gonna take the four inch narrow part and glue down to the main storage compartment while we take either birch or oak edge banding whatever you find in your local store and iron-on concealing all the exposed ply on our current project [Music] after we get all of our edge bending on we're going to start sanding flush and cleaning up all these edges and to do so we're going to take either a sanding block or just a scrap piece of wood with 150 grit sandpaper and start cutting off and sanding flush all the transition pieces making each piece look like it's one solid piece of wood and at this point we're gonna start wrapping things up and getting things ready for paint and stain and to do so we're gonna take wood filler patch up all the wood knots in the douglas fir we're also going to use our sander and sand everything down to 150 grit both the plywood and the douglas fir we're going to finally attach our lid with a piano hinge on the inside and get it ready now there will be a small little quarter inch gap at the bottom between the lid and the compartment itself and what you want to do is put two rubberized stoppers in there that way your kids don't slam this thing down and create a loud noise now let's talk about some of the finishing products i used here for the stain on the desk compartment and the chair itself it's a product called weathered oak by minwax it's very easy application it has hints of gray in it to kind of distress it and give it this aged kind of look that i really like for the paint on the base it's a product from bear the color is called silky white it's both a paint and primer together applies very easy but that silky white it's nice clear and just kind of a refreshing color it neutralizes both this older look with this modern approach and of course i know my kids are animals they're going to try to destroy the paint and the stain so what i'm going to do is finish things off with a water-based clear coat it's a satin from varathane it applies very easily i'm just using a hvlp sprayer to apply and let it dry [Music] well that is it for me this week thank you so much for watching this video guys a huge thank you to craig for sponsoring this video remember all the detailed plans tutorial schematics will be on the build something website the link will be down in description below make sure you go check it out and give it some love make sure you like comment share this video with your friends like always it does mean the world to me i appreciate you guys support tune out this week we'll see you guys next week see ya bye