Quickie project
Jeremy Osner
>Sylvia and I made her a little writing desk yesterday, the kind that she can use sitting on her bed or on the floor, with her legs under the desk. It was fun to lay out and build, and 3 hours from coming up with the design to a finished, usable desk. (3 hours includes a half hour waiting for a repair to dry, I split one of the pieces accidentally -- a clean split and easy to reglue.
I eliminated most of the need for joinery by using "fake rails" -- I cut the legs and "rail" on each side out of one piece of wood. So the rails do not provide a lot of structural integrity; but I think they should be adequate for any abuse this desk will see. I was originally thinking to just use a solid piece of wood for each side but then I realized it might make the desk too heavy for Sylvia to carry around -- so I cut a large piece out to make the side be just legs and a rail. Have any of you used this trick? It seemed like a nice innovation -- the desk, which is made of 3/4" maple and 16" X 12" X 10 1/2", is easy for Sylvia to pick up and move across the room.
This was Sylvia's first experience using spoke shaves, which she enjoyed, and first experience with dowel joinery, which she didn't pay much attention to. She is learning slowly how to saw and how to drive a nail.
