- G'day knuckle (clearing throat)
G'day knuckleheads, uncle Knackers here.
Guess what?
We've got ourselves,
a little bit of a problem.
All this equipment, only a little desk.
So there's only one solution,
build,
a bigger desk.
Let's do it.
Whoops!
That wasn't meant to happen.
Hope I didn't break anything.
(bluegrass music)
OK, like I said before, we just have too much equipment
on this little desk.
And this little desk is actually our old dining table
which I've built about five years ago,
I did a video on it, you might wanna check it out.
And I made it out of the scraps
from an old chook yard that was being torn down.
It's still going like an absolute demon.
I love it.
I don't wanna throw the old girl out.
Over here, we've got the printer,
and the modem tucked away on top of a filing cabinet.
So as you can see, all this is stuff,
is just too much to be able to work efficiently
on one desk.
Now this room is actually my wife's home office.
So before I went out and built some big heavy,
industrial rustic looking thing,
she gave me a little bit of a brief.
And in that brief, she said Shane,
Shane, listen, and listen good.
I want something that's going to be nice and light.
Because sometimes this desk will need to be moved
out that door because we might want to convert it
into a guest bedroom from time to time,
hence the lightweight.
And also she said, I want it to go from wall to wall
so there's no wiggle room, and the heavier it is,
the harder it's going to be to get out that door.
And the second thing she said was that she wanted something
retro,
blending in with something a bit Scandinavian.
Is there such a blend?
Interesting.
But I'm up for it.
Let's do it.
Now I've done a bit of research, and I think
this is what I will build.
We have the metal hairpin legs,
with is the retro component,
and the blonde timber for the tabletop
makes it look very Scandinavian.
So all up, I think it looks absolutely fantastic.
Now in Australia, if you were to buy a table
of that style, that Scandinavian,
retro blendy thingy type style,
and at a length I want which is 2.3 metres long,
but 890 millimetres wide, I've done my research,
the prices start from around $1200
right up to 2400 smackaroonies.
Now that is a truckload of cash, and I think
if you built it yourself, you can do it
for a lot cheaper than that.
In Australia, I've worked out to be around $400.
And if you're from the States,
you can probably halve that cost.
I'll tell ya what, in Australia, for building products,
we get absolutely ripped off.
It's just not fair.
Anyway, enough of my complaining,
let's get this stuff together, and see how it goes.
Should be good.
(sipping) Ah.
Ooh, that is a good cuppa.
Mm, delicious.
Now before I start this video,
I've got a little confession to make,
I didn't actually do a video of the table build.
I know, I know, don't panic, don't panic.
Don't get your knickers in a twist.
The reason, I just didn't have time.
But I did take plenty of photos along the way
documenting each step by step of the process.
And the fact of the matter is, is that this table build
was probably one of the easiest things
that I've ever put together.
And the end result was absolutely fantastic.
So without further ado, let's kick off
with step one.
(grunting) All right, step number one
which is probably one of the most critical steps
of the whole job, and that is timber selection.
I've gone for pine for two reasons.
Reason number one,
reason number one is that pine is light
as in light weight, which was one of the criteria
in the brief.
And number two, it's also light in colour
which gives it that Scandinavian look.
But the problem is, or the issue is
is that whenever you go to one of those
big chain hardware stores, the timber selection
is atrocious, as a general rule of thumb.
Even though I went for premium grade pine,
I had to go through a truckload of timber
to get what I wanted.
Eventually I did, and I think it turned out quite well.
Looks good.
Oh yeah, it's also cheaper than hardwood.
So there's three reasons why I selected pine.
Having said that though, there are some drawbacks
to using pine, and that is, it's not as strong
as hardwood, it's not as hard as hardwood.
But it is cheaper.
Done.
Now as far as the cutting list goes,
I'm going everything in metric.
If you need to convert any figures into imperial,
I'll leave that converter in the description box below,
so make sure you check that one out.
And every board on this job is 2.4 metres in length.
The tabletop itself consists of two layers.
The very top layer consists of five boards.
Two of those boards are 235 millimetre by 19 millimetre,
and three are,
did I go three?
And three are 140 millimetre by 19 millimetre.
Now the second layer which is there
for a bit of strength and also to add
the perception of depth, I consulted my figures, I have,
three lengths at 65 millimetres by 19 millimetres,
and one length at 89 millimetres by 19 millimetres.
But I'll leave all those measurements
in the description box below
where it might be a bit easier to digest.
Step two.
Now step two is probably the trickiest step
of the whole job, and even that
is absolute piece of cake.
Seriously, anybody can do this stuff.
Step two is where we're joining all those boards together
to make the tabletop, and we're using a biscuit joiner
to do that job.
Now the biscuit joiner is this tool which you can see now.
And I'll show you how to use that tool
as we go through the video.
Now the first thing you need to do is to lay
all of your top boards out.
Now mine are in order of 140,
235,
140,
235
and a 140, and the reason for that
is just to have a bit of contrast.
Once the boards are laid out, on both edge boards,
mark along in increments of 300 millimetres
which is roughly a foot along the entire length
of the board on both sides, and then grab your level
or a straight edge and join those lines up across
your tabletop.
Once you've done that, it's a really good idea
to make sure that you've marked or numbered
the ends of your boards,
so when you put them back together again,
you put them back in the right order.
Right-o.
Now that all the boards have been marked,
it's time to cut the grooves, which looks like this.
Into the boards using your biscuit cutter.
So wherever you see a line that you've marked
on your tabletop, get your biscuit cutter
and cut one of those grooves.
Once you've done all that,
grab some glue, run it along the entire edge
of that board,
and also put some inside the groove
that you've made with your biscuit cutter.
Then,
grab your biscuit which looks like this,
place it into that groove, and then simply
line the boards up pencil line to pencil line
and then grab your clamps and clamp
the whole tabletop together.
Now to ensure that the tabletop doesn't cup
during the camping process, it's a good idea
to weight it down until that glue dries.
Now if all that seems a little bit tricky,
don't worry about it, because only last week
I filmed a video on how to do exactly
what I have explained step by step
and in much greater detail.
So I'll leave a link which will be over there somewhere
potentially, just click on that
and that will take you through the whole process.
Check it out.
So as you can see it's now 24 hours later,
the glue has dried, and the tabletop is now in one piece.
It's an absolute beast, it's huge!
And as an added bonus, or an added feature,
what I did was, when I positioned my biscuits,
on the tabletop, I put them in such a position
so that when I cut the tabletop to length,
that biscuits were exposed on that end grain.
I think it looks really good.
It's not compulsory that you do that,
but I did it and I like it.
What do you think?
Now speaking about cutting the tabletop to length,
it's an absolute piece of cake
with your trusty old circular saw.
What you have to do is to get a straight edge,
and that can either be an old level or a piece of timber.
And to simply clamp that down to the tabletop
and then run the circular saw fence
up against that straight edge, and you'll finish up
with a beautiful, clean, straight cut.
And if that still seems a bit tricky,
just go back to that video
that I posted the link to earlier,
and that shows you the whole process in more detail
step by step.
Do it.
Now with the tabletop done, it's time to work
on the underside of it.
And the first thing we need to do
is to run a perimeter board around all four sides.
And the reason for that is twofold.
The first reason is that it gives the edge of the table
a bit more strength, not much, but a little bit.
And number two is that it gives the illusion
that the tabletop is actually twice the thickness
than it actually is, it's a bit of a trick
but it works really well.
Once that perimeter board has been glued,
screwed, and nailed down, for a bit of added support
just attach a couple of cross braces.
The tabletop is then done, and now it's time
for the exciting bit, which is attaching these
super-cool
retro gloss black
hairpin legs.
I absolutely love them and can't wait to screw them on.
To attach the legs, it's as simple as this.
Just get the leg, put it or place it
on the corner of the table, and then just screw it on.
How easy is that?
Like I said, this is the easiest table
I've ever done in my entire life,
and it looks absolutely amazing!
Win, win.
You gotta have a go at this.
Alrighty, the tabletop is now done,
and the legs are attached.
To finish the project off, all we need to do now
is give it, the tabletop a really good sand.
Once that's been done, then I'll give it four coats,
yep, four coats of clear satin varnish.
And the reason for the four coats is that I want
a super smooth finish.
Between coats, I gave it a hit with a 240 grit sandpaper
and then after the final coat dried,
I gave it a hit with a 320 grit sandpaper.
And the end result is a super silky smooth finish,
and I just wish that I had that feel-o-vision invented.
I've gotta get around to that.
And with all that,
the project is now done.
Great tip, Knackers!
Now all I need to do is to remove those legs
and get this tabletop into the office,
and get it all set up.
Let's do it.
(trampoline springs squeaking)
(child murmuring)
How'd it go there?
- I'll leave you. - All right.
Get this in.
- This is fun!
- Big door with extra high doors, that paid off.
All right!
Just lay it up against this wall.
And, screw the legs on.
And we are good to go.
And now just screw this last leg on.
And,
we,
are done.
OK, let's stand it up.
OK let's cross our fingers.
That's it.
Tight fit.
Whoop, there I'm gonna have to put the blinds up a bit.
Look at that.
Beautiful!
But now I'm trapped.
Down a sec.
Go down a bit.
There you go.
All right.
Now let's slide this back.
To there.
Beautiful.
Love it.
I think the desk works beautifully in this room.
The tabletop looks amazing
and it works in very, very well
with those gloss black hairpin legs.
And as you can see, we now have ample room
for all of that office equipment.
Mission accomplished.
So that's it folks.
The office desk
is done, and that is a big
tick.
What do you reckon?
Well I hope you all enjoyed and found that video useful.
And as per usual, a big thumbs up
is always greatly appreciated,
and if this is your first time to my channel,
welcome, and please don't forget to hit
that subscribe button for more handy tips.
All right.
I know I said it before, but I'm going to say it again,
great tip Knackers!
Who hoo!
Job's done, time for a cuppa tea.
Ooh that's good.
And, get some invoices done.
Now, invoices.
Invoices, they're all the way over there!
The desk is too big.
(grunting)
What have you got here?
Overdue.
Two million dollars?
(bluegrass music)