I found this cool old desk made with quartersawn oak down at the local antique shop. Eddie, the owner of the shop, wanted to make room for some dining room tables he had coming in, so I got it for a pretty good deal. (If you're in the Bend area, I highly recommend you check it out- Iron Horse Antiques.) When I bought it, it had a black rubber inset top, which at some point a previous owner had covered with cheap ungodly red carpet. In order to widen the desk's leg area for comfort, and to get rid of the carpet, the top needed to be redone.
Step one: removing the old plywood base from the top.
Back in the study, here I'm building back up the top in layers. The plywood is not yet attached.
Cold but sunny. milling up the quartersawn oak edging.
I swear this corner lined up before I applied the glue!
Johnny Utah doesn't get it. I think he wants me to feed him or throw the frisbee or something.
After one coat of dye, to bring out the quartersawn "ray" pattern.
Applying stain to the dyed oak. Or was it the other way around?
Board too short? not anymore! Since I widened the desk, this footrest board that sits on the bottom of the cabinet was several inches too short. It only has to hold my feet up, so I came up with this idea to make it long enough to reach all the way across the bottom again. A minor detail that you'll never see, but added a ton of time...
Mixing hyde glue and watered down Titebond created a gooey mess. I don't recommend it, unless you like to turn your woodwork into chemistry experiments- that you subsequently have to scrape off by hand. Stick to one or the other.
My roll-top converted into a finishing station, mid project. What a mess!
After scraping off the gooey mess and resanding, we're finally getting around to gluing the top in preparation for LEATHER! Yeeee-haw!
The leather on, stretched, rolled and in process of trimming.
Knowledge is POWER. All those woodworking books being used to hold down the leather while the glue dries under it.
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