Computer Desk Build

[fuzz092888]

They are.

He’s into epoxy or some other weird sh!t you pour too.

Why the sale? Why so much? That’s about what I paid for my car.

Not actually selling I suppose. Just pulling a Walter and checking to see if any of the imports from the city need a work desk.

 

[fuzz092888]

I only hit it with the 800 to knock down the raised grain. No other reason than I have a full box of it and don't use it that often.

I mean, tung oil has held up pretty well on the cutting boards I use every day and the wood whisperer did a little comparison showing how water resistant a finish it is. Which tracks with cutting boards I've applied it to and wash regularly. That's mostly why I used it for this. I didn't want to have to worry about spills, water rings, etc. Also, the desk pad is where my hands and cups sit 98% of the time. The rest of the desk mostly just sees the headphones resting on and the occasional notepad for jotting something down.

I use 3m 11" wide circular pads on my GEM orbital buffer to apply finish. Much easier on the back and arms than scotch brite pads

This was a desk I built for a friend of mine. Osmo oil.

800 grit is only needed if you're trying to bring a finish to a satin finish- if the paper clogged very easily, the finish wasn't hard or the previous grit was too coarse to follow with 800. OTOh, if the finish is very hard and you want the sheen to be just shy of watery gloss, you can go all the way to 15000 grit.

IMO, Tung oil isn't the best finish to use for something that will experience direct contact with arms, hands, anything that might scratch or scrape it because it's more of a 'look at it' finish, rather than a floor poly which, BTW, can be applied with a brush, roller, pad or by spraying. I used Minwax fast drying satin floor poly for my kitchen cabinets and it turned out beautifully- I thinned it with Naptha and it dried totally flat.

If you want to fill the pores of an open-grain wood like Oak, Ash, Mahogany, etc, you can put the finish on and use Scotch Brite pads to 'sand it in'- the fine material that is removed by the pad will mix with the finish and act as a filler. That way, you won't need as many coats. It also allows you to use one filler coat and not end up with a totally flat surface. The grain won't be as open, but it will be visible. From there, you would use a finer Scotch Brite pad to smooth the surface but not remove much wood or previous finish. Then, you can use the wax of your choice to protect it, or not.

Another step you can use is applying a barrier coat like Zinsser sanding sealer- it's Shellac that has had the wax removed and it's about the same color as water when applied. That stuff dries incredibly quickly, so a lot of coats can be applied in one day, unless it's cold and/or very humid. It dries with an extremely glossy surface and can be made less glossy in many ways- I have used Scotch Brite pads and on a couple of McIntosh cases (one for an AM/FM tuner, the other for a small power amp), it was just too glossy, so I burnished the finish with paper towels before waxing with Johnson's Paste Wax. The one issue with Shellac is that you don't want alcohol of any kind to come into contact with it unless you add some kind of wax and there are no gaps- Alcohol is used as the solvent for Shellac. Once hard, it's very durable- it was used as a floor finish a long time ago.

 

[fuzz092888]

How often does Rubio need to be re-applied? I have watched a bunch of videos (Blacktail Studio and others) but don't remember hearing comments about durability.

This was a dining room table I did rubio on. 3 years of daily use, dropped silverware, wet glasses, red wine spills (among many other liquids and solids), plates, and anything else you can subject a dining room table to. I never felt the need to do an actual recoat during that time, however rubio sells an oil you buff on and buff off to "rejuvenate" the finish. I think I did that once. The only reason it didn't last longer than 3 years is that I decided I wanted to refinish the table to better match some other things I had made and I needed to fix the legs anyways. The second time around I went with Osmo.

tinted rubio

osmo

 

[highfigh]

This was a dining room table I did rubio on. 3 years of daily use, dropped silverware, wet glasses, red wine spills (among many other liquids and solids), plates, and anything else you can subject a dining room table to. I never felt the need to do an actual recoat during that time, however rubio sells an oil you buff on and buff off to "rejuvenate" the finish. I think I did that once. The only reason it didn't last longer than 3 years is that I decided I wanted to refinish the table to better match some other things I had made and I needed to fix the legs anyways. The second time around I went with Osmo.

tinted rubio

osmo

Is that rift sawn White Oak?

 

[Alex2507]

imports from the city

... so it's like that.

BTW: SWMBO really likes the stripped down light coloured top. Oops, how'd that 'u' get in there? Is that Cedar? Do you still have it? Wanna sell it?

 

[fuzz092888]

Is that rift sawn White Oak?

I think it's just plain sawn. It is white oak. My cousin milled it and I doubt he would go through the effort to do rift sawn or even quarter sawn.

 

[fuzz092888]

BTW: SWMBO really likes the stripped down light coloured top. Oops, how'd that 'u' get in there? Is that Cedar? Do you still have it? Wanna sell it?

The table? White oak, walnut legs, white oak feet. Still have it. Everything is for sale.

 

[Alex2507]

The table? White oak, walnut legs, white oak feet. Still have it. Everything is for sale.

How much for table? Size?

 

[highfigh]

I think it's just plain sawn. It is white oak. My cousin milled it and I doubt he would go through the effort to do rift sawn or even quarter sawn.

Does he mill a lot of lumber? If so, why would he NOT go through the effort and the value of quarter sawn and other cuts are more valuable? Granted, the yield from each log is much lower with those cuts, but look at the grain!

 

[fuzz092888]

How much for table? Size?

It’s like 63” x 43” (at it’s narrowest point 46” at the widest) x 29.25 high

 

[fuzz092888]

Does he mill a lot of lumber? If so, why would he NOT go through the effort and the value of quarter sawn and other cuts are more valuable? Granted, the yield from each log is much lower with those cuts, but look at the grain!

Honestly, I don’t know why he does the things he does lol. He had a sawmill, was milling a TON of lumber to build his own house. That was like 4 years ago. He has a bunch of huge beams sitting out in his front yard and other random boards he milled. Then he sold his sawmill and ordered a bigger one. The bigger one was backordered due to COVID and now I’m not sure if he canceled the order or if it’s still backordered. I’m not even sure he’s still building the house. He’s a union electrician so I guess it doesn’t make sense to invest more time and effort into the milling until he’s ready to retire.

 

[j_garcia]

Fuzz, back with a vengeance

 

[highfigh]

Honestly, I don’t know why he does the things he does lol. He had a sawmill, was milling a TON of lumber to build his own house. That was like 4 years ago. He has a bunch of huge beams sitting out in his front yard and other random boards he milled. Then he sold his sawmill and ordered a bigger one. The bigger one was backordered due to COVID and now I’m not sure if he canceled the order or if it’s still backordered. I’m not even sure he’s still building the house. He’s a union electrician so I guess it doesn’t make sense to invest more time and effort into the milling until he’s ready to retire.

I guess learning now beats retiring and not knowing what's needed.

 

[fuzz092888]

Out with old in with the new

 

[panteragstk]

Out with old in with the new

That going to be your new fancy monitor?

 

[fuzz092888]

That going to be your new fancy monitor?

Well the previous monitor in the other pic is a 55" LG OLED B7A lol. This is a 42" LG OLED C2. Downsized a little since the 55 was a little overwhelming for the seating distance and since this is a newer model I gain 4K 120Hz. The B7A could only do 120Hz at 1080P. I didn't need the super high refresh rate gaming stuff, and those didn't come in 42" anyways. Plus I didn't really want to do multi-monitor or ultrawide. So going with the tv instead of a "monitor" worked out nicely. Plus now I also have more desk space to fill with other crap

 

[panteragstk]

Well the previous monitor in the other pic is a 55" LG OLED B7A lol. This is a 42" LG OLED C2. Downsized a little since the 55 was a little overwhelming for the seating distance and since this is a newer model I gain 4K 120Hz. The B7A could only do 120Hz at 1080P. I didn't need the super high refresh rate gaming stuff, and those didn't come in 42" anyways. Plus I didn't really want to do multi-monitor or ultrawide. So going with the tv instead of a "monitor" worked out nicely. Plus now I also have more desk space to fill with other crap

I'm looking to grab one of the 42" models for a monitor myself. I've got a g-sync ultrawide now that's really great, but at the end of the day it's still an LCD. The VRR stuff for gaming is excellent once you've used it. I don't think I could go back to a fixed refresh rate monitor.

 

[fuzz092888]

I'm looking to grab one of the 42" models for a monitor myself. I've got a g-sync ultrawide now that's really great, but at the end of the day it's still an LCD. The VRR stuff for gaming is excellent once you've used it. I don't think I could go back to a fixed refresh rate monitor.

Yea VRR on the LG C1 in the basement connected to the PS5 has been a lot of fun. Plus now that I've been using an OLED for computer stuff, those inky blacks without any bloom or dimming around the cursor look too good to go back now. Ghosting be damned.

 

[Cos]

Thats a monster desk, I am jealous of your mad carpentry skills! When I read the top of your post I was going to say you should get an uplift base...then I scrolled down. Makes my bamboo top look like toilet paper.. lol great job.

 

[Cos]

Yea VRR on the LG C1 in the basement connected to the PS5 has been a lot of fun. Plus now that I've been using an OLED for computer stuff, those inky blacks without any bloom or dimming around the cursor look too good to go back now. Ghosting be damned.

I am really hesitant to get a OLED TV for a monitor mainly because I do office work at my desk from 6am-4pm when I am not traveling. I got the Dell 42" U4320Q because text quality is so important. It sacrifices PQ, contrast of an OLED, and no 120hz. It is perfect for what I do. That being said, I will be building another gaming rig soon, have all the parts except MoBo, CPU and GPU (waiting for the latest releases) and may switch. I am going to wait for QD-OLED to mature and I may go that route.