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nice project

Wow! Thanks for all the positive responses! I will keep working hard to bring you some more updates!
 
I had a bit of time in the shop this week to work on getting my drawers up to speed. I decided to take the advice of a fellow forum member and add "false fronts" to my drawers so that I can attach the "real fronts" using screws by screwing from the inside of the drawer, so I wouldn't have any screw heads to cover up on the outside.
 
Here they are, with my roughed out false fronts - I happened to have 3 pieces of wood almost exactly the size I needed.
 

 
Time to take out 'ol trusty
 

 
A quick test fit, and all 3 fit perfectly
 

 

 
Add a bit of glue, and some trusty clamps, and we've got ourselves the beginnings of some false fronts!
 

 

 

 
All 3 of them fit rather nicely. I think they helped square out the drawers overall as well (Even though they were only out of square by around 1/16th of an inch).
 
So, I've got some time for the glue to dry. I'm not sure if anyone can remember this, but in my original cut sheets, I had planned on cutting out a specific piece of wood using the wood that I jigsawed out of the desk surface.
 
Here's that piece:
 

 
Not, exactly.... square..
 
 
 
 
So I take this nice little protractor attached to a table saw slide - it's set at 90, so here we go!
 

 
I do 2 sides, and then use the actual table saw fence to square out the other 2, but something just doesn't seem right..
 

 

 
It's not really square. What's going on here?
 

 
Aha! Looks like the protractor was a little bit off, resulting in a shape one step closer to a diamond as opposed to a square. After a bit of readjustment, I redid that bit and cut it to size - it's the drawer face for the large drawer.
 

 
Now that the glue is settled, I decided to throw a few screws into the false fronts.
 

 

 
Awesome. And solid too!
 

 
Now, this is kind of embarrassing, but I had to go back and fix a mistake I made in my initial cuts. This piece of wood was supposed to be 20" x 28", but it ended up being more like 19.8" x 28". It may not seem like much, but this is the back piece to the left-hand cabinet. I would have to adjust the width of all 3 shelves if I were to continue using this, and I've got the space already pretty tightly packed with computer components on the top shelf.
 
So... don't do this at home, just cut a new piece of wood (I didn't want to cut into a new sheet of 4x8 just for this one piece...)
 
This piece looks like a good fit...
 

 

 

 
No one will see it, because it'll be in the back, but you will all know. So... let's just forget that ever happened, ok?

I haven't seen anything
 
Can't wait, I wanna see the end !

NEXTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT <3

drap

Haha, merci encors pour tout les mots d'encouragement!
 
I decided it was time to glue the two surfaces together that would comprise of the actual desk surface and take a break from working on the drawers for a while.
 
Here it is, the first piece. At first I wanted to lay it face down, so I could evenly distribute screws through the bottom, but in the end, I went face up so I would protect the surface, and it would be a LOT easier to line up the holes.
 

 
I threw on the top layer, lined them up, and thought to myself: Hmm, I wonder what it'll look like with the top shelf stacked on:
 

 
Pretty cool. This was the first time I had actually pulled a chair up to it to get a real grasp of how big this desk is going to be. I was pretty psyched.
 
Just a note, the two pieces of wood on each end holding up the shelf will actually be the inner supports (ie, pushed inwards towards the middle of the desk a foot or two), and the cubby holes on the outer ends will support the long shelf. The long shelf also has to be trimmed a couple inches, it won't reach right to the end of the desk.
 

 
This next part was really quite a challenge on my own.
 
I lined it up as best as I could (According to the holes that I cut out, since the edges are easy to trim later), lifted one end with a mighty, strong arm, squirted as much glue as I could with my other arm (And only as far as I could reach!), put it down gently, ran to the other side and repeated.
 
Let me tell you - with the amount of glue I put down, and the fact that each side weighs 20-30 pounds - it did NOT want to slide around easily to get into perfect position.
 
In the end, I had to muscle it around a bit to get the holes lined up satisfactorily.
 
(I spoke with a couple friends about this afterward, and one of them suggested making some pilot holes and screwing in a few screws BEFORE the gluing, and then retracting the screws so that just the tips go through the bottom board. That way after the glue is put down, you shuffle around the top board until the tips of the screws find the pilot holes, thus, eliminating the issue of getting proper alignment before the glue becomes too tacky.)
 
I then threw some weight on top of the table, attached as many clamps as I could find, and started putting some 1.25" screws through the bottom.
 

 
A few clamp shots of the hole - everything lined up pretty much perfect. 1/2" on the left and right, 1/2" at the bottom, and I think just a little under 3/4" at the top. (The size of the lip between the upper and lower holes)
 

 

 

 

 
I wasn't satisfied with the way the clamping was going on lengthwise on the surface. I didn't have enough clamps to place them every half foot, so luckily, Mike had some of these nice, big, cedar logs lying around that I re-purposed temporarily.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The end result turned out quite nicely. The hole was lined up properly. There is only a small overhang / underhang of maybe 2/16's of an inch on two of the edges of the surfaces that should be easy to correct with a flush-bit on the router later.
 
We'll take a look at them next update! Thanks for staying tuned!

Why u decided to glue your surfaces only ? No screw, or something like that ?
 
Keep going !
I'll stay tuned

still loving it!
 
the width of the glass will be huge... and will cost a lot.
Have you plan something to lift it easily?
 
Keep working like that, i may order you one desk in the future...

Hey KaiserCz, thanks for the comments - I did put a bunch of screws in from the bottom, as well as gluing

The glass area will be quite large.. and I think it will have to be quite thick to be strong (Maybe 1/2" or even 3/4"?).. I'm actually not really sure how much that will cost. I'll have to put a notch in the wood at the top, so I can put in a finger to lift the glass up I think.
 
I got a chance to do some work on the drawer face trim - this was my first time doing solid wood trim.
 
I cut a nice piece of maple into 1/4" strips, glued, and sanded. I only did one piece this time, as I am not totally sure that this is the way I would like to go.
 
Something about the trim not meshing quite well with the plywood.
 
First, I set the table saw to the right width:
 

 
Measure 3 times, and you get a nice solid cut:
 

 
Made a few strips:
 

 

 
Cut, glued, and clamped on the initial pieces of trim. The trim pieces were about 2/16's of an inch wider than the plywood, which is great, since there will be no voids, though, I'll have to do quite a bit of sanding:
 

 

 

 
Took the sander to the top and bottom:
 

 

 

 
Overall, it looks pretty good. I'm still not 100% certain about it, however. I'm thinking there is a strong possibility I will go with solid maple for the drawer faces.
 

What a wood-worker !
It looks really good
 
You have to continue ! Wanna see where this's going

Thanks a lot, both of you!
 
Had another really busy weekend and unfortunately, wasn't able to post the update on the weekend like I originally wanted to...
 
BUT! Made a new friend - meet Mr.Air Nailer.
 

 

 
Nice and fast, no need to clamp everything down, and I can get a lot more trim done a lot quicker.
 
I really did a better job of being picky with the trim, and selected cuts that matched the colour a lot better:
 

 
Compared to the first drawer face that I tried:
 

 
That had to change, so I took my most subtle and elegant tools:
 

 

 
And, replaced the two mis-coloured pieces with nicer ones.
 
Anyways - this is what my trim production line looked like for the day:
 

 
First, I would mark off the lengths on an appropriately coloured piece of trim just using a pencil and holding the trim against the piece:
 

 
Take it over to the miter saw and trim it to within a sixteenth of an inch or so on both ends:
 

 

 
See that cedar log in the bottom right? Remember it being longer? Mike was in the shop today turning them into table legs, which partially explains the big mess!
 

 
I then took the piece that is being trimmed, as well as the trim, to the little sander. I would sand to a good 90 degree angle, and get the length just right.
 

 

 

 
Glue down, and nail down!
 

 

 
Occasionally, I'll crack the trim with the nailer... which means it has to be removed, and re-done with a new piece of trim:
 

 
After some sanding:
 

 
I finished all 3 drawer faces and then got started on the actual drawers. They look pretty decent. Not perfect, but they look nice.
 

Flag
 
It's a very good project! It's very beatiful, I want to see the final result!

Rhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, ch'uis nase en anglais!!!!!!!  
 
Good job quand même!!!

OMG your works !

splendid

drap je veut le voir finit ^^
 
I want to see it ^^

I want to have your tools and your workshop!!!
And just can't stand the waiting for the next steps...

Hehehe, thank you everyone for your very encouraging comments, I appreciate it! I haven't forgotten to update - it's just been very busy!!!
 
I used a fairly similar process as the drawer faces, I started out by cutting myself some fresh trim strips from this piece of maple:
 

 
Hit the miter saw and sander, and lay down some glue:
 

 
Then with the nailer. Whoops, one more split.
 

 
Here's a before and after shot from the sanding. You'll notice the maple strips got burnt pretty badly when I put them through the table saw (The blade is getting a bit old). After a bit of sanding, they look as fresh as ever:
 

 

 

After trimming all of the drawers and faces, I had to get some wood filler to fill in all of the screw and nail holes, as well as the small voids between the plywood and solid wood. All in all, this process went OK - not as nice as I would have liked.
 

 

 
For the mostpart, I used Elmers Natural Colour Wood Filler. While it did the job, the colour matching wasn't exactly... inconspicious, to say the least. I also tried mixing some sawdust from the random-orbit sander with some wood glue, with not so great results.
 

 

 

 

 

 
You can clearly see, in the end result, that the sawdust/glue filler looks more like glue. It has an almost transparent look to it. I guess I should have used more sawdust?
 

 

 
Anyways, I finished up the rest of the voids and holes with the regular Elmers stuff:
 

 

 
And then sanded it it all up:
 

 

 
Anyone have any tips on how I can further hide the holes? I will have to go over them again with some more wood filler just to smooth them out completely, but even so, I have a feeling that the stain will accentuate all of my filling, which is not the desired effect, to say the least!!
 
I have ALMOST determined the stain / technique I will be using. I'm getting some very nice, richly coloured red mahogany / cherry right now on my test boards. With that in mind, has anyone used darker wood filler than the natural wood, when staining dark with good effect?

Nice job, wanna see the next step !
 
Go back to work
 

which kind of color will u use 4 this? looks great keep working man.

Very interesting project.
 
Nice bunch of tools you've got, too
 

really want to see the final result
I'll stay tuned
very nice job!!

Yeahh good job !

Flag !

c 'est pas souvent mais là je pose un drapeau  
very nice job

Thanks for the comments everyone, I really appreciate it.
 
I'll post the next update in the next day or two - it's been really busy at work and I just haven't had the energy to go and crop the photos and type up stuff
 
Don't forget, the tools aren't mine - they belong to the guy who owns the wood shop, who I just met. You'll see my own tools when I bring all the gear back to my place They're not nearly as nice, believe me!!!
 
The whole desk is going to be stained a dark cherry red - I've been working on test boards for the past few weeks and I think I've finally nailed the technique and stain I'll be using..
 
Stay tuned - lots of cool updates and pictures to come still

for the wholes in the wood, you should have used some filling wax.
With your method, it's hard to find the good mix of glue and sawdust.
 
in fact you have two sort of product: wood paste and wood wax
 
Wood paste: wood powder and resin to mix up in order to find the good color
 
http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-fr [...] t&backurl=
http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-fr [...] t&backurl=
(didn't find on Home depot website
)
it's also exist already made, but too smooth for me
examples:
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs [...] PartNumber
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs [...] PartNumber
 
Wood wax: wax stick that you put in the holes, you maybe can mix different color to match yours.
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs [...] PartNumber
 
but in fact, you shoul stain the whole thing first, and then fill your holes and cracks with one of this solution, so you'll know the color to apply, you sand it, and you apply again as long as you're not satified, and at the end put one last finish stain color or glaze coat.

Ahh, thanks for the links and information - I will have to do lots of testing to figure out the right method before I stain the final project I guess!
 
Received a nice package in the mail a couple weeks ago that I've been meaning to show off...
 

 

 
What could it be?
 

 
Woohoo!!!
 

 

 

 
That's:
4 x 2 GB of 1600Mhz CL7 Ballistix RAM from Crucial and
2 x 2 GB of 1333Mhz ECC, Registered RDIMM RAM from Crucial!
 
So it looks like for the main system I will have some options. Currently I'm thinking either a socket 1156 Core i5/i7 or a newer Sandy Bridge socket 1155. The only issue that may occur with the Sandy Bridge is that those Crucial Ballistix are rated for 1.65 Volts, which I understand is a bit over the recommended voltage for RAM for the 1155 boards. There is a possibility of looking at an AMD AM3 system as well with a Phenom x4 or x6 - I have not made up my mind entirely yet.
 
For the server system, I am almost definetely going with a Xeon processor - which motherboard is still in the air.
 
Aren't they so nice?
 

 

 
Can't wait to open them up and test them out! It'll have to wait for now, however.
 
So here's a distraction - my cat! She's going to have some kittens soon!
 

 
Big thanks go out to Crucial, who are officially the first sponsor for The Ultimate Computer Desk
 

 
Stay tuned, lots of updates in the pipeline!

Hey,
I'm happy you've found a great sponsor as Crucial (the first of a long list) to support you in order to make your Ultime Desk going out of the ground!!

Yes +1
 
 
Beautiful cat

flag !

Thanks Knightcore, I was really excited to get a response from Crucial, they have been very generous with this sponsorship, and I couldn't do it without them!
 

Thanks Fredo428! I can't wait for her to have kittens, it's going to be a lot of fun!
 

Ha, thanks justbam!
 
Last time I left off, with regards to the table surface, I had just finished gluing and screwing it together. I put it on the backburner for about a week to dry while I worked on the drawers, and now I'm going to take it down in preparation for putting the outer trim on it.
 
Here it is:
 

 
All 4 sides were a bit off, with regards to the flushness. This was expected, as the initial sizing cuts were pretty rough, and it's better to have extra material than not enough.
 

 
Took out a straight-cut flush bit for the router, and some 60-grit sandpaper for the random orbital sander, and got to work. I did two passes with the router, because since the bit is not 1 1/2" tall, I couldn't trim the whole side of the table with just one pass.
 

 

 

 

 

 
And, after a bit of work, the final result:
 

 

 

 
The next step is to take a long strip of maple and turn it into trim for the table surface.
 

Nice !

well done, nice and soft.

Thanks!
 

Thanks! Not sure what you mean by soft, though!!
 

I would love to make the same desk but with no good tools like you it's impossible !

good job !!!! very nice