This beech desk may well be my favourite project of the last year to come out of the Wharfedale Workshop.
Made from solid white beech it has a rounded front top and rounded front legs with a contrasting squared back as it fits up against a wall. The top is made of 7 separate planks of beech 30mm thick joined together and the legs are 75mm square; as such this is a very solid desk! It was made from 2 x 3 inch slabs or waney edge white beech from Duffields Timber.
The underside of the top contains a routed out pocket for a wireless phone charger which is completely invisible from the top. A double monitor stand fits directly into the top and a shelf holds a PC tower unit in between the left hand legs. It has been finished with 3 coats of OSMO 3032 and looks absolutely fantastic. Hats off to its maker, Jason.
This oak stool/bench was made by a student on the Monday projects class. Their first build following the introductory course, the top was upholstered by Waltons in Ilkley to match other furniture in the room.
This “treasure chest” was made by a pupil – out of Douglas Fir with a walnut piston fit upper tray and a lower section with walnut supports for the upper shelf. We really like the contrasting dovetails which look great with this wood. The internal tray is still to be finished but we think the pirate-style corners, catch and handles really work despite the fact that the rest of us in the workshop thought that it would look a bit odd! Sadly it is going to be used to contain art materials rather than pieces of eight….. Its maker is a very talented artist.
This small keepsake box out of oak with walnut splines in the miters has been a nice way to use up some offcuts. Pretty easy to make as well.
A rather strange project. We bought a magnetic knife rack – when unboxed it was incredibly plasticky and tacky – which should not have been a surprise since it cost £2.99 So the task was to break it apart and use the magnets and metal bars as a base from which to make something a little more pleasing to the eye. This was pulled together using a small piece of burr walnut as a support for the “bars” and an offcut of indian rosewood for the surround – all backed with maple. Slightly over the top maybe for a £2.99 knife rack – did we say how bored we are?
This was a quick project to create a simple box to store seed packets. The wood came from an old shelf unit – we are not really sure what wood it is – it’s a very light wood with a fairly dense grain – it looks a lot more solid than it is. The top was laser engraved to personalise it. The brass hinges should ideally be complemented with a brass catch but we can’t get our hands on one at the moment so a rather rough looking chrome catch will have to do for now. The box is finished in 2 coats of boiled linseed oil and 2 coats of wax.
This small cabinet was one of the prototypes for the “second project” project. After completing the introductory box building course, many people are keen to continue but don’t want to jump straight to a fairly large piece of furniture. We designed this simple one drawer, one door cabinet as a natural step up from the box building course. This version is in oak with bog oak handles – but it can also be made in ash with walnut handles. Also, not everyone has room for a new piece of furniture; the door can be fitted with a blackboard or a mirror to make it useful around the house.
Very much work in progress here…. A “proptotype” desk for homeworking. One of the things we have found in our house is that we don’t have the space in the bedrooms for a full sized desk so we have been using all sorts of awkward surfaces to work on. So we decided to build a small desk with drawers that could maybe double as a dressing table or side table post-lockdown. This desk is only a little over 1m long and pretty narrow but easily big enough for a laptop and work papers. This is made primarily from Tulip wood /Poplar as it is pretty cheap with just the drawer fronts in Oak. The Poplar has a very variable colour pattern ranging from quite nice light colours to a dirty murky green – so all of the exposed Poplar will be painted. (lots of smart painted kitchens have Poplar framework) We are not sure what colour yet – it needs to match the finished oak – however the undercoat primer itself is currently a strong favourite. We are still planning the Wharfedale Workshop week long summer school project – and a desk like this may well feature. Watch this space
Well, here is the finished prototype. We added some simple handles out of an oak off-cut – we think they do seem to match the general style of the desk. In the end we did decide that the Rustins Primer/Undercoat shade was rather nice and we had some Dulux Eggshell mixed in the identical colour by the excellent people at Mortons. The oak was then given three coats of OSMO satin wax oil. . So – the final conclusion; in general we are quite happy but it does feel a little larger than the dimensions (1050mm x 480mm) suggested in planning. It was intended to be a “work at home” desk that could then double up as a narrow hall table or dressing table, especially in a smaller home. We are now planning to re-create this, a little smaller, and probably with just two drawers; this time we will make it completely out of Elm which we’ve just bought from Duffields in Ripon. (The only drawback of making a life-size prototype is that we’we’re now left with this on our hands…..)
A very quick project for a friend – a simple hi fi stand made out of reclaimed mango wood with 18mm plywood shelf inserts. Pretty solid but not really for the audiophile …. if you are, you should look at https://www.solid-sounds.co.uk This is run by a former student of Chris Tribe who makes amazing bespoke high end hi fi accessories. Take a look at the Linn turntable plinths which are built by Chris himself in the Wharfedale Workshop out of some incredible tropical and European hardwoods
