desk cable grommets?

[alex grams]

I am trying to find some grommets for a desk where I can put a veneer on the face of them to blend them in with the rest of the desktop. So far I can only find them in a plastic or metal.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AEXP2Q9SL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Rockler has some in oak, but they are a rounded face.

http://images.rockler.com/rockler/images/62372-04-500.jpg

Would this need to be something that has to be custom made/turned? I do not have a lathe or access to a lathe.

[Dan Hintz]

What about purchasing the oak ones and cutting/sanding them flat?

[Zach England]

I think you could make them with a router using a circle jig. You'd have to play with the geometry a bit. I am thinking of cutting a rabbet along the hole in the desk and making the insert fit into that rabbeted hole so it is flush with the desk top.

[Thomas S Stockton]

My go to grommet supplier is www.mockett.com although when I tried their site it was not letting me in. They have all sorts of sizes and materials
Tom

[Jamie Buxton]

I make my own grommets from the same lumber as the desk top. I can usually select the grain of the grommet to match the area around the hole. I generally make them rectangular, because I can make a flange on the grommet with the table saw. I cut the hole in the desk top with a template-guided plunge router.

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's a pic of a desk with two shop-made grommets in the top. You can just barely make out the grommets. There's also a close-up of the left one.

[Charles Wiggins]

I'd make my own.

Presuming you have the tools, freehand a blank a little oversized on the band saw. Put a small nail through a piece of ply to use as a pin. If you want a 2" grommet, place the pin 1" from the edge of the ply. Clamp the ply with the edge barely touching the teeth and the pin parallel to the front of blade. Drill a hold the size of the pin in the approximate center of the bottom of the blank and place the blank on the pin. Try to find a spot where the blank barely touches the blade without much deflection.

Now, while holding down the blank with your fingers away from the blade, turn the band saw on. Once the blade is up to speed rotate the blank to cut away the waste and get a perfect circle.

The lip can be cut on the router table and the notch can be made with a Forstner bit and saw.