Cover African Mahogany Table Top with glass?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I am building a computer desk out of African Mahogany. I am finishing the top with Waterlox Original.

It was suggested to me that glass be placed on top of the desk to protect the top. That had not occurred to me previously, so I looked around a bit.

Seems that African Mahogany has a Janka hardness of 830. Red Oak is 1290 and hard maple is 1450 for reference.

It had not occurred to me that this would be required, but... is the African Mahogany likely to dent?

The desk top is rather large (66" wide and 31" deep) and I will place a hutch on the top rear, so that would be a rather large piece of glass.

Any experience here?

[Jeff Duncan]

You only need a hard surface for writing, often times people will use simple desk pads you can buy at any office supply. As far as glass....you could go that route, I wouldn't do it, but if you feel as though you need the whole surface covered....?

good luck,
JeffD

[Andrew Pitonyak]

You only need a hard surface for writing, often times people will use simple desk pads you can buy at any office supply. As far as glass....you could go that route, I wouldn't do it, but if you feel as though you need the whole surface covered....?

I had not intended to do so, but it was recommended by a friend. It had never occurred to me to do it. Makes sense for writing so that you do not have those little "pen dents" from writing.

[Bill White]

If you choose to use (cool phrase?) glass, be sure to get some of the nickle size clear "plastic" dots that will keep the glass from directly contacting the surface.
Bill

[Prashun Patel]

I have a desk that is African Mahogany with Waterlox. It's plenty hard. Two caveats:

Pens and pencils are remarkably good at making marks in even maple, so using some kind of protectant when writing - like a blotter or glass is a good idea.

If you are going to use rubber nibs between the glass and table, be advised that they can lift the finish if it's not properly cured. For that matter, the feet of your laptop can do the same thing on the finished wood.

[johnny means]

A leather desk pad is in order. IMO, if your going to cover the Mahogany desktop with glass, you may as well use Mahogany flavored laminate. Reminds me of the plastic covered sofas my grandmother had. Beautiful plush velvet sofa set covered in Saran wrap, disgusting. When she passed, God bless her soul, the family couldn't tear those covers off fast enough. Some of us had literally spent our entire lives suffering on that hot sweaty plastic, wondering how comfy the must be underneath.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

So, how comfy was it :-)

[Andrew Pitonyak]

As a side note, I probed the Waterlox people because I figured that I should wait at least one month if glass does go down on the surface, and they agreed that one month is a good time period to allow for curing.