Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 20

Thread: Desk from southern yellow pine

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Fishers, Indiana
    Posts
    554

    Desk from southern yellow pine

    My work has been busy lately since we are very short handed with many working from home, but been trying to still have some projects going on.

    This is a simple desk I made form SYP construction lumber. Made mostly with hand tools, but I have been using my wooden bandsaw project to do more of the grunt work.
    I have something of a love/hate relationship with SYP. I love the low cost, availability, and sustainability, and when I find it with tight growth rings, it does have its own sort of beauty.

    But I hate trying to cut clean mortises thought the layers of soft early wood and hard late wood. Its like pounding on a piece of hard rubber. Very sharp tools help of course.


    20200531_181840.jpg 20200531_181959.jpg20200531_182202.jpg20200531_182242.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    866
    Those exposed breadboard tenon look really nice 0 as does the rest of the piece.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Marietta, GA
    Posts
    35
    Blog Entries
    6
    Nice. Those exposed ends and square pegs are attractive details.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    South West Ontario
    Posts
    1,502
    I do wonder about the seasonal variations in the top and those breadboard tenons. It does have lovely fit and finish.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    2,151
    Nice looking desk. The yellow pine works well with that style. Now you need a chair to match.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Edmond, Oklahoma
    Posts
    1,749
    Jeff, beautiful job with yellow pine. Very nice workmanship.

    Also, you wooden bandsaw in the background looks great. All I can say is wow.

    Regards,

    Stew

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Edwardsville, IL.
    Posts
    1,673
    Very nicely done. Nice tight grain on the SYP.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Ellsworth, Maine
    Posts
    1,805
    The desk looks great!! Nice job.

    How about some more pictures of that bandsaw!! And some information on that build. Looks super nice.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Putney, Vermont
    Posts
    1,042
    Jeff, You did fantastic job with the yellow pine. I really like the looks, and the wood will only get nicer in appearance with age.

    I can sympathize on working with yellow pine. I made 2 tall standing planter boxes 32"w x 72" l and used pressure treated 4x4 legs with 3/4" through mortices for the stretchers. Going through the pith of the tree 8x with those mortices was not fun.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Austin Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    Outstanding work and a good look as well Jeff. Exposed through tenons, square pegs, shaped stretchers, etc. I ran across some recovered long leaf pine when I first started furniture building many years ago and have always like the look (as long as it is displayed in that kind of a setting). I then found out that the "soft pine" that the ww magazine writers talked about was not that pine.
    David

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
    Posts
    27,347
    Blog Entries
    1
    A beautiful piece.

    One of my dreams is of having SYP available on the west coast.

    But I hate trying to cut clean mortises thought the layers of soft early wood and hard late wood. Its like pounding on a piece of hard rubber. Very sharp tools help of course.
    Doug fir may be a bit easier. My current project has me pounding out some 3" deep 1X2-1/2" mortises.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Forest Lake MN
    Posts
    340
    That looks great, I have been toying with building myself a new desk for my home office. The plastic folding table is out of place in an otherwise nice office.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    A beautiful piece.

    One of my dreams is of having SYP available on the west coast.



    Doug fir may be a bit easier. My current project has me pounding out some 3" deep 1X2-1/2" mortises.

    jtk
    They are both pretty miserable. If Douglas Fir is easier, it is only because the early wood might be closer in hardness to the late wood. And that late wood can be like cement.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Fishers, Indiana
    Posts
    554
    Quote Originally Posted by William Fretwell View Post
    I do wonder about the seasonal variations in the top and those breadboard tenons. It does have lovely fit and finish.
    William. I was a bit sneaky with those tenons on the breadboard. They are actually loose tenons. They are tight fitting and glued in the breadboard, and loose fitting in mortises in the ends of the top slab with just the 3 center ones glued in the slab. I was worried about movement as well.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Fishers, Indiana
    Posts
    554
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Shea View Post
    The desk looks great!! Nice job.

    How about some more pictures of that bandsaw!! And some information on that build. Looks super nice.
    Tony,
    The bandsaw is a project I started January of last year and finally finished in last fall.
    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....andsaw-project

    I originally built it mostly with the idea of using it to help with re-sawing SYP, but I have been using it for quite a few other things lately. It actually works better than I ever expected.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •