standing desk

Maria had been dropping hints for some time that she would like a standing desk so I started building one last month for her birthday. I am normally a big fan of surprising her with gifts but the desk took up too much time and space in the garage to slip under her radar. Besides that, it was fun to get her input and get a better idea of what she wanted and take measurements to customize the height for her. She wanted kind of a utilitarian look (oh good, the only thing I know how to do) and this is what I ended up with.

 I picked up a couple sticks of 1"x.095 square cross section  for the metal frame. It makes the desk fairly light but very sturdy. For the wood sections I used MDF. The stuff is easy to work with and you don't have to worry about picking up warped or knotty pieces. One downside is that it picks up stains and smudges very easily and I will probably have go back and throw on a coat of polyurethane before long. There is one metal cross bar that can be unbolted allowing the whole thing to be disassembled and stored flat (in your face ikea). Before this project I had been working on building my own chop saw, it was 90% complete when I found a nice one at a garage sale for $20...oh well. The chop saw made a big difference in producing sharper cuts and welds for a more professional look.

 Maria and I came up with the idea of doing half peg board and half cork board for the backing which has really helped clean up some of the clutter from the old desk.

 When I got my grandfathers old table saw I also found some cool little attachments that simulate routed edges. For the desk I used a simple round edge that would be comfortable to rest your wrists on.

And here is a link to a fun article to make you want your own stand up desk    Become A Stand-Up Guy





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