Look - a desk with a top!Building the frame for the desk defined most of the shape but there is a lot more to do.

The hardware is all set up for the back of the desk – took a lot of measuring/drilling holes/testing but everything fits well and it fits into the frame.

The 1/4″ plywood is cut for the desk top & bottom, and I cut down some 2×4 “ribs” to space them out the right distance.  The plywood top is a little more flexible than I had thought so it needs to be reinforced to make it just a bit sturdier.  Hopefully will figure that out before the next installment!

And the laminate arrived – it’s black Formica but it’s a “micro dot” texture – have a look!  I don’t have any prior experience with laminate at all.  Cutting it was actually simpler than expected.  I’d read that it’s best to cut it with a circular saw with the blade installed backwards to minimize chipping.  It worked fine actually – no fuss at all.

You normally cut the laminate bigger than you need and then after it’s adhered to your sub-surface you trim off the overhang.  Really this is because you use contact cement to adhere it – you coat the surface and the laminate separately and wait for it to dry to the touch (an hour or two), then when the two surfaces of contact cement are joined they adhere pretty much instantly.  So if you didn’t have any overhang it would need to be lined up perfectly, which I hear isn’t an easy task.

I have everything needed to do the laminate so that’s next!  While the contact cement is drying I’ll work on cutting the legs and this desk will be one step closer to reality…

In the meantime here are the latest images with a brief explanation: