Hello and Welcome Back! Project #1 for the Year: Desk Table out of Pine

 Hello Everyone!

Well, it's been a long and very cold 6 months here but the weather is gradually warming so it's time to go back to work.

The first project of the year is a desk for myself. I've gone back to college and I really need a place for books and other stuff. And I haven't owned a desk of my own since high school and that was about 100 years ago. So it's time to build one.

I purchased 6 2x4s yesterday and this morning I went back to the lumber yard and got a glued up pine panel that is 1 1/4" thick for the top. The panel will save me a lot of time edge gluing. 

Here in this first photo you can see the framework parts. They're just butted together on the underside of the panel. I ripped one of the 2x4s down to 2 1/2" wide for the legs as I think that will look a little more refined and less bulky: 

My next steps are to sand all the frame parts, legs, and panel smooth and apply the stain. I've had good luck with General Finishes gel stains and I've used it for several projects and it comes out very well. I'm debating between the Prairie Wheat color on the left and the Nutmeg color on the right. All the parts will be stained and given a preliminary coat of polyurethane  before I assemble the table:

I still have to figure out the length of the stretchers and make those but that will be in a few days. 

I'll save you the agony of a post about sanding.

I'll be back in a couple of days-stay tuned.

VW