Year 8 - Desk Tidy

Another year 8 project we manufacture this term is a desk tidy. This project is manufactured mainly from plywood, which is a manmade wood. This desk tidy allows us to hold a glue stick and a number of colouring pencils.

Firstly you will receive 4 pieces of 12mm plywood and 3 pieces of MDF. It might be a good idea to give each piece of plywood a brief sanding to remove any splinters. The 7 pieces are then glued together as shown in the pictures below.

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When all layers have been glued together they are placed in a vice to ensure full bonding takes place. Initial setting can be achieved within 30 minutes however full bonding can take up to 24 hours.

You now have to sand your desk tidy on the sanding board to ensure all surfaces are even as there may have been movement of the materials during the joining process.

Once all surfaces have been levelled you should then mark out the hole which is to be drilled on the pedestal drill and the ends to be curved on the linisher. For these markings you require a pencil, ruler, try square and template for marking the curves.

Observing all safety precautions you now drill the hole on the pedestal drill using a 20mm forstner drill bit. This hole allows you to store a small glue stick.

Then using the linisher you carefully put a curve on the wood, it is good practice to leave the lines on when completed to ensure accuracy.

All surfaces of the desk tidy with the exception of the base now require a thorough sanding. We start by using a sanding board which has an 80 grade sandpaper attached, moving then to a 120 grade then 240 grade both of which are wrapped around a sanding block to make the process easier whilst being held in a vice.

When you have achieved a smooth finish on your desk tidy you can either choose to finish it by painting or giving it a natural finish using a clear wax. You can then add your own detail if you like as shown below.