i make hand made wooden bespoke furniture, kitchens, 4 poster beds etc, and i've made more than a few desks. the problem with mdf is its weight (its basicaly a mixture of fine sawdust and glue), its a swine to paint because it drinks up paint really fast and leaves you with a very patchy finish. it never cuts cleanly either. if you dont want to use wood then i would suggest some half inch fair faced ply wood. its called fair faced because you can get it with the outer most layers made of nice grained woods such as egyptian pine. it'll cost you about £17.50 for an 8 foot by 4 foot sheet. the easiest way for you to make it though would be to make the desk frame and legs from planed 2x2, and then make the actual desk surfaces from half inch fair faced ply wood. a couple of coats of danish oil afterwards will give you depth of grain and colour, whilst providing a hard wearing and easy clean finish

Completely agree with this statement. MDF is terrible to work with, and you'll thank yourself in the end for going with the finished plywood. I built a bar this summer, and the plywood worked out great.

Hi.


I'm thinking of making a desk soon, from MDF.


I plan for it to be a corner desk, with shelves, and a place to mount 2 24" monitors on there.


I'll be designing it with Google Sketchup, I'll post results when I have them.

I would just suggest make the shelves movable/removable as with my own desks comes a day when I find they are in the wrong place
But making your own completely custom desk sounds like a great idea
Make sure you chuck it over in the project logs.

it'll cost you about £17.50 for an 8 foot by 4 foot sheet.

from where?

i was going to use MDF until i couldn't find any thick enough in B and Q, so i was going to use 7 planks of some cheap wood in B and Q. but that will be £35 and i have to drill and screw them together really tightly together, using ply wood will be much easier.

from where?

i was going to use MDF until i couldn't find any thick enough in B and Q, so i was going to use 7 planks of some cheap wood in B and Q. but that will be £35 and i have to drill and screw them together really tightly together, using ply wood will be much easier.

don't use b and q or other diy stores, go to a proper builders merchant. theres plenty near you you've just probably never noticed them. you'll find them on your nearest industrial estate or in the yellow pages

and if you still want to use mdf its about 9 quid for an 8 foot by 4 foot 3/4 inch thick sheet from a builders merchant

The only problem I had with MDF was the weight. Shaping it was easy with a belt sander and electric plane.

However by far and away the nicest sheet mateirial I ever used was Brazillian birch ply. Mind you, at about £50 a sheet it wasn't cheap.

The only problem I had with MDF was the weight. Shaping it was easy with a belt sander and electric plane.

However by far and away the nicest sheet mateirial I ever used was Brazillian birch ply. Mind you, at about £50 a sheet it wasn't cheap.

i hope you wore a good face mask. mdf dust is toxic and prolonged inhalation will fudge up your lungs. the only time i recommend mdf is for radiator covers because mdf isnt affected by heat like wood or ply is. it keeps its shape well, hell ive even thrown offcuts of mdf into my coal fire and all they do is smolder and not burn up in flames. also never ever ever use mdf in a kitchen or bathroom, it soaks up moisture from the air and splits open along the edges. that would probably apply if you built a desk from mdf and it was in a bedroom with an on suite shower

Yeah MDF is a tampon

Most of the time if I used it I worked outside (speaker enclosures). Once I did use it indoors but that was two days. Don't miss blowing it out of my nose

I've though about a custom desk for awhile now. I have a small room that's overly packed as it is.. So building something custom to fit my PC, Tv, PS3 etc would free up so much space.

In otherwords... post pics!

yeah i would love a massive huge desk i can get all my gear on and free up some space, hmmmmmm sketchups calls i think

Best desk I ever sat behind was a kitchen counter top with a Fellowes keyboard drawer. Sadly you can't seem to get a decent large keyboard tray as a standalone here in the UK