Getting started on the computer desk:
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This isn’t really “crafting”, but I’ve been playing around with DEMs (digital elevation models) made from lidar data covering my home area in Missouri. Made some cool images…
Boone County, MO, hillshaded 10-meter DEM, 20x vertical exaggeration. That’s the Missouri River along the southwest border.
Lidar-based hillshaded DEM of Stephens Lake & park, Columbia, MO. The detail is amazing!
Missouri River in central MO, 5-meter contours made from 10-meter DEM tiles:
My awesome state! 60-meter DEM showing elevations. The bright area is the Ozarks and the St. Francois Mountains. That is not missing data in the southeast corner! The Bootheel is very flat and low. It’s actually a part of the Mississippi Delta. The north end of Crowley’s Ridge is visible just inside the crook of the Bootheel.
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Gardening counts as creating, right?
The husband’s wall makes my garden look much better
This is after the third thinning of the baby carrots, which are about 1"x1/8" and full of carrotty flavor already.
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Gardening very much counts as creating!
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Close-up of Missouri’s Bootheel (60-meter DEM, hillshaded, 10x vertical exaggeration) showing the Ozark Escarpment, the north end of Crowley’s Ridge, and old Mississippi River meanders:
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I would like to compliment you on the photography, too. This one is a nice composition.
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I accidentally cut two of my mortices in the wrong place, which I then resolved by just rotating the legs 90°.
However, this created an issue: rotating the legs made the frame 90mm narrower and 90mm deeper. As the frame was designed to fit exactly under the desktop, this is a problem…
But easily fixed: glue two more boards onto the desktop to make it 180mm deeper, and change the leg/desktop joint to blind mortice and tenons instead of the edge-glued through joint. Make the desktop overhang the frame by 45mm all round instead of being flush.
I think I like the revised version better, anyway.
Still dithering over whether or not to drill a cable hole in the back of the desktop.
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Do it while it’s still accessible, or you’ll regret it later. Make a plug, for appearances’ sake?
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I don’t want to do it before the frame and desktop are attached, for fear of accidentally putting the hole somewhere where the frame obstructs it. Accessibility isn’t an issue; it’s just one hole, drilled down from the top.
I could even do it after I move the desk into the house if necessary. One of the great advantages of wooden floorboards is that sawdust in the house is no big deal. 
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In my previous house, I would, because I had thin little modern baseboards so furniture with even the slightest leg taper or top overhang could touch the wall. The local hardware store has the plastic inserts in several sizes, I’d get the biggest one and holesaw to fit.
In my current house, I would not, because the old timey baseboards stick out an inch minimum, so there’s always a space between the wall and desktop to run cables. Binder clips make great cable holders.
Upside to touching the wall, stuff doesn’t roll off the back, downside is it’ll usually end up wearing a mark into the paint that will show up if you rearrange the furniture…
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Almost there on the desk.
Cutting tenons on the legs:
Mortices on the underside of the desktop:
Dryfit:
Glueup:
Now I just have to make and fit the pair of corner braces for the front legs, trim the edges of the desktop straight and then it’s on to sanding and varnishing.
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Desk almost finished:
Just one or two more coats of varnish on the top and then I’m done.
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Deskus completus:
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Just finished my arcade cabinet, Raspberry Pi powered. I plan on cutting a bunch of vinyl decals over time, old retro game logos and characters
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That desk is beautiful. Love the two tones, with the darker legs.
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Through following links or something, I ended up applying to be a “community member” part of a team that would eventually create public art. I was accepted, and found out it was part of a project to make a big wooden pavilion to go in a downtown-adjacent park. 8 artists made 2 designs each with the input of their community teams, and we all, to some extent, collaborated on the artwork and the marquetry to create each 5’x10’ half-circle panel.
This is my section; I worked on it at home because the workspace was upstairs in a huge old factory, un-airconditioned and with too much dust of various kinds to use fans.
This is what the artist sent yesterday - they’ve got our piece done, and ready to be built into the inside of the pavilion.
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Nice work!
How do you prevent the tabletop warping due to humidity changes? I’ve recently started making tables from solid wood and it’s a big problem for me.
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The workbench and tables are the first things I’ve ever made that were larger than a bowl, so I’m no expert.
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However, with bowls, the way to avoid warping is (a) start with dry wood, and (b) don’t move it too much. They warp when temp and humidity change, so try to build them in a climate similar to where they’ll end up.
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My tables are a bit charmingly rustic™️ anyway, so a little movement won’t damage the aesthetics much if it happens.
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The laminated design of the tops should help them resist warping. If the boards should try to warp, it would be in diverse areas and directions rather than as one coordinated movement, and it will be resisted by the other boards glued to them. There’s a lot of glue in there.
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