In this build, I create a mid century modern desk from rift-sawn oak, with a custom-shaped edge detail and three drawers using blum soft close guides
Specific Items used in this build:
Blum drawer glides:
Blum Installation Tools:
Blume Installation Jig:
Building A Custom Desk: A Journey in Precision and Problem-Solving
Like pretty much every woodworking project I tackle, this one kicked off with the fundamentals—squaring up the lumber and milling everything to thickness. It’s not the most exciting part, but man, does it make everything else so much easier down the line.
Once I had all my stock squared up nicely, I dove into building the legs. This is where things got interesting. I pulled up my SketchUp drawing and took really careful measurements, paying special attention to the angles I needed to create the profile on each leg. And I mean careful—if my blade height or angle was off by even a hair, the profiles wouldn’t match up perfectly in the center. No pressure, right?
After cutting the profiles, I grabbed my router and ran a 1/4″ roundover bit along the legs to soften the edges. Then came mitering the legs and reinforcing those joints with some dominos. Those little guys are lifesavers for keeping everything rock solid.
Now for the top—this part was pretty cool. I resawed the rift oak into veneer and ran it through the planer to flatten it out and get it to just the right thickness. Here’s what I did: I veneered two sheets of 3/4″ plywood, top and bottom, then glued both sheets together. That gave me a gorgeous 2″ thick top that’s stable and substantial.
Assembly time! I used dominos and glue to attach the legs to the top, then wrangled the bottom and top stretchers into place. (And yes, “wrangled” is definitely the right word for it.)
Once all that dried, I flipped the whole desk over and built a frame to suspend the drawers from the top. I went with glue and pocket holes for the frame construction. This approach was really necessary because I wanted to maximize legroom underneath while still having enough space to install the Blum drawer hardware properly.
And that’s pretty much how this desk came together! It was one of those projects where precision really mattered at every step, but seeing it all come together made all those careful measurements totally worth it.
I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.