How To Make Makeshift-Desk With Industrial Piping

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Sometimes, it’s amazing to have something made out of your own hands. Making a desk (farmhouse or other style) can seem arduous but with the right materials and tools, it won’t consume much of your time.

Besides, you get to maintain the quality that you would like. With such a DIY project, you can bring into reality what you have been dreaming about.

If planning to make a desk out of industrial piping, you need to consider a few factors. These include the materials, equipment, and the quality of the desk.

The tools to use when making the desk include:

  • Pipe threader
  • Angle grinder
  • Cordless driver/drill
  • Jointer
  • Table saw
  • Miter saw

On the other hand, the materials to get will include:

  • Wood
  • Iron pipe
  • Pipe fittings
  • Wood screws
  • Cutting oil
  • Denatured alcohol
  • Poly/paint/stain

Below is a detailed guide on how to make a desk using industrial piping.

1. Mill the Wood

Use your miter saw to cut the wood to around length. To make the work easy, consider using a stop block.

After cutting the wood into a rough length, you can knock down the corners to make everything smooth. After which you can move the wood to the jointer.

During this phase, flatten both faces of the wood while applying even pressure. After getting a flat face on both sides of the wood, make an edge perpendicular to the face.

You should proceed to use the planner to adjust the final thickness of your pieces of wood. Always use the jointed face as your reference on the planner bed, it helps make both faces parallel.

All that’s left after this is to create a final straight edge. Run all the boards through your table saw thus ensuring that they have a jointed edge.

If you don’t have the equipment for this phase, you should consider buying pre-milled boards from your local store. It will save you time and enables you to proceed to make your desk.

2. Glue the Top

After cutting the boards to their final width, you should proceed to the glue-up phase. For this, you only need some dowels to align the wood.

You can also conduct the process without the dowels and ensure that you glue along the edge of each board. After applying the glue, spread it out with a silicone brush.

For such a glue-up, it’s advisable to use caul boards since they help prevent cupping. If you don’t have caul boards, you can add clamps on the edge joint.

3. Sanding

Let the glue set overnight and come back to sand the top (you can learn how to sand in grooves here) with grit paper. Mark the top using a pencil to know when to stop sanding and use another grit.

4. Cut the Top to Length

After sanding is out of the way, trim the top to its final length using a track saw. You can also use a circular saw if you don’t have a track saw.

5. Finish the Top

For the top, you can apply a pre-stain conditioner. It helps make the stain more consistent thus giving your desk a wooden feel.

During this phase, you can opt to apply different color stains and wipe off the excess. Let the stain dry overnight and apply the poly.

You should let the poly sit for a day and wet sand the top with 600 grit paper and add a coat of paste wax to make the top pop.

6. Cut and Thread the Pipe

Set the top aside and start working on the base. Measure and cut all pipes to length using a cutoff wheel and an angle grinder.

After this, you can thread each end using a pipe threader. However, you can skip all this and have the pipes cut and threaded at some high-end stores.

Before threading, apply some cutting oil to keep the pipe and threader lubricated.

7. Assemble the Pipes

With everything cut and threaded, you should clean using denatured alcohol thus removing any residue. After this, you can assemble the base by threading the fittings.

After assembling the base, you should apply some thin coats of spray paint. It helps protect the pipe while adding color to your desk. You can also use lacquer to protect the paint.

8. Join the Top with the Base

At this point, you are done creating all the pieces for your desk. Punch some holes on the underside of the top and pre-drill them.

After this, attach the base to the top and you are good to go.