Home office desk: metal frame and oak wood top

we keep the natural color of the oak wood table top in order to match the oak parquet floor

We started to like building different types of furniture combining metal and wood. So, we decided to make a home office desk combining the two materials. We are not so good at welding, but we can do it so that each welded product is as strong as possible and looks pretty good. There are a lot of defects remaining after welding, but none affects the structure of the product.

So, let’s start talking about the main elements:

The square tubing metal frame of the desk

1. We started building the metal frame by using 6m long square tubing.

2. We cut the square tubing at the required length, in order to build the separate elements

rectangular frame (two square tubing for the length of the frame and two for the depth of the frame)
the legs of the desk (four for the height of the desk and two for the horizontal part of the legs)
the reinforcement of the metal frame (the length is equal to the length of the rectangular frame minus two thicknesses of the square tubing). For this one, we welded two pieces lengthwise (there wasn’t a long enough piece remaining)

3. We cut the ends of the square tubing at 45 degrees (except the reinforcement and one end of each leg)

4. We beveled all the cuts in order to weld them easier and stronger.

5. We welded the metal frame. This is what we came up in the end:

the way the desk metal frame looks like after welding — The metal frame after welding

5. The next step was to grind and sand all the welds so that we get smooth surfaces

we started to sand all the weldings — Starting to grind all the welds

As you can see, after the grinding and sanding process, some holes are visible.

6. We filled all the holes by using a two parts polyester filler (we talked about this process in another post: welded metal brackets). This type of putty is very useful for a beginner welder.

we sanded all the welds of the metal frame so all the surfaces to became smoother — The welds are grinded and sanded using the angle grinder

7. After the filler hardened (it took about 10 minutes), we sanded it with 120 grit sandpaper, until all the corners became very smooth.

8. We applied a layer of polyurethane primer. It is a special primer for metal surfaces.

we wait for the polyurethane primer to dry in order to sanded the surfaces and then to paint them with black matte polyurethane paint — Waiting for the polyurethane primer to dry

We waited a few hours for the primer to dry.

we applied a layer of polyurethane primer after we sanded the metal frame of the home office desk — The polyurethane primer for metal surfaces

As you can see, thanks to the filler, there are weld marks and no holes.

the way the corner welding looks like after we applied a layer of polyurethane primer — Detail of the corner welding after applying a layer of polyurethane primer

9. After lightly sanding the primer, we applied a layer of polyurethane paint. The color was a matte black.

after the polyurethane primer has dried we started to apply the black matte polyurethane paint — Starting to apply the black matte polyurethane paint

10. After the first layer dried, we left the frame overnight. We didn’t completely cover all over the surfaces, so we sanded the black paint a little bit to be able to apply a second layer of paint.

the way the metal frame looks after the black polyurethane paint has dried — Detail of the polyurethane paint after it dried

After the second layer we were pleased with the result:

the metal frame

the metal frame was painted with black polyurethane paint — The black painted metal frame

the weld between the metal legs and the reinforcement square tubing

a small detail of the desk metal frame after the black paint has dried — Detail of metal frame after the polyurethane black paint has dried

the inner welded corner

a small detail of the corner welding after we finished the metal frame with black polyurethane paint — Detail of the corner welding after the black paint has dried

The oak wood top of our home office desk

We will explain in a few words how we built this beautiful oak wood desk top, but you can find more details in the how to build, step-by-step, a thick oak wood tabletop post.

1. We built the desk top by using the 4-way panel clamps.

2. Because we used rustic oak to build the top, we filled all the knots (they were pretty big) with oak colored putty before sanding. It usually takes a lot of time for the putty to dry, so we saved a lot of time.

the desk top was made out of 4 cm thickness oak wood planks — The desk top made out of 4 cm thick oak wood planks

3. We sanded it and we cut it to the needed size. To make sure it was the same size with the metal frame:

after cutting it with the circular saw, we fastened it with screws to the metal frame
we routed its edges with a long blade pattern flush trim router bit using the metal frame as a template. You can also use a top and bottom bearing flush trim pattern router bit. This way the top will have the same size and shape as the metal frame

4. We sanded all the surfaces and edges of the top:

the edges using the belt sander until we removed all the router marks
we slightly rounded the top edges of the desk top using a sheet sander. If you want to make the edges rounder, you can use a roundover and beading router bit
we lightly beveled the bottom sharp edges by hand

5. We applied a thick layer of polyurethane primer

6. After the primer dried, we sanded it with 320 grit sandpaper.

7. We applied the polyurethane varnish

the way the oak top of the home office desk looks after we applied the polyurethane varnish — We applied a layer of polyurethane varnish

As you can see in the picture below, the sharp edges and also the sharp corners were rounded and very well sanded with 120 grit sandpaper

a small detail of the corner of the oak wood desk top — Detail with the corner of the table top

We have chosen the oak wood planks so that we can match them and get a beautiful grain top.

a detail of the desk top surface after we applied the polyurethane varnish — Detail of the desk top surface

8. We installed the desktop with screws. Before painting the metal frame we drilled some holes from bottom to top in the metal frame. We enlarged the first hole, to hide the heads of the screws.

We took a lot of photos in daylight because we liked a lot the natural look of the desk top and the way the black metal frame matched the color of oak.