The whole genesis of this project came from a few realisations:
- Post-COVID, the world of work has changed and some level of home working is going to be the norm going forward.
- Having migrated onto our kitchen table in 2020, and managing something workable (nay, even quite nice; see below), two years later - it’s time we got our kitchen back.
- Looking at cheap desk options (IKEA, Wayfair et al), none of them were very inspiring for something that I’m going to spend a lot of time working at. I also don’t really like the idea of buying something bad that I also don’t like - and might end up just replacing later anyway.
- Looking at nice desk options, they get very expensive very fast (like £2000+ as a starting point).
All in all, I thought I could probably build a much nicer desk, for less money, and also have the satisfaction of having built it myself.
Buying slab wood#
I settled quite quickly on wanting to build a desk with a solid slab top. I wanted a desk which was pretty sturdy & didn’t move (so heavy is good). I’ve also been using a “wood effect” desk matt on the kitchen table for a while, so clearly like the aesthetic. Lastly I’ve been watching too many resin pour YouTube videos and wanted to have a try.
The big question was where do you buy slab wood?
Much of the online content is from the USA or Canada, where they just say “visit your local sawmill”. I live in Brixton, London, where we chopped down all the meaningful forests a few hundred years ago. It’s safe to say I don’t have a “local sawmill”.
To make things worse, there is demand in London for slab wood, but given the low supply and occasional high-roller client wanting a fancy centrepiece, it’s all very expensive. A single slab might already cost four figures, and that’s before I’ve bought anything else. This led me to search a little further afield, and found The New Forest Sawmill
The New Forest Sawmill#
I think I stumbled across their website first, but they also have tons of great social content. The website is easy to navigate and I found some very reasonably priced English Red Oak for sale. After a few messages, I rented a van and headed down to buy some.
I can totally recommend a visit and the service they gave. It’s a family outfit and they’re a really lovely bunch.
Transport & what I bought#
In the end, I bought a few sections of English Red Oak (for my desk), and a long section of Cedar (to build a bench for my in-laws), and just about managed to fit it in the van. Wood is heavy and (even at these reasonable prices) still expensive (I think in total this order was ~£400).
Check out the next posts in this series to see how each project continued…
