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Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @abarrow. It's fabulous that you've joined us, and many thanks for your question about constructing a desk.
900mm is fairly deep for a desk, and you'll find most of our panel products go up to 600mm. We do have the Selex 2100x900mm 30mm Clear Laminated Pine Panel, which you could cut down to suit your 1600-1800mm length requirement. As this is a Pine panel, you'll be able to stain and varnish it to your desired appearance.
If a standard Taskmaster 700 x 50mm Black Steel Table Leg was not high enough, you might like to consider using Kaboodle Chrome Island Benchtop Leg - 2 Pack, which would give you an additional 155-185mm of height.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
We also have the Ash 2400 x 900 x 33mm Hardwood Laminated Panel and SpecRite 2100 x 1050 x 28mm Merbau Table Top if you were looking for a hardwood option.
Panel products like these are not suitable to be cut in-store. However, they can easily be cut down at home with a circular saw. Personally, I like to lay down some masking tape on both sides of the panels and then mark out the guidelines on them. This means that there is minimal tear out of the timber when the cuts are made through the tape.
Mitchell
I've just spoken with the team at Bunnings Subiaco and the only panels they have wider than 600mm are the AraucoPly 2100 x 900 x 30mm Clear Pine FJ Laminated Panel. You might like to speak with the Special Orders team to see what we could order in for you.
In regards to coatings, you generally would use a hard clear coat like Cabot's 500ml Satin Water Based Cabothane Clear Polyurethane Varnish. This protects the timber from staining and those track marks you were mentioning earlier. If you wanted to change the colour at the same time, you would use a stain and varnish. Here's a video showing How to varnish a timber tabletop.
Mitchell
Great to see that you've already received helpful advice from @MitchellMc. He'll be happy to help further when he's back on the site on Friday.
In the meantime, you might like to speak with the Special Orders team at your local store to see what wood options we could order in for you.
Let me also tag a few members who have recently shared desk builds to see if they can offer any thoughts on your question about oil versus water based coatings – @oheyitsbeano, @Nham and @cmstar.
Stevie
Hello @abarrow
I personally like to work with water based stain and sealer for the shorter drying time. Mind you there is nothing wrong with oil based stains and sealers. It all comes down to preference and personal choice. If you've worked with it before you will know how the stain and sealer will behave when used on timber. But at the same time using a water based one gives you the opportunity to try it out and see what kind of results you can get. Plus it adds to your knowledge of stains and sealers. As far as your bench top is concerned, there are choices to order some in but like you said you don't want it to be astronomical. I totally understand that and we are trying to go for best value. Your options are Kaboodle timber bench tops, bamboo tops at 2400x900 currently priced at 778.00 subject to availability of course. Then there is THINK timber bench top in Beech 2400x900 priced at 622.00, please be aware that both these tops will need to be stained and sealed. The other project panels at that size that @MitchellMc mentioned are the only ones that are currently available. You could also do it in plywood AA grade for a superior top finish, you would have to join 2 sheets together to achieve a 36mm thickness. One way to protect your desk from pen damage is to purchase a desk writing mat, it is made of PVC material and is transparent and hence will neatly blend in with your desk. The mat will take the brunt of the writing damage while keeping your desk blemish free. I hope my recommendations help. Please keep us updated with your project and if there is anything else we can assist with please post it here on workshop.
Cheers,
Red
I am a Bunnings team member. Any opinions or recommendations shared here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Bunnings. Visit the Bunnings website for assistance from the customer service team.
Hi @abarrow,
It's great to see the knowledgeable @redracer01 has been assisting.
I like working with the water-based options as well. I have used oil-based coatings several times before, but on one particular project, it yellowed, and I wasn't thrilled with that. I've never had any issues with water-based coatings before, and as Red has mentioned, they dry much quicker. The other reason I go with water-based is that brushes are far easier to clean. I'm a bit lazy, and if I use something oil-based, I know I'll throw the brush out instead of cleaning it.
Mitchell
