Improve your productivity with this student's desk

I'm closer to eighty than I am to kindergarten, but every fall I crave the inexorable rhythms of change. I want a new teacher. I crave the smell of fresh erasers and cedar pencil shavings. I long for a firm, shrink-wrapped pack of ruled binder paper, gloriously blank, and the rush of anxiety about who I'll be sitting next to for the year.

I need that annual opportunity to start anew. My summer plans for self-improvement didn't pan out. Someone needs to take over. Someone who's stern and goal-oriented. Someone with chalk.

In adulthood, there's no spiritual substitute for a new school year. Oh sure, people go back to their jobs wearing different aftershave, or a tan, but how lame is that compared to the novelty of growing 3 inches or sprouting surprising body hair?

If you miss school's throat-clenching excitement, try building a device that will help increase productivity and reduce study fatigue for some young student, or even for you.

Touched by an Angle

Editors, artists and architects have discovered the secret of using an inclined surface to read, write and sketch. By placing study materials on an angle, you dramatically reduce eyestrain while improving your attention span, physical comfort and even mental retention.

I threw together this student's desk for my workshop and talk about heaven. If I'd had one of these babies when I was doing homework, I could have gotten passing grades in way more than Gym.

The magic angle for successful studying seems to be 20 degrees, although I went with 22.5 because it's a quarter of 90, which is the kind of marks I wish I'd got in school. My student's desk also has a top rack to hold reference books at a handy 45-degree angle.

Saw and Order

The only trick to building this desk is those angles. Woodworkers with big sweet table saws can easily rip a 20- or 45-degree angle on a board's edge.

If you don't have a table saw, you can improvise. A lightweight circular saw is your best bet. Loosen the angle control nut and adjust the sole plate to the desired angle by pushing down on the edge of the sole plate until the blade is positioned at the appropriate angle (angles are inscribed on the saw's bevel scale). Re-tighten the nut, then clamp your board to the edge of a table and get ready to cut. You'll probably have to move the clamps once or twice during the cutting process because the saw's motor will bump into them.

If you just 'eyeball' the cut you'll probably get off-course and your blade will bind. So use a ripping guide, an adjustable metal rail that attaches to the saw and guides the blade. If you don't have a ripping guide, clamp something straight to the board and keep the edge of the sole plate pressed against it as you cut.

Size Matters

Your own improvising skills will undoubtedly lead to a slicker design than the one I came up with, but here are the dimensions I used:

• Writing surface - 18" x 24" laminated pine project wood
• Bottom ledge - 2-1/2" x 24", tapered for convenience - TIP: the bottom edge is cut at 22.5 degrees so it rests flat on your work surface. Add L-shaped trim for an optional pencil tray.
• Support leg - 5-1/2" x 21", bottom edge is bevelled at 22.5 degrees; hinge the board to the back of the writing surface.
• Arched book support - scribe an arc using a piece of string or length of plumber's tape to act as a giant protractor - my book support is 22-1/2" long, 12" high at the center.
• Book tray (under arched book support) - 3-1/2" x 22-1/2", with the back edge bevelled at 45 degrees; Screw the bottom edge of the book support to the bevelled edge of the book tray.

Glue and screw everything together.

If this all seems too complicated, you can just cut a board and prop it up on a couple of cheese wedges, but cheese won't last the school year, and what kind of message are you giving your youthful scholar?

If you need extra advice or confidence here's an idea: phone your old shop teacher. It may not provide the full armpit-prickling sensation of going back to school, but it'll put a nice sharp shot of apprehension in your fall morning.