Wood – How to determine the thickness of wood needed for a desk

wooden-furniturewoodworking

I would like to make some furniture. It'll hold my computer, some books and still need to be strong enough to hold the weight of me leaning on it etc.

How to I calculate what thickness of wood is needed and how regularly supports are needed?

Here is a sketch of the piece I'd like to make:

Dimensions

I am thinking of using Pine, but am not fixed on that (any suggestions?).

Looking at a television stand I have, it seems that 60cm is a reasonable gap for the top, however the bottom will have to support all of the weight for the unit.

I hope this covers the basic information that was missing, feel free to ask more though! Any advise is welcome.

Best Answer

If I were making a desk 3/4" is the minimum that I would go on thickness. You could definitely go thinner with strapping under but I just like the look.

If you are worried about flex I would use the sag calculator. It is great and I use it when I build custom shelves. A desk should inherently have more support than a shelf but a desk will also have more load - so I believe the the calculations should be pretty close.