My boss at work wanted to know if I wanted his fathers old desk that was being used in another department, but wasn't needed any longer. I told him that I'd take it because it was made out of hardwood. With the top being one inch solid oak and the both sides looking like black walnut, I figured I could use it for something. However, everything under the top was just particle board (drawers and shelf) so I planned on throwing those pieces away.

Now this desk has been around ever sense I started at my work back in 1983 so it has a lot of memories. And with my boss's dad being a great guy, I'd be able to keep those thoughts of him alive every time I would see it.

This should give you a better idea of how large this desk is because those are 55 gallon drums on each side for reference. The desk measures 70" wide X 30" tall X 36" deep. Needless to say it's VERY heavy. And because of how heavy it is, I was going to disassemble it before taking it home.

I rotated the desk onto it's back so I could get at all the screws that held the drawers, shelf and sides in place. While I was taking one of the last screws out, the whole thing collapsed and fell on my right foot. My toe to be exact. Well that got my attention because it broke my toe and boy did that hurt. Lucky for me I didn't lose my toenail so that was a good thing. Not a good day....
 

What I plan on doing is making some wooden blocks for my granddaughter, Audrey, to play with. She is only two years old but I hope she will like making little things out of them. I got the idea for this project by looking at one of the four books that I bought that has wooden toys you can build. By the way, the book for this project is all about learning which really appealed to me. And this will be a Christmas present for her which means I'm very early.

Here is the oak top sitting on my saw horses. I've been cutting off one inch strips on the right side. Then I cut those strips in half so I could machine them. I plan on making many different shapes and sizes for her.
 

Here I'm machining two pieces at a time on my milling machine. The spring clamps at each end are to keep the wood from vibrating.
 

Now some of these one inch cubed blocks will end up being cut in half, which is what I'm doing below. I'm machining two blocks at a time here, making them into 45 degree angles. And to do that I'm using a V block to hold the cubes with.