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Someone painted this poor desk brown and gave it to an op shop. I bought it for $60 and restored it
(lemmy.world)
Here is what it looked like when I got it home:
Fully stripped back:
And restored to it's former glory:
Sounds like your plan would work and isn't too dissimilar. My only thought with using the 2x8s for legs is to make sure there's proper bracing so no potential for torsion or racking.
(I cheat and use shelving brackets, like $2 a pop on sale often)
Yeah, the idea would be something like THIS, with similar widths for the leg assemblies, though they'd be taller and I'd lift the front-to-back stretchers to give me four feet with a similar look, versus trying to get it perfectly flat. I think by giving the legs a bit of "chonk," they can be mounted securely enough to prevent racking, and there'd always be the possibility of a stretcher to connect the two assemblies, though I'd feel like I lost the game of BoM management if I had to buy a second board!
The other idea I liked would be something more like THIS, where the legs' assemblies are so thoroughly mated to the carcase that they really can't rack.
For joinery, probably something simple, some shallow rabbets for alignment, followed by a "glue and screw and through" method I've used before, where after the glue dries, you (one at a time) back out the screws and drill them out for glued 3/8" through-dowels. Not a subtle look, but intentional and nicer than the screws.