The Damascus Denim Desk

 

The worlds first “Damascus Denim” table. This is a Blacktail original creation, over 1000 sq ft (100 square meters) of denim fabric infused with epoxy, and layered in such a way that a damascus pattern has been exposed on the top. The patterns you see are not painted or printed on, you are seeing the actual layers of denim. And despite what is looks like, the top is as smooth as glass and many times stronger than wood. While maintaining a warm, wood like feel.

The base is a minimalist White Oak frame that is very sturdy, but does not distract from the top.

The top measures approximately 30x60” and is 30.5” tall.

There will be more Damascus Denim tables to come, but there will never be another “first ever” Damascus Denim table.

 
 

Building with Damascus Denim

This week I'm attempting to create the world's first denim Damascus table from 1000ft of denim, a vacuum bag, and some woodworking tools. Where once I only hoarded slabs of wood. Apparently now I'm also hoarding slabs of denim.

If you have no idea what Damascus is, for the purposes of this project, Damascus is essentially where they take two or more types of metal, heat it up, laminate it, and then fold it over on itself in a number of times, creating a Damascus blank. That blank can then be used to create things like knives and chisels, and it exposes that layering process, resulting in incredibly beautiful tools.

Damascus Denim LAYOUT

Now, for of this project, all I've really done up to this point, is cut a bunch of sheets of denim and then cut a bunch of pieces of plywood, and they're mostly random.

So I put some small pieces. I have some long pieces, I have some skinny pieces and some fat pieces and that will let me know which ones look cool and which ones don't. And what I'm going to be doing is infusing that denim with epoxy, and then using a vacuum bag to press it down over these pieces, and to kind of help it flow down over the edges.

And I was shocked at how long this took, and I was really pleased with how messy it wasn't. We hardly spilled a drop, believe it or not.

BUILDING THE BASE

This Damascus denim top is going to be predictably very loud, meaning it's going to garner all the attention on this desk. So I'm building a very understated, very minimalist table base and probably the best wood for a minimalist look, in my opinion, is straight grained white oak, which is what we have here. It's very, very boring in my opinion, but I think for this it's going to pair really nicely with that bright blue top, especially being the lighter wood.

Purchase This Damascus Denim Desk

 

Removing the Damascus Denim from the Mold

Breaking this free from the mold was pretty similar to pulling a epoxy table out of the mold. You basically get a wedge under there, break a little bit of it free, wedge it down a little bit more. Eventually the whole thing will come loose. And that was pretty similar to most epoxy tables.

Now I get to go to Creative Woodworking Northwest, where they're actually gonna let me shove this giant piece of denim through their $100,000 planer.

 

Taking it to the planner

This was a big moment for me, because I should be able to tell basically right away whether this was going to work or not. As it gets fed through the planner, it should expose layers of denim just like that metal Damascus.

This was actually working and I can't express how excited I was and honestly, how surprised because I thought it would work. But I thought there was something that I wasn't considering. And in the end, it actually

the reveal

Here's how it looks in the end. I love the way this white oak paired with the denim. I think it looks really nice together, and the fit and finish of it by building it together is some of the best fit and finish of any table I've ever built.

Purchase This Damascus Denim Desk

The worlds first “Damascus Denim” table. This is a Blacktail original creation, over 1000 sq ft (100 square meters) of denim fabric infused with epoxy, and layered in such a way that a damascus pattern has been exposed on the top. The patterns you see are not painted or printed on, you are seeing the actual layers of denim. And despite what is looks like, the top is as smooth as glass and many times stronger than wood. While maintaining a warm, wood like feel.

The base is a minimalist White Oak frame that is very sturdy, but does not distract from the top.

The top measures approximately 30x60” and is 30.5” tall.

There will be more Damascus Denim tables to come, but there will never be another “first ever” Damascus Denim table.