Desk organisers come in many shapes and sizes, but the typical ones you would get from office supply stores are usually really tacky and usually terrible when considering the quality.

So when I decided that I had spent enough on pens and pencils and decided that I needed wanted a desk organiser, I went with the option of building it myself.

These were the criteria for it to be a good desk organiser (for me at least):

Hold any (in theory) size/shape object with minimal organisation
Be visually pleasing
Allow for cables to pass through
Be made from 1 piece of wood

Surely enough, all of these criteria were fulfilled with the square wave desk organiser.

After using this for a week or so I can really see the difference in having a simple desk organiser - even if it doesn't actually do any 'organisation' it still looks really cool! So head forth and learn how to build this (NEW! or watch the youtube video above!)

Step 1: Materials

To make the square wave organiser, you will need the following materials:

A strip of 90x10 pine wood
~12mm nails
Wood Putty
Wood Glue

Optional:

Wood stain/Wax

Tools:

Mitre Saw
Hammer
Belt Sander
Drill
Nail Punch

Step 2: 5 Pieces of Wood

These 5 pieces of wood will be the base for the square wave desk organiser. They are all the same size and are just jointed using an overlapping joint. These 5 pieces were made to be square with the wood strip I had; which turned out to them being 90x90mm. Make sure to cut these precisely or else the desk organiser will have a bit of unwanted wobble in it.

Step 3: Joining

So now that you have your 5 pieces of 90x90 wood, you need to join these. To do this it is really simple, just follow the guide in the pictures above. You can then nail you nails into the wood - I used 3 nails per joint for extra strength. Also make sure to use some glue for stronger bonds between the wood. After glueing the pieces together make sure to wait at least 12 hours for the glue to dry before moving it or you will break the strength.

Step 4: Finishing

After the glue it dry it should be pretty solid. If that is the case then you are ready to do a bit of finishing. Finishing in this case requires using a nail punch and the hammer to lower the heads of the nails below the surface. Do this then get your wood putty out and fill in the holes created. Don't be too particular about the excess as this will be sanded off later. Now let the putty to dry for about 2-4 hours.

You are now ready to sand the organiser down. Using the belt sander, make sure to have the edges of the wood flush with the rest. This is crucial when using a stainer or a wax.

Right after sanding it is good to apply the type of finish you want, I went with a dark wax because that's what I found in my cupboard. It also goes well with my desk (something you should consider!). The waxing was simple and only involved using a old cloth/rag to spread the wax in a thin coat on the wood. I let it sit overnight and then in the morning I went over it again with a clean rag to get rid of the excess wax (it was feeling overly waxy in the morning).

That's it for this instructable, if you are reading this far that means you are at least interested in it. I am also interested in you voting for this instructable in the contests: winning a contest will help me level-up my equipment and continue making more instructables for you in the future.