Throwback to a pandemic project for my kids. Remote school was starting up and we didn't have a good space for our daughter to sit. I decided to build a lightweight desk with removable partitions so we could move the desk wherever we needed.

Supplies

Table saw
Jigsaw
Sanders
Drills
Plywood
Solid wood for edge banding
Wood glue
Router and flush trim bit
Dowels
Hairpin Legs
Threaded Inserts
Finish of choice

Step 1: Desktop and Partitions

I cut up some maple plywood to make a tabletop, and three partition pieces. I got the rough dimensions by measuring the kid who would be using the desk, her office supplies, and some of the spaces where we would be putting it. I spent a lot of time laying out exactly where things would go since I planned on drilling holes and attaching feet to the partitions so they would be removable.

Step 2: Edgebanding

I cut some solid maple edge banding, glued it on the edges, used a flush trim bit to clean things up, and then added a round over. I also spent a bit of time with a sharp chisel and some sanders to make things as smooth as possible. There were some rough spots due to tear-out and excess glue, but it was a great learning experience.

Step 3: Partition Feet

Creating the feet for the partitions was challenging. I glued up some maple blocks out of multiple pieces of solid wood, and then used a jigsaw, drill, pattern bit on a router, and various sanders to shape them to my liking. Once they had a good shape, I drilled out a hole for a 1" dowel, glued them in place, and added an equivalent hole to the desk where the partitions would be attached.

Note, if you're trying to drill a clean hole against an angled surface with a hand drill, you're going to have a rough time. I should have drilled the holes before cutting out the shape. A drill press would also have helped quite a bit.

Step 4: Legs

I went with hairpin legs for a couple of reasons. They were relatively easy to attach, I could buy taller ones if we continued using the desk in the future, and they were significantly faster and lighter weight than figuring out what to do for legs myself.

I just added some holes, screwed in threaded inserts, and screwed on the legs.