A friend of mine once asked if I could make a roll top desk. She said she’d always wanted one since she was a kid and saw her grandfather’s desk in his study. (People had studies in the old days, back when they studied something other than their cell phone.)

I asked her what happened to her grandfather’s desk. She told me her uncle had given away all of the furniture in the house when the old man had been moved into a nursing home.

“He didn’t complain about his stuff being given away?”

“He had a stroke,” she said, “and he never said anything ever again.”

So much for having a say in what happens to your stuff.

So, she wanted a roll top desk. I asked her what kind of wood she liked.

“Solid wood.”

I began to wonder where I could get some.

I explained that there are different kinds of wood, from different kinds of trees, that can be very clear or knotty. I also mentioned that the details of the desk can be either somewhat fancy or plain. She told me she thought plywood was good.

I asked her if she wanted a metal roll-up door.

I laughed before she could get too irritated with me.

“I just want a roll top desk that looks nice. Can you make one for me or what?”

This is where you can lose friends by deciding the wrong thing.

I thought about it for half a second or so and said, “No.”

She looked surprised.

I told her she’d need to first find out on her own what she would want in such a piece of furniture, the wood, the finish, the hardware and build details, even a photo of one in a magazine. I explained that building such a desk was actually fairly complicated due to the number of parts and the fact that the top had to move freely and evenly, which required a further level of precision than a normal table would. I told her that such desks often had a number of drawers and compartments both under the desk top and inside the enclosed area. I said some of them had extendable desktops that slid out or folded out after rolling up the top.

She looked disappointed.

I also mentioned the fact that she could likely find one that she would love in a used furniture store somewhere. It’s easy to believe everyone loves the finely crafted roll top desk but the fact of the matter is most people are more inclined to think it too bulky and stodgy and smelly to have in a house anywhere.

She said, “Hmmm” and stopped talking about it.

She later told me she bought a cool glass-topped bent-pipe-frame desk for thirty dollars at the grocery store. “They have everything there!”

I asked, “Does the top roll?”