This wood has been sitting around a few years as extra from some other projects, but finally got a good project to use up a few more pieces.

Going through the pictures, this may be the most documented, tedious build I've done in quiet a while.. so this may end up a multi post walkthrough:

The concept model:



Everything started with a few rough slabs 2" thick:



I cut the pieces for the top and then milled one side flat so I could plane it and square them up:


squared and flattened (on one side)


time to plane them down to the same thickness:


joint test:


Then to start cutting up the remainder of the slabs for the cabinets and panels:


I originally wanted to make the panels single piece, but ripping 2" thick, 20" wide pieces down I found they had some bow as they were cut and the stress relieved in the wood, so that wouldn't work. So i decided to then bookmatch/butterfly all of the wood and do the line of symmetry at the center of each panel:



Then to cut up all of the framing:


I wanted a little more detail than just a simple raised panel in a frame, so I did a beader jack-mitre joint, which ive done sparingly in the past, but doing this many on this large of a scale with not much extra material, proved to be by far the most painstaking part of this project:



And with thicker corner legs, this led to some interesting joinery in the corners:

and the center panel dividers were just as tedious:

post 2...

testing the frames and joints:



Then to cut up and shape the panels:


as you can see in the background, I profile the end grain first, that way when there is the inevitable tearout it will get cut up when I cut the panels to width or when the shaper cuts the longitudinal grain edge:

dry run:


before gluing up the raised panels, I pre-finish them. Wood moves and the panels float in the frames, so if you finish them after you install them they may move and expose an unfinished line of material. You dont glue the panels in location as then they can fight the frame and the panel can swell and break the joint of the frame.. bad juju.

But to ensure they don't rattle, small rubber balls (literally called 'space ball') are put in the panel groove to stop any rattling panels. A few things are also happening in the picture too. The jack miter joint requires the tenon to be substantially longer than the width of the bead profile, otherwise it will be cut off and you have no tenon length when you cut the joint. but this means that the mortise depth is deeper than a normal raised panel lip is designed to accommodate (roughly 1/4"). So the slot has to be bead width+spall ball diameter (3/16" on a 1/4" space ball for ~1/16" of crush). But this means there is too much depth in the slot for the normal raised panel to sit and the space balls would fall down and not engage the bottom of the mortise and the panel edge. So a makeup piece is cut and put in the groove to give the space ball proper engagement with the raised panel.... what a pain..



pre-finishing the panels:



gluing up the side panels first


then the full cabinets


in there somewhere is the front 1/3 height panel.. but its just more of the same..

adding a small chamfer accent on the outside corners of the cabinets once glued up.


then to start on the toeboard and head trim. I ripped all the material up, cut the pieces and mitered them at the corners, but the I wanted to do a small cutout accent in the bottom. This was changed from the original model as it gave a route to run cables in to the cabinets that we would not have had otherwise..

so cutting the profiles. Why drill two half circles when you can clamp two boards together and do one single circle...




then to notch them and set the flat section.. which I then cut all that extra material out..

and ta-da.


now some top trim.

next was to start on the drawer.. and lots of dovetails...
get stock material glue/cut it up:

and dovetail the crap out of it..

If you look carefully, you can see the two drawers I screwed up in the previous picture:
I cut the pins and tailed backwardson these.. so in to the burn pile and start over on them...


and make lots of boxes...

then time to cut up material for the drawer faces..



I ran in to the same issue on the larger drawers I did with the panels when I was ripping down the 2" thick base material. They bowed as they were cut and had too much flex to be flat enough. So instead of bookmatching them like I did the panels, I just ripped them in the middle, squared those two edges, then glued them back together, so I lost 1/8" of material in the middle, but the grain lines back up when glued back together.



Originally we planned to do a drawer below the trim on the front, but this took up too much space between the chair and the desk in my opinion, so we turned the trim in to the drawer face, which kind of makes for a hidden drawer

next was to finish up the top and sand everything down to start finishing.

With the center section being a drawer, this created the challenge that the two end cabinets now did not have the hard rail between them setting their distance apart, which could affect the middle drawer guides if they weren't set up perfectly, which i could do the first time, but I didn't want someone else having issues if they took the desk apart and moved it and had to reassmble it. So I set dowel pins in the cabinet (along with the bolts that fasten to the top) and these set position on mating holes in the underside of the desktopL



The edge of the slab was damaged enough that it had to be cleaned up (lest the owner want perpetual splinters in their clothing) but we still wanted a natural edge. So I sanded it down, burnished it with a torch, then went to town with a wire brush to roughen it up some and add texture back to it:

I just want to say I find this fascinating, and I even understand a few of things that you wrote.

and finally the finished product..


the top right drawer had a charger/outlet in the back, and also took some crafty cable management to ensure the cable doesn't cause issues when opening/closing the drawer:




The bottom drawers have incorporated metal runners for hanging file folders:


all drawers are full extension, with the top 5 being soft close:


integrated cable management so if you get power from either side you can route it all the way to/from either side. I find just screwing velcro strips make very simple, functional items for securing and holding cabling:




The top drawer almost seems like a hidden drawer given how it is from the trim and recessed another inch in:



not to be confused with the intentionally hidden drawers which are incorporated in to the toeboard:


and I think I've spammed this thread enough for now...

You truly are an artist

have admired your work for years and this is no different. Hope I'm not being a Debbie downer but wanted to inquire if you do cremation urns? Series of events lately has me doing estate planning as well as funeral wishes. Would enjoy a fellow Ag built my final resting place on my hearth. Please advise if you do this type of work

According to the time & date stamp on his posts, it was a little more than half an hour.

agrams said:

---

and I think I've spammed this thread enough for now...

---

No, that could never happen; the work you are performing and sharing is fantastic. Need MOAR!!!

I know a fat old lawyer in Dallas who will love this desk! Nice work, my man! Can't wait to see it in person.

i missed your question: there are recesses cut into the underside of the slab that span across the from center panel so you can route cables through and don't see them unless you are under the ground looking up.

Finally got around to adding the leather handles. Next step in perfecting this beauty is making a matching leather desk pad.