All the ambrosia maple was sourced locally and came in about 8’ lengths.

The stack of rough lumber before planing and assembly. 

All the bark was ripped off the live edge using a draw knife while clamped in a saw horse.

Live edge piece after removing the bark. Since the boards are about 2’ shorter than the final desired length, the board was ripped down the middle with a track saw and spliced together where the edges lined up closely. Then sanded to give it a nice consistent live edge.

Glue up with biscuits and a TON of clamps.

Assembled desk top after sanding and before sealing. All of the ambrosia beetle holes were filled with a black resin and sanded down.

For the seal, I used a satin polyurethane which has held up very well to the daily abuse of writing utensils.

The cabinet bases are made out of 3/4” MDF. I choose this over plywood since it is cheaper and they would painted. The corner ratchet straps did a good job of keeping everything square, but in the future I would invest in some better corner clamps.

I made a shelf pin hole jig out of scrap MDF, which worked great with no shelf wobble!

The three assembled base cabinets. With a cameo from Sally (my toughest critic). After base assembly I added a 3/4”x2” pine face frame.

The cabinet doors are assembled from pine rails and stiles and a maple ply insert. The mortise and tenon was cut on the router table and glued to together.

The drawers are also made out of MDF using pocket screws since the false front would cover them. The drawer bottom is maple ply.

Drawer false front before assembly, the same process as the doors is utilized here.

And the finished product! I went with a satin white paint on the bases and doors and it really brings everything together nicely. I love the end grain on the desk with the ambrosia beetle trails (tiger stripes) showing through.

And lastly you can see the natural live edge indents in front of each work station.

Hope you enjoyed!