While the top drawers were 100% wood, the bottom drawers will be using drawer slides. This change means that the drawer boxes will not be built to the exact width of the case, and therefore need to have separate drawer fronts that are. The drawer fronts are made from the glue up of a larger piece. This will give the best grain continuity across the drawers. 

After the glue up, the drawer face is cut to roughly the size of the cabinet opening. 

The rough cut piece is then brought to the case for final fitting.

The final fitting is done with a hand plane by taking a few passes, rechecking, then taking a few more until the fit is perfect. 

With the drawer faces sized correctly, I can move on to the drawer boxes. The bottom drawer will be a taller file drawer and will need to have panels glued up for the sides, front, and back. 

After the panels have cured, they are cut to their final height. 

The drawer length is determined by the drawer slides. In this case, they need to be 18 inches deep. The drawer width is also dictated by the drawer slides. I am using Blum undermount drawer slides which have particular dimensional requirements. Blum publishes the required dimensions on their website. 

With the components cut to final size, the dovetails can be marked out. 

Whenever I can, I like to add a small rabbet to the inside of the drawer side joinery. This gives a positive locator when transferring the tails to the pin board, and also gives a clean corner on the assembled drawer. 

The drawer sides and back all receive a dado for the drawer bottom. 

The dovetails are cut at the bandsaw using the same method I used on the upper drawers. 

The shoulders are cleaned up with a chisel. 

The tails are marked on the pin board with a knife. 

The tails are also cut at the bandsaw. 

The tails will require cleanup with a chisel to take them down to their final shape and size. 

The drawer boxes are both glued up. 

I am using solid wood panels for the drawer bottoms. These are made with resawn walnut left over from the build. Sapwood wouldn't look good on the outside of the desk, but only adds character to the inside of the drawers. 

The resawn boards can be planed down to thickness. 

The panels are glued up. 

The drawer bottoms are cut to size at the table saw. 

Blum undermount drawer slides require two holes be pre-drilled on each side of the front of the drawer box. There are several jigs available to do this. 

This particular jig also has a guide for drilling the rear hole. 

The drawer slides are installed using a couple of spacers to properly locate them. 

With the drawer boxes in place, the drawer fronts can be marked for the curve. 

The upper and lower drawer front can be separated at the table saw

The curves are cut into the drawer faces at the bandsaw and cleaned up by hand. 

The drawer pulls are made from 14 inch walnut. A rounded channel is routed on the underside, ad the top is rounded over.

The individual pulls are cut to length using my cross cut sled. 

The drawer pulls are marked out at the center of each drawer face. 

I use a router to remove the needed material, and do a little cleanup with a chisel. 

The drawer pulls can then be glued in place. 

The drawer faces are treated with penetrating epoxy. This does a good job of stabilizing the spalted maple. 

Everything is sanded to 220 grit with the ROS. 

I then hand sand with 220 in the direction of the grain to remove any small swirl marks. 

I finished everything with 5 coats of Arm-R-Seal. 

The drawer hardware needs to be added to the underside of each drawer. This is the reason the holes needed to be pre-drilled earlier. 

The base is attached to the lower case with figure eight clips. 

I use playing cards to space the drawer fronts, then clamp them in place and attach them with screws from the inside of the drawers. 

The upper drawers are wood on wood, so the case and drawers are waxed to make opening and closing smooth. 

The sub top is installed. 

In order to install the top, the assembly is turned upside down on the assembly table. This makes it significantly easier to install the hardware. 

The desk can then be assembled.