The finished bookcase minus the hardware. I should have documented the process but with everything else going on I only had time to pic the finished product.

The bloodwood finishes so nicely. A very, very dense species, it is diffucult to use with any kind of screw joinery.

Partial plans for the next step.

The lower drawer units were next. There are 2 20" wide units and 1 16" wide unit. Each consists of an upper and lower frame member as well as a partial open solid back. Here begins assembly of the frames.

Drilling pocket holes for attaching the cabinet sides. All holes will eventually be hidden by the desktop.

Cutting the back panels.

Assembly of the 16" drawer unit.

The freshly planed curly maple trim for the upper and lower accents on the drawer units. I think this is some of the most beautiful wood there is.

The measurements for the screws that hold the maple trim.

Clamping and gluing the trim.

The corners are perfect.

One of the 20" units with upper and lower trim. I will band the exposed ply so that the drawers extend out to the edge of the cabinet edges.

Gluing the upper trim on the 16" unit.

I love Curly Maple.

Attaching the Bloodwood trim with pocket holes. Didn't work out great as the wood is so dense that the non-pre-drilled screw holes cracked the wood on a few spots.

This side will be attached to the perpendicular "L" segment of the desk. The holes are for the attachment bolts that I will make from steel plate and rods.

First coat of varnish.....only 8 more to go!!

Polishing the first desktop. I started with a 300 grit wet sanding, then 600 grit, then a #9 polish (Heavy-cut) followed by #1 scratch removing polish.

Detail of the corner joint. I picked up a tip from the Ridgid Woodworkers Forum that said to mix fine sawdust from your wood with glue and use it to fill holes or imperfections. It worked great!!

The second half of the desktop (the right-side "L") mating system. A strip of 1/8" thick aluminum and threaded bolts to secure it to the side of the other desktop.

I used dowels for the first time in ages to secure the bloodwood trim (instead of pocket screws). It worked much better than I anticipated. Lesson learned......

My granny glasses. An unfortunate necessity these days.

Cutting the tressle pannels. The DeWalt saw is able to cut up to 16" wide boards with the pictured jig.

The tressle base joined and ready for the moulde.

The layout for joining the uprights to the base.

The base stamp finished.

I brought a bloodwood sample to Home Depot to try and match the color. They did a MARVELOUS job.

The panels fully sanded and ready for paint.

Glued and ready for painting.

Finished!

A little addendum. After measuring the distance from the back edge of the tressle base to the attachment point of the top I was off by 3/8". I had to add the top plate so that it would rest properly on the load bearing portion of the desktop. Another lesson learned.

The mating of the 2 corners. The fact that I constructed the two halfs completely independently and that they fit together so well is a testament to attention to detail.

The finished product.

The main desktop has a beautiful burl.