Building a Writing Desk in the Woods

I’m making a new desk out of maple and it’s going to be beautiful

Building a desk out of maple wood in Upper Michigan, off-grid.

I never imagined that at age 56 I’d be off-grid in the woods of Upper Michigan making myself a new writing desk, but this is exactly what I’m doing.

As you can see above, I have the 28" legs, 95 percent straight and my hand can just barely fit around them. I’ve cut the maple, which is still quite green, and I’m using my woodsman knife to de-bark each piece of wood.

The Cross Beams of My Maple Writing Desk

Yesterday I also trimmed the first cross beam to hold the top.

The beams are 50 inches long, and I cut them that long because I’m still contemplating how I’m going to attach them to the legs. Most desks tend to be about 29" high from the floor to the desktop.

This means my legs are too long right now, too.

The 28" legs of my off-grid Maple writing desk.

I did that on purpose, too.

Why?

I’m going to make the pieces interlocking. That means one piece will have a male-stem of 1–1 1/2 inches, and the receiving part, a square hole chiseled out.