Almost there...

With the little bits of pre-finishing complete I could get to some more assembly.
Here I'm gluing up/down the vertical drawer partitions to the web-frame. I figured it would be easier to do it at this point than work around the rest of the desk.

After that was another scarey part of this build. The web-frame glue-up. This is just one big joint splined on three sides. Part of what mad this tricky is that I couldn't really get a good caul on the relatively thin parts to help the whole join home. I managed though.

The next day I got to another part of this project that I have been weary of. Chopping out the desk top corners to fit in the proud leg tops. I have done this before but it is still a nervous time. I think of all the hours I've invested and how tricky it would be to "come back" from a mistake at this point.
Overall it went pretty smoothly. Much more so than I had anticipated. I had set the top up on the legs where I wanted it. scored lines marking the legs protrusions. Made an accurate 90 degree chop block. Rough cut the corners with a hand saw and got to chopping. I allowed some extra room for tweaking but hardly needed it.
I was glad when it fit and the "ordeal" was over ha.

Here is the front, right corner after chopping was done and before the leg top got edge treatment. I was aiming for a 3/32 proud leg top and it looks damn close.

After final surface and edge prep it's now back to pre-finishing again yayyyyyyy.

In the mean time I received a replacement blade for my LN 60-1/2 block plane. I maxed out the original blade and couldn't used it anymore! Good thing I was in a place in the project where I didn't need it.
I'm glad to see that LN is making O1 steel blades for a number of tools now. I hope that this A2 fad may be dwindling heh. A2 I think sounds like a nice option on paper but not so much in practice unless under certain circumstances.
A2 is harder and keeps an edge longer if using friendly woods however it's more difficult/a pain to get a really keen edge with. It also is more brittle due to its hardness. When I get little chips coming off my tool edge when, say working Oak end grain, it's more time-consuming to get back to a clean edge with A2.
Well, time will tell of this O1 blade's performance. I still find it a bit irritating that people producing O1 "western style" tools are hardening the steel to the levels closer to a Japanese style tool. Which I think may be another "trend" of sorts. The reason Japanese tools are so hard is that traditionally they were used with soft woods which need very sharp edges and are of course less tough than hardwoods. A slightly softer steel will be more resilient  to the relative toughness of hardwoods... at least in theory.

Whatever, that's my hand tool steel rant for the day ha.
Take care all!