when you buy it from the store. That's the measurement of what they cut from the log while it's still wet. After the drying process, it usually reduces in size by about a 1/2". Might be obvious to some of you, but I learned that the hard way a few years ago. Arrange your surfaces into the corner desk shape and then decide which side you want to be the bottom. That should be the side facing up. Cut your 4' piece of oak into 2 pieces: 2.5' and 1.5'.  Screw the two pieces of oak, using the 2" screws, at the crease of the corner to secure the two surfaces together (I also added a piece of scrap wood from my sawing to make it extra secure). Position and screw in your 4 hairpin legs.* Then, sand out the rough spots, and seal it with a coat or two of polyurethane. BOOM, you're done! *You'll notice the hairpin legs shown are 2-rod, not 3. After testing out the 2-rod for about a week, it just wasn't sturdy enough, so I swapped it out for the 3. Much, much better. My work is primarily paperless, so I don't need drawers or anything. I just wanted something minimal with enough space to spread out, but I didn't want to pay a fortune for it. I'm pretty satisfied with the result. My office is also the ABM brainstorm room, so my desk backs into the beginnings of our inspiration wall that we