Thank you both for your quick replies! You been of immense help to me and I'm glad I chose to join this forum!

I've been asked by a friend to design a large desk for him and I thought it would be an excellent excuse to learn SketchUp! I've started over three times now so I count that as good progress, I keep plugging away and learning what I'm doing wrong. Up until now I've found the answers to each problem on YouTube or various Forums, but I've come upon a problem that I can't find the answer to. I've seen a lot of articles and videos acknowledge it but not one then answered it. Hopefully, you kind folk can help.

I'm attempting to make each piece a component as I've come to understand that this will keep me from making a lot of errors as well as enabling me to generate a cut list. However, I immediately run into a problem. I want to wrap a piece of elm burl or a nicely patterned slab in a 1/8 strip of maple, then wrap that in a 7/8 strip of cherry. I'll let my friend decide the woods as he's in the USA and has access to way more than I would.

Here's half the desktop...

I can make it component, but then I can't use follow me to add the maple...

And If I add the strip, I can't seem to just choose the elm to make a component, and I' still have to add the cherry...

Could anyone help me out, or point me to a tutorial that explains this? Like I said, everything I've seen acknowledges it but doesn't tell me how to get past it.

Thank You in advance!

Dave Penney