When I got a few blocks away the anticipation of my find got the best of me. I stopped to take a better look at what I had just picked up. I almost fell over when I turned one of the 8 matching chairs over and looked at the bottom of it. Still shaking with excitement I crawled under the table to have a look beneath it as well. Now being a big believer in karma, I had to go back and offer to pay the man for the furniture. He graciously declined any type of payment.

I then carefully drove home, cleared out my old dining room set and carefully set in it’s place my newly acquired antique table, with matching leaves and 8 chairs. Again I turned one over to admire the label which said “Craftsman by Stickley.”

I will add pictures as soon as my hands stop shaking!

The cabinet itself is made out of 3/4” cabinet grade plywood. The end panels and back are aligned using #20 biscuits, and secured with glue and screws, while the center panels are set in dadoed grooves. The face frame was constructed using pocket screws and aligned to the cabinet with buisquits. The face frame is made from recycled oak flooring planed down to thickness. I have yet to attempt any mortise and tenon joinery.

The drawers are made from 100% reclaimed materials. The drawer sides are maple from the top of an old dresser, which I cut to size and ran through the planer to get them down to 1/2 inch. The corners are all joined with dovetails. The bottoms floats in a dado cut around the inside of the box. I had a bit of trouble with the dovetails at first, but with a bit of adjustment I was able to come out with some good joints. Next time I will make stopped dadoes, as these cut into my dovetails. The drawer fronts and door frame are also made from reclaimed oak from an old table top planed to thickness. The edges were detailed with a cove bit in the router. Now that I have a router table this will be a much easier operation next time.

The table top is 3/4” melamine glued and screwed to 2 layers of 3/4” CDX plywood. It is attached to the cabinet by screws thru gussets set in the corners of each bay of the the cabinet. Minor shimming was required under the top to make it as flat as possible. There is less than 10/1000ths variation anywhere in the surface. The banding around the top is reclaimed cedar from fence pickets. I used cedar because it is very soft and I wanted an edge that would not dent finer materials should they bump it.

Set into the table is a Rousseau baseplate, which I really don’t like. A miter track runs the full length of the table, the top of which has 2 T-tracks inset into it for attaching the fence. Below the insert rides a Porter Cable router with an above the table adjustment mechanism in lieu of a more sophisticated lift.

The entire cabinet sets atop 3” dual locking casters so it can be moved around easily. The top overhangs the cabinet 3” on all sides. I cut a piece of masonite to overlay it so I can use it as an assembly bench. It is 3/8” lower than the deck on my tablesaw so I can use it as an outfeed table.

If you read my profile then you already know that I have spent most of the winter converting my garage from equipment storage into a woodworking shop. To date I have built 3 rolling storage cabinets and started this week on building a very large router table/cabinet. As of this writing I have spent 19 hours straight in the shop. I made my first ever dovetail joint early yesterday morning. A couple of hours ago I put the drawer front on the last of eight drawers for my new router cabinet. I am truly thrilled. Later today I shall build the top and the fence. I will try to post a picture of it when it is finished. My computer skills are somewhat lacking, and my photography skills even worse.

Again, I wish to thank you all for the hearty welcome and support. I look forward to getting to know you all better. May God bless you all, and all that you love.