Thomas Keefe's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Allyson's Nightstand #3: Finally finished

Thomas Keefe — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:17:53 GMT

Allyson’s nightstand is now complete. I had a few problems with the finishing. But other than that I am very happy with the way it turned out. I think that Ally likes it as well.

The drawers are made of quarter sawn white oak (QSWO). They feature hand cut through dovetails (my first attempt). The top is also QSWO. I had a lot of trouble with tearout on the top. But based on advice I recieved here I was able to clean it up with a cabinet scraper. In the end, I think it turned out fine.

The nightstand is stained with General Finishes oil based stain (Candle Light). It is finished with four coats of Waterlox. I think I applied the Waterlox too soon after the stain. This caused some Waterlox runs to darken. When I scraped/sanded the runs a light spot was left.

Well here it is for your enjoyment and comments.

Tom

Allyson's Nightstand #2: Dry Fit

Thomas Keefe — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:50:07 GMT

Many of the nightstand components are complete now and I am getting ready to start gluing. I plan to glue up several intermediate components and then glue the components together. The first component includes the two front legs and the upper and lower drawer rails. These pieces are all sanded now and I plan to glue them up shortly. The next piece will include the two back legs and the back apron. Finally, I will connect the front and back with the side aprons, center drawer rails and the bottom shelf rails. Next, I plan to glue up the top and attach it. After that I will work on the drawers. Well, that is my plan. I would really like to hear what you think.

Here are some pictures showing the pieces fit together.

Thank you for your interest.

Allyson's Nightstand #1: Introduction

Thomas Keefe — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:06:28 GMT

My five year old daughter Allyson was complaining one night that she had no place to set things when she went to bed. As I was getting ready to begin a woodworking class I offered to build her a nightstand. She enthusiastically accepted. I showed her some pictures of different types of nightstands that I thought I might be able to build. Immediately, she began giving me requirements including that it had to have two drawers and a shelf on the bottom. I have been working on it now for a little over a month and she has pretty much lost hope it will ever be finished. But, it is coming along. And in this Blog I will detail my progress.

I began with the bedside table design by Joseph P. Zeh (http://www.srww.com/sketchup-furniture-plans.htm). I liked the looks of the table and so did my client (Allyson). Of course, it needed to be modified to allow for two drawers and a lower shelf. The modified plan is done in Sketchup as is the original. I have changed some of the joinery and some of the dimensions, but it is largely the same. If anyone is interested, when I finish I will make the Sketchup files available. Here is what the table looks like:

I am constructing the table from plain sawn white oak. It is my first large project and my first time using mortise and tenon joints. The woodworking instructor provides a lot of advice and direction which has been very helpful. The shop where the class is held has some very nice equipment that makes many things easier. However, I am trying to make use of only those tools that I have available in my own workshop at home. Of course, if I come across a tool that I really like at the woodworking class, I have a good reason to buy one for home.

My Progress: I have milled most of the pieces (e.g., legs, apron, upper and lower rail). I have cut about 24 mortises. Well actually, I have cut a lot more. But 24 of them are done correctly. There is about four more left to do. I have fitted about 18 tenons so far. I have not really done much planning for the drawer slides or the drawers themselves. I also have not started work on the table top.