I use a base made of 2×4’s with lap joints:

Then I lay down the sheet and set up the EZ Guide from Eurikeazone:

With the guide there is no worries about the cut being straight or the edges getting chipped. In fact, the cuts are much, much better than the factory edges.

Another step used for the first time is the “blue tape” method of marking.

In the past I, I mean a friend of mine, sometimes would rotate sheet stock 90 degrees, cut, and have nice big peices of scrap. This time, no issues.

So, in short order, the carcase is dryfit and ready for glue:

Those big ol’ stains are from the bargin clamps I got (see review section for Stanley F-style bar clamps)

And from the side:

Material is African Mahogany and Ebony accents. Finish was from Darrell’s blog using water based dye. It’s darker than I expected, even making a test board in advance. Top coat is Arm-r-seal in gloss, six coats.

Once I got the handle on we decided to try the pull blocks in Ebony. I have them and they will get put on, but I had to move this out of the shop for my sanity. The handles are attached with threaded inserts so swaping the handle will be easy when its done.

This was a very daunting project, but now that it’s finished I’m sure my entryway needs a table in the same style…

I bought the ebony when I walked into our brand-spanking-new woodcraft in Ventura and they had pieces on sale. I figured I could get it at my hardwood dealer, but decided a new business needs help, and they’re close (next closest store is two hours away; go figure with all the people in SoCal) I got one that was about 3×3x14 inches and covered in wax. I resawed it into thicknesses for the splines and plugs, but the pieces warped and cracked! I ended up with splines that were just a bit too thin, and my plugs have grain running in all directions, but it’s done.

Here I am using my dado shims to ensure I don’t insert the plugs too deep:

Plugs:

Table minus the draw:

Now I need to figure how to install the draw guides, make the draw handle, and finish it.

I marked out the mortises with a pencil, then went around the perimeter with a chisel. I only went deep enough to cut the surface fibers, maybe 1/16”+, and got a nice outline. Then I inserted the next smaller chisel into my mortise attachment in the drill press and used it to remove the majority of the material. After that I just cleaned up with the chisels and it came out fine.

Onward!

I completed the draw with the proud finger joints. After some e-mail back and forth with Darrell I’m holding off on the handle and will mount that after finishing.

I completed the bottom shelf. I think this design is pretty interesting because from a distance the shelf seems to be attached to the lower rails of the table. However, the shelf floats on a support mounted to the bottom of the end rails with a space all around as shown here:

In the background you can see the draw with the proud finger joints (click the link if the picture is cut off on the right).

I also glued up the core of the top, and milled the breadboard ends. I’ve never had good luck with bread board ends, I’ve never been happy wth the way they’ve come out. For this, I followed Darrells book and got a slot cutting bit for my router:

Now, in the past I’ve been leary of using the router handheld as I tend to tip the router, or the wood moves around and I get poor results. This time I remembered the old workmate (a.k.a $8 router table stand) has bench dogs so I used them to clamp the breadboards and it worked great (well, after drilling new holes in the workmate to match the size of the breadboard).

The core of the top was easier as it is big enough to clamp to the bench:

Once the groove was cut, I made the spline. This genius idea came from Darrell; the spline is glued to the core, so you want the grain running the same way. Easy enough if you have a board the right size. The simple solution is to mill a board with the grain running cross ways, and slice it up like scrabble pieces and glue them in individually:

Next I need to mortise the breadboards for the screws. However, after digging out my drill press mortise attachment and downloading the directions, I remember why I put it away years ago: it sucks. Really – you plunge the chisel into the workpiece and it sucks the piece back up with the chisel. I had to use the mallet to get this test piece off:

It seems the drill bit itself is catching on the wood, it protrudes from one side of the chisel. At this point I’m either omiting the ebony detail on the breadboards, or going at it by hand with a chisel, but I’m worried about ruining the part.
Any ideas?

To finish the assembly of the nightstand draw, I needed to make a sliding dovetail to attach the draw back to the draw sides. I really have been happy with my $8 router table, but the bit opening is sized for my largest bit and I was uncomfortable running the short side of the draw back over the opening.

I decided to make a new table with an opening that just gave clearance for the bit. I also reached a new level in frugality in woodworking machines. I give you my $0.44 router table:

It consists of a piece of scrap mdf, the fence from my drill press table, three clamps, and four long screws I purchased to replace the short ones in the router base plate. I guess I should call this the $0.55 router table, as I did purchase a spare screw…

With this smaller opening I felt better about running the back over the bit:

Some trial and error, and the finished joint:

Now it’s time to sand the pillowed draw fingers.
Robb

The plans contain an “E” sized drawing, and a 8 page booklet with parts list and instructions. These plans are the worst woodworking-related product I have ever purchased. The instructions had so many mistakes, math errors, mis-named parts, omitted steps, etc. I stopped using them after the first page. The drawing is labeled full scale, but is a mix of half scale and something else I can’t figure out. I bought the plans because my skills are such I need the step-by-step directions; I would have gotten more complete in less time if I had just made it up as I went along.

Anyway, here’s where I’m at:

I glued up legs, including a practice piece, and rounded over the edges in my $8 router table (have I mentioned how pleased I am with my $8 router table?)

I used my mortising chisel to cut out for the ebony plugs. Much easier than using it in the drill press.

By the way, in the picture above are some stands I made based on a video from someone here (I think he was a Canadian, eh!) These are great and so handy they havn’t left my bench since I made them. If you dont have a pair, grab some scrap, glue them up, and cover the top edge with packing tape so glue doesn’t stick. Make sure they are tall enough that your clamps will fit underneath.

For the Blacker indent on the legs, I ignored the instructions in the plans and used Darrell’s book to make this jig:

Then, a whole bunch of stuff happened and I glued up the base:

For the finger draw, I again turned to Darrell’s book for instructions. I built my first table saw sled:

This is where I discovered the fence on my cross-cut sled was out of alignment. I checked, checked again, and double-secret checked, and sure enough all the draw parts were out of square on the cross cuts. I decided I had two choices: I could throw the parts in the scrap bin and make all new ones, or I could try them anyway and see how it turnes out. Then if I throw them into the scrap bin I’ll have had some practice. So off I went and cut the proud finger joints for the draw front.

In my next post I’ll include pictures of the results; if necessary, I’ll make sure there blurry and poorly lit so no one can see any problems…

Robb

The problem was keeping the insert aligned with the drilled hole. If it tipped at all, the insert would jam and break. What worked was to take a long screw, cut the head off, thread on two nuts and the insert and chuck it in the drill press. Then I could lower it straight into the hole and turn the chuck by hand and it would thread in perfectly.

Just be sure not to turn on the drill press!!!

My wife works from home, and needed a work area for both her computer and her writing. She looked at catalogs and in stores and decided on an open work table with return; essentially an L-shaped computer desk with the space underneath open to make it easy to move from side to side. I started late in the fall, and finished the day after Christmas. Later that day it was in place and covered in “stuff”, so no pictures, but I’ll get some this weekend. It’s constructed of oak and oak ply for the legs and sides, and the top is a walnut field with an oak boarder and breadboard ends.

It wasn’t long after that she decided she needed draws to store stuff in, so I started on a file cabinet to match. To add some interest I used a G+G detail on the legs:

The desk design has sides that don’t come all the way to the floor, so I did the same thing for the file cabinet. Very cleverly I made two left sides (on bench), so I used the test leg from the desk along with a new one to make the new right side.

This limited the vertical draw space and has me a bit worried about structural strength as I didn’t feel I had space for a top streatcher. To address that I rabbited the bottom of the sides and added a MDF panel. This makes it much more ridigd, and adds weight to help keep it from tipping if the draw is pulled all the way out. I may revisit the top streatcher later if I think it’s necessary.

The draw boxes are made from 1/2” pre-finished birch ply. Great stuff, and much better than the $100/sheet 3/4” oak vaneer ply (I’ll post pics later)

Test assembly: top draw for pencils, middle for all that stuff that accumulates, bottom for files:

The draw fronts are ply with iron-on edge banding. I watched the woodwisperer’s video on edge banding and they came out great. I will use walnut dowls for the draw handles. I’m in the process finishing and hope to have it in place this weekend, so I’ll have pics of the beginning (desk) as well.
Robb