Now if the story ended right now you would probably think, “Man! That sucks for him…!”. Fortunately, we now live less than 10 minutes away from my parents house which means that we also live less than 10 minutes away from their garage! As you will see from the pictures there is a lot of work to do to make it a functional shop but it has some really good potential. It is a 3 1/2 car garage that has really been used as a storage unit for all of the random crap that always seems to accumulate.

I’m on a pretty tight budget but luckily my parents are so excited that I am cleaning out their garage that they have hired me to do the work to finish the walls and get it set up as a useable space. My dad is also interested in getting back into woodworking and has agreed to go in on some tools with me.

Here’s a little video to show you what we’re starting with:

Here’s a SketchUp picture of what I have come up with so far…

I am thinking solid wood for the legs and aprons then two sheets of 3/4 ply glued together with some solid wood edge banding for the top and lower shelf… (Wood choices might be: all walnut, all mahogany, or maybe wenge legs with a contrasting species for the rest of the piece.)

The edges of the top and and of the shelf are beveled at 5 degrees. Each leg starts at 1 1/2 inches square at the top and taper out to 2 1/2 inches at the bottom.

So here’s my question:

What type of joinery should I use to attach the legs to the drawer carcass and to the shelf?

Pocket screws would probably get the job done but I’d like to go with a more traditional type of joinery. I assume I might be limited if I am using plywood though, right?

Comments, suggestions, critique???