The Craftsman's Path #29: Queen Anne Side Table - Contemplating the finish

That is one very nice piece of furniture. When are you going to ship it to me? :-)

Can’t wait to see the final pictures after you get the finish on.

The shellac primer was a good read as well.

oops—this is the edited version – I forgot to ask about the planing and sanding. I’m still learning this angle. But I thought that if you use a smoothing plane that you would not have to sand after wards – I’m assuming that is just opinion of the author of the article. Do you always plane and then sand?

Thanks Mark.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

That looks great. Those legs can be a pain. I know I have built a few of them. I don’t think I have ever
seen a table like that with such an oversized top. All the ones I have ever seen overlapped maybe
1 to 2 inches.

Maybe that’s because I always see them with a highboy next to them lke these I built:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/1753

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Very nice piece and thanks for the info on your finishing technique. It is essentially the same that I follow when I work with cherry.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Betsy: Thanks for the compliments. Sorry, but I think my wife has fist dibs on this one! As far as the planing/scraping vs. sanding, that’s a matter of preference. A planed surface will usually still have minor tool marks left on the surface. But that is definitely acceptable and it is arguable that a planed/scraped surface yeilds a clearer view of the grain that a sanded one. I usually do at least a bit of sanding. The planing/scraping just allows me to do less of it. I hate sanding! In fact if I did not have to go lower in grit on the legs of this piece I probably would have started higher in grit.

Gary: Thanks. The top is actually only 3/4” over on the front and back and about 3” on the sides (could appear more from the angle of the picture). Probably a bit more that the standard highboy or lowboy. But, I do like the proportions on this one.

Scott: Thanks. I am hoping that the finish is what I am after. These boards hd some variation in color so, I’m hopeful that I can even things a bit with the shellac. We’‘ll see how I do! If not, it’s not a great tragedy.

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com