Bedside tables with secret compartment

Nice! Great looking boarder around the top and the neat little hideaway drawer. The pictures indeed turned out well.

-- Skillet, Louisiana

Ditto what skillet said- the detail around the top is super!

Great project. You did it very very well.

-- Regards, Woodworm - KL, MY.

Nice table! And that is certainly a secret compartment no thief would stumble across.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Very nice project. I’m looking into making bedside tables and have been thinking about incorporating a secret drawer. The magnets are a great idea.

Did you use a stain before your poly’d?

-- Jason

I did use a stain, it was difficult for me to get it as dark as what they wanted. I am still learning. I did try a method on the top that I had read about in a woodworking magazine…I poly’d the top, then wet sanded with very fine sandpaper, wiped clean, let dry, of course, reapplied poly, did this 3 times, then buffed with wax. I think it made a nicer, silky finish on the top. Hope to make a dining room table using this method. I wonder if some sort of a latch would have worked well with the secret compartment….the magnets do work well, but I think if I do it again, I will buy those latches that will release with a little pressure on them. I think it would be a great idea to make a place on the site that we could upload project plans….with cutting diagrams -nothing that has a copywrite, of course, but it looks to me there are alot of talented people on this site that can draw up plans easily and share them! I for one, as a beginner, would like access to some free plans that use basic methods. I am too cheap to buy plans, so I usually draw it out, and make a cutting list. I need to learn how to use Sketchup so it makes the process go faster…..I am leery about downloading free programs, as my techie son says there can be some malicious script embedded. I know there is a free cabinetmaking program, that I have used, it is great….you could choose your methods, boards, and it would print out a cutting list that was pretty darn accurate. I had a hard drive crash, so lost that program. Will try and find it again if anyone is interested. I did not have any problems with spyware, etc with that program.

Cool idea! Great job.

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

Wow nice table I like the lower Drawer

-- Jim, Kentucky

Beautiful looking piece! Love the hidden compartment! You did a great job! Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Great secret drawer. Thanks for the post.

-- "But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

Love that secret drawer! Good work.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.