LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

I have been wanting to make a Arts & Crafts piece of furniture for my living room and I have been researching this project for a couple of months, as usual scouring my usual sites and magazines for some inspiration when I came across this project by Chris Marshall. To be honest this looks more mission style to me especially with the spindles on the sides

I spent another month or so finalizing the dimensions for the table in Sketchup and ultimately made a set of plans in Layout, that I am selling in my Etsy shop. If you are interested in purchasing these plans you can get them for a modest fee..

Milling Through Mortise:

I have to say that the project was very tough for me because it was my first time doing a lot of the features such as through mortise and tenon joinery, and machine cut half blind -dovetails. I t was also my first doing breadboard ends. But that's what I wanted a piece of furniture that I never made before using woodworking techniques I've never utilized until now. I have to say that one of the toughest jobs was making the through mortise, I used the drill press with a forstner bit and the bit kept wandering which wasn't exactly giving perfectly parallel mortise walls to the face. I might try the router jig next time.

Hogging most of the mortise using the drill press with a 3/8" fortsner bit




Milling the tenon's:


I used my trust dado stack and left the tenon oversize so as that I could fine tune the tenon thick and length, using a sacrificial fence on my miter gauge prevented tear-out and I also used painters tape to back the cut up, since these were through tenon's I needed them to be clean and crisp so this took a lot of time.

Frame Assembly

The 4 legs are all joined with upper aprons which the table-top sat on, these aprons were through mortise and tenon joinery on the sides but the back apron was a traditional mortise and tenon that didn't come through the back legs as the side aprons did, figuring out the dimensions for back apron was very tedious because the tenons had to miss each other so as that the frame could be all joined together. That completed the upper part of the frame, I also did through M&T on the lower shelf rails this wasn't as big a through M&T but I secured the lower rails and these rails received mortises so as that the spindles could be secured with traditional M&T.

My first dry fit


Fine tuning the through tenon, I love this benchtop bench that I made it came to my rescue more than once.


The Tabletop & Breadboard End

The table top was made of 3 (1×8) solid oak boards that I just glued up, I didn't use any biscuits or joinery but I did use a new approach when to sand the panel, I waited about 30 minutes for the glue to set up and then I used a scraper to remove the glue, I was so tired of applying stain and them annoying white blotches on the wood, so I did it this way and it came out perfect as you can see. Sorry to say that I am not sure where all the pictures went for the breadboard ends but needless to say I think it came out ok. I cut a recessed tenon on the left and right side of the panel, I cut about 1: away from each end so as to hide the end grain, I also used dowels to reinforce the breadboard groove that fit the tenon and to also allow for seasonal wood movement especially the center panel in the table top I am happy with the outcome. To finish the table top I applied 3 coats of poly-stain and then an additional 2 coats of Poly Acrylic making it resist all the hot cups that will be placed on it.



Bottom Shelf

Is made from 2 (1×8) boards that I glued together again I didn't use any other joinery method of fastener and I think it came out ok again the same finish was applied, but I did alter my design a little in cutting a 3/8" chamfer on the front and back edges and I am glad I did because I love the depth of the grain pattern, makes it look thicker than it is. Finally I had to cut notches out of each of the corners so as that the shelf would fit inside the legs



The Drawer

I used my Porter cable half blind dovetail jig to make the drawer and it I almost forgot how to use and spending the day looking for the bushing and the router bit but once I did a few trial runs and dialed the jig in it came out ok but its not perfect and I am not saying why all I can say is that the groove I had to cut to put the drawer bottom in is visible on 1 side. The front of the drawer is half-blind dovetails but the back of the drawer is a locking rabbit joint, I used oak for the front and back of the drawer but I went with poplar as a contrasting wood for the sides. It was the first time that I used different wood thicknesses on the jig but I passed maybe with a B+. Finally the drawers slide on runners that I made so as that the apron inside faces would be flush to the drawer sides so I made a pair of these (pic below and just glues them to the insides of the side aprons , needed to cut out a notch in the back so as that they would fit around the back legs.



I would love to learn how to hand cut these joints but I am not there yet and the jig bridges the technical ability of the wood worker (me!!!!!)



Locking Rabbit joint for drawer back


All in all the project was a success and my wife and mother in-law love it, Thanks for looking!!!!

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
297 Posts
Nice job Ed. Been following you for some time now, every time I think you've reached a plateau you jump to the next level. Keep on
 

· Registered
Joined
·
485 Posts
Nice job Ed. Been following you for some time now, every time I think you ve reached a plateau you jump to the next level. Keep on

- greg48
Thanks so very much Greg coming from you that's a real complement .. what's the point of doing woodworking if it's not to maximise the pleasure of it
 

· Registered
Joined
·
264 Posts
Beautiful table. Great job
 

· Registered
Joined
·
485 Posts

· In Loving Memory
Joined
·
5,826 Posts
You have done a wonderful job on this beautiful table.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
485 Posts
You have done a wonderful job on this beautiful table.

- helluvawreck
Thanks Charles very much appreciate this coming from you
 
Top