| Project by CedarFreakCarl | posted 249 days ago | 514 views | 1 time favorited | 20 comments | ![]() |
Here’s a shaker style table I built for my wife to put a fish tank on. Joinery is mortise and tenon. Drawer sides are hard maple with half-blind dovetails. The legs are just a tad beefy for a table of this size, but like I said, my wife is going to put a fish tank on it. The legs are 2 1/8” at the top and 1 1/8” at the bottom with an inside taper. The table is 30” high, 25” wide and 19” deep with a 2 5/8” deep drawer. The finish is wipe on poly. I got this wood at Woodzone. Karl said he’d obtained it from a furniture refurbishing outfit that kept old cherry on site so as to repair older cherry furniture. I wish I had a truck load of this stuff. 
-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC
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20 comments so far
rpmurphy509
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292 posts in 339 days
posted 249 days ago
Gorgeous table.
Too good for a lowly fish tank :)
-- Still learning everything
Scott Bryan
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9088 posts in 307 days
posted 249 days ago
Ditto rpmurhpy’s comments. The dovetails and the finish look good.
Thanks for sharing.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
Les Hastings
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461 posts in 258 days
posted 249 days ago
Very nice,,,,,don’t think I would hide it with a fish tank though. Make another out of one 8’ 2×4 to put the tank on! ; )
-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)
Tomas
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10 posts in 473 days
posted 249 days ago
I like the table – having never built one before, I noticed that the gap between the drawer opening and drawer is pretty symmetrical – I was wondering how you create a gap on the bottom if the drawer is sliding on drawer runners – how did you create the effect of a gap – it does not look like you used drawer slides so I was wondering how you got the lift to the drawer front to create the appearance of space under the drawer front? Thanks.
DAN
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3214 posts in 468 days
posted 249 days ago
nice looking table. I like the knob. did you make that too ?
-- ..... art for lifes sake
CedarFreakCarl
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361 posts in 538 days
posted 249 days ago
Thanks guys for the great comments. Les, I wish you’d said that about a month ago, I think I could have come up with something interesting. Truthfully I just couldn’t come up with anything on my own which is why I didn’t enter. lol.
Tomas, the drawer was of course made first with about 1/16” gap around the whole drawer face. I then made some L shaped drawer sliders out of two pieces of 3/4” hard maple and drilled them w/ square bottom countersinks for for pan head screws. Then I drilled out the screw holes so that the threads wouldn’t grab on the L shaped slider and would also give a tad of wiggle room so that you can adjust it a hair if the slide moves on you while putting in the screw. Next take the drawer face and wedge it around the perimeter so that there is a 1/16” gap all the way around. You can also use some squeeze clamps to help hold it in position. Next take the pre-drilled L shaped sliders and place them snugly underneath the drawer. Clamp them with two or three clamps. Screw them in place. check your up and down drawer alignment and if the sliders crept any on you, just loosen the screws and move them as necessary. Check the alignment of the drawer face and reclamp if necessary. Next the side to side movement need to be addressed. Measure the side gaps and cut a spacer out of some 3/4” stock and screw to the table sides. leave a hair less than a 1/16” on each side between the spacer and the side of the drawer. The only thing left to do is to put the kicker/top mount assembly on which is just the same L shaped slider turned upside down with slotted holes facing the table top to allow for seasonal movement due to moisture. I knew I should have taken some pictures on the construction. I’ll see if I can post some tomorrow.
Dan, I can’t take credit for the knob. I wish I could!
-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC
GaryK
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8486 posts in 473 days
posted 249 days ago
Very nice table! Excellent work.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
rikkor
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7670 posts in 359 days
posted 249 days ago
It’s beautiful, and the finish looks perfect.
-- Maplewood, MN
relic
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315 posts in 421 days
posted 248 days ago
Really good looking table.
-- Andy Stark
MsDebbieP
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11926 posts in 645 days
posted 248 days ago
nice!
I agree.. a shame to cover up that table top
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
SPalm
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727 posts in 367 days
posted 248 days ago
Very nice. That wipe on poly did it justice. Did you use filler or stain underneath?
I wish I had a truck load of that cherry too. It looks wonderful.
Steve
-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon
Critterman
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481 posts in 295 days
posted 248 days ago
Nice work, great looking table.
-- Jim Hallada, Chesterfield, VA
CharlieM1958
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4192 posts in 703 days
posted 248 days ago
Beautiful job, Carl!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
Vezq
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6 posts in 250 days
posted 248 days ago
Now there’s an example how the dovetails should be done, Nice work
Bob A in NJ
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335 posts in 484 days
posted 248 days ago
Wonderful looking table, classic design. What are your tricks for preventing chipout on those beautiful dovetails? Which doveil jig do you use?
-- Bob A in NJ
CedarFreakCarl
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361 posts in 538 days
posted 248 days ago
Thanks again for the great comments!
Steve, the only thing I put on this was Minwax satin wipe on poly. One of the wood mags (I can’t remember which one) did a comparison of wipe on polyurethanes. Anyway, the Minwax was the cheapest and the best. I can’t say enough good things about it. I sanded between coats with 220 on the first three, and went to 320 on the last three. The great thing about this stuff is that it skins over in about 15 minutes and is ready for sanding and recoating in 2 hours. Because it dries so fast, dust isn’t a problem. Plus you can easily put on 6 coats a day. Anyone who hasn’t used this stuff, need to try it. I really don’t think they’d be disappointed. I originally got started on this stuff when I built a coffee table recently. Been hooked ever since.
Bob, I cut the dovetails by hand. j/k! I’ve actually got the Porter Cable dovetail jig. (not the omnijig) I’ve got all three available templates. I used the miniature template on this one. I really didn’t do anything special to avoid tearout. When cutting half-blind dovetails on this thing, you put both boards in and cut the tails and pins at the same time with the outside faces facing the jig. This in effect gives you a backer board for the tails (drawer sides). Also, you cut these things with a climbing cut from right to left which helps too. And, I may have just gotten lucky to some extent. The Woodwhisperer has a pretty good video on the subject in which he scores a line along the bottom of the dovetail and also suggests covering the face of the cut with the blue tape which helps also. If cutting through dovetails, always put a backer board in the jig on the side where the bit will emerge. One other thing to note is that some woods are just more prone to tearout than others.
One more thing, the jig is really easy to use as it has all kinds of tips on the top and sides. Maybe one day I can graduate to an Omnijig or a Leigh.
-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC
Beginningwoodworker
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461 posts in 158 days
posted 97 days ago
Thats a nice Shaker Table, and nice dovetails.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
lew
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1258 posts in 240 days
posted 97 days ago
OMG!
That table would make any Shaker jealous!
Lew
thetimberkid
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1520 posts in 188 days
posted 97 days ago
Great table!
Thanks for the post
Callum
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jeanmarc
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1752 posts in 201 days
posted 72 days ago
Wonderful looking table,
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