Cherry / Walnut nightstands

This is my first post and entry into the world of LumberJocks. I’ve been reading through everyone’s posts for quite some time and am amazed at some of the things you people can do!! I have spent the last 4 years remodeling my house and now that it’s all finished it’s time to work on some new furniture and really have some fun.

I have made a few other simple things in the past, DVD rack, mirror frame, obligatory cutting board, all of which I will put up later, but this is my first real furniture type project. There are many firsts with this project actually…first time working with veneer, cutting dovetails, and building drawers are just a few.

As you can see….two nightstands made of cherry and walnut with a camphor burl veneer top. A simple design…two drawers, 5.25” and 6.75” in height with a 4” in shelf / gap on top. I figured why cover that crazy veneer top with a book or magazine when you can easily slide them in to that nook. I dovetailed the cherry rails between each drawer into the walnut sides, I figured why make life easy when I can try something a little more difficult on my first time out. I think the wood contrasts make the dovetails pop a little more. Took some trail and error to get a nice tight fit but no gaps in sight. The rest, as you can see, is the dovetails on the drawers, I used the Porter Cable jig for those, and the veneered top with a walnut surround. I finished it all with two coats of clear shellac and then two coats of tung oil. Wet sanded to 600 grit between coats and then everything got waxed and buffed.

Sorry about the flash in all the pictures…like I said, it’s my first time and I did want it to shine after all.

Picture 1 – Finished night stands
Picture 2 – Side view showing dovetails on drawers
Picture 3 – Veneered top…a few ripples along the edges but I can live with that
Picture 4 – Carcass in clamps…definitely need to buy more!
Picture 5 – Drawer parts after cutting dovetails
Picture 6 – Most of the carcass parts after all the tenons and what not were cut

I hope you guys enjoy and look forward to the comments and criticisms.

Thanks