This is patterned after a table my wife saw at a retail store. It was too low for our use, so I told her “I can do that, and probably save some money too.” I made it out of a walnut slab that I found over in Dallas that was 6/4 thick and relatively flat. As y’all can probably guess, it was pretty simple to build. The bark came off easily, the only glue necessary was for the legs. A simple piece of angle iron holds the legs to the top.
The finish was TransTint Mission Brown, a couple of coats of oil rubbed in, and then a wipe-on poly finished it off.
Fast and simple and the wife likes it…which means that I like it too.

This is a chair that my mom bought a few years ago from an antique dealer. Someone had upholstered over the back on both sides, completely changing the Arts and Crafts look of it. When my mom died a few years ago, I ended up with it because neither my brother or sister wanted it.
Anyway, I ended up tearing it down completely, stripping off the old finish, and re-building it to the condition you see in the last two pictures. I wasn’t too concerned about destroying any value that it might have had because it had about a million upholstery tack holes from the obvious ‘after-market modifications’. The dealer told my mom it was a ‘Stickley’—(it’s not). There is no maker’s mark or any identification at all. I think it’s either an old Montgomery-Ward type of mass produced chair, or one of our Lumberjocks forefathers’ garage projects.
At any rate, I had fun rebuilding, refinishing, and reupholstering it so I could put it ‘back in service’ as a rocking chair. Plus, it reminds me of my mother, and it’s pretty comfortable. Like Merle Haggard says, “It’s not love, but it’s not bad.”

This project veers of the ‘Arts-and-Crafts’ path that I’m usually on. The warden and I saw some tables similar to these on a home tour in Austin a couple of years ago. She liked the size of them, I liked the open sides with the exposed drawer runners and the native pecan wood. So I built these by memory since photos were not allowed on the tour.

The top shelf angle detail was stolen from a fellow Lumberjock and it eliminated the need for a pegged tenon (which I thought might be a little too close to the top).
The wood here is also pecan, and instead of trying to hide the natural discolorations, I decided on a clear finish—a few applications of BLO topped off with 3 coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal wipe-on poly.

On to the headboard.

This is a companion piece to an “Aurora” side table that I adapted from American Furniture Design Co. plan. Obviously mahogany—in this case African with Gaboon ebony plugs and splines. It’s got the leg indent detail that I think is cool.
It turned out darker than I would like, but it looks good with the side table, so I won’t complain too much about it. The dark color comes from my lack of experience dealing with mahogany AND potassium bi-chromate—it’s like Brylcreem, ‘A little dab”ll do ya’
Anyway, I enjoyed the woodworking aspect of it.
Next up, I’m going to build a couple of bedside tables out of pecan—the design being a little bit out of my comfort zone. By that I mean it’s not going to be Arts and Crafts style, but a bit more contemporary.

I know this project may seem like a cliche’, but it’s just so darned fun to make!
It’s quartersawn white oak, fumed with the ‘high octane’ ammonia for 48 hours, then hand rubbed with a few coats of boiled linseed oil and finished off with wax.
Although simple in appearance, there’s a lot of joinery involved, and that added to the overall time to complete it. It’s not my design—I don’t do that—but it is similar to a Stickley piece and the dimensions came from an old Stickley catalog.
The warden likes it, and I’m also satisfied with the result. But like I said earlier, I really enjoyed building it.

Here are a couple of chairs that I built for my dining table a little while back. Like the dining table they go with, they are QSWO, fumed, oiled and finished with a wipe-on poly.
It is the only project I have done so far where there was repetiton—two of the captain’s chairs and four of the standard dining chairs.
The backs are a bit too upright for relaxing in for a long time, but for their intended purpose—dining—they are more than adequate.
I built them from measured drawings from one of the Stickley-style books. (I can’t remember the name of it right now)
It’s on to the next project now—a Greene and Greene inspired coffee table similar to the Aurora table of Darrell Peart’s.

This is a table I actually finished about 3 or 4 years ago. Like most of my stuff—quartersawn white oak, fumed, and topped off with a few coats of pure tung oil, and finally a couple of coats of wipe-on poly. I thought it needed the poly for added protection against hot plates, wine spills, things of that nature. The poly is a little “plastick-y” for my taste, but I’ve accepted it by this time.
The third picture hopefully shows the leg detail good enough. They’re lock-mitered, quadrilinear legs in keeping with the Stickley look at the time he produced a similar table. The skirt down the long side is through-mortised and pegged, while the skirt along the end is a simpler mortise and tenon joint—also pegged. Notice that the skirt has a very W-I-D-E rabbet that was kinda hard to pull off with my limited tools and brain, but I thinks it’s a nice detail.
This was also my first shot at breadboard ends. Overall, it was a good skillbuilder, as well as a confidence builder.

I just finished this table for my son. It’s heavily borrowed from a photo he saw in a furniture catalog.
The things I learned from this project are the wedged tenons, the fretwork, the small cutouts in the legs, and using methods of coloring other that fuming.
The color needed to be a little darker than the Stickley fuming method I have used before. That led me to Transfast tints, and also darkening the pure tung oil with a little bit of roofing tar. Wax finishes it off.
It’s all QSWO except for the tenon wedges, which I made from some ebony I had lying around. It’s a subtle detail and I like how it turned out.
The fretwork at the bottom shelf was time consuming, but necessary to the piece—as well as being a good test of my patience!
The ‘tic-tac-toe’ cutouts were done with a plunge router and a crude router jig. The corners squared by hand.
If I had to do anything over again, it would be to try to find a tint that mixes with oil. The Transfast tints mix with water and it raised the grain more than I thought it would. That led to more sanding than I care to do.
Anyway, it was a fun project that taught me a few new woodworking techniques—and that’s why I do any of this stuff.

Back slats and arms were steam bent. The q-sawn white oak was fumed for 48 hours, then a few applications of oil followed by wipe-on poly. I think the arms in particular needed the poly because it’s too easy to place a cold beverage on them.
I did not make the cushions, but I DID upholster the foot stool. It’s not depicted in the pictures, but the seat frame has a woven upholstery webbing to support the seat cushion. It’s REAL comfortable.
I built it for my daughter who lives in Chicago, so I can’t enjoy it myself. Maybe I’ll make another one for me someday.

My first try at mahogany or anything that is NOT a traditional Stickley look. It was made closely—but not exactly—to Darrell Peart’s pattern. It was good for skillbuilding with details such as the leg indentions, hand-crafted door pull, ebony pillowed plugs and splines.
The finish is what I interpreted from reading Bob Lang’s book on the Greene’s. Potassium bi-chromate along with a blend of artists oils—as near as I could put together—and boiled linseed oil finished with wax. As for me, I don’t think I’ll work with the BLO again as it is very time consuming for my taste.
Anyway, the warden likes it, so it now sits in my living room awaiting a companion coffee table.

A recent project to go next to a Bow-arm Morris chair I made for my daughter. It’s QSWO, fumed, and oiled. On this one I wiped on some polyurethane for extra protection.
It was a fun little project. I enjoyed making the keyed through-tenons.

I was pleased the way this one turned out. It was my first rocker. It was my first attempt at rush caning. It was my first project as a gift for someone else—my niece’s UT graduation gift. (Hook’em Horns!)
It’s from a book about Gustav Stickley. Quartersawn White Oak. Steam-bent, laminated rockers. Fumed, oiled, and wipe-on poly for the finish.
(She’s rocking her newborn little girl in it right now, and that makes me feel good!

I actually finished this a couple of years ago. It completes a dining room set of table and 6 chairs I made previously.
It’s QS white oak. Fumed and rubbed with a pure tung oil. Finished with a wipe-on poly for extra protection.
So far I have worked almost exclusively in the “Stickley” style due to the wealth of good information out there—and I like the joinery.
My current project is a Darrell Peart-designed ‘Aurora’ side table. It’s been a lot of fun.