A Couple Small Projects

Over the last few months, I've focused on chairs and shop projects.  Recently I made a couple of projects that got me back to work on small furniture items.  Both projects were at the request of friends.  The first was a small bedside table.  It was to be very thin for its height.

Some initial discussion led to these details

The top ended up being another 1/2" wider and deeper for a 3/4" overhang all around.  At first it was going to be a simple table with four legs, four aprons and a top.  But I thought that the legs might take too much stress if the table was dragged across the floor, especially a carpeted floor.  So I added a lower shelf that would stiffen the structure significantly and probably eliminate any potential problems with the legs.

The completed table with shelf

Here's the cut list and a task list from some point late in the construction.  Sometimes I get ahead of myself and do a task out of order, making it much more difficult to do another task that I should've done earlier.  I don't make these lists all the time, but sometimes it's good to do so.

Cut list and task list

The top is red oak and the undercarriage is Douglas fir.  The top is glued up from two boards.  I had a piece that was almost wide enough for a single piece top, but not quite.  I cut one edge of that wide board along a grain line (not worrying about being parallel to the other edge) and glued another piece that had also been cut along a grain line.  This made for a practically invisible joint line.

The legs are tapered on the two inner surfaces, starting from just below the aprons.  This made fitting the two lower rails interesting.  Their shoulders had to be cut at the angle of the leg taper.  I accomplished that by clamping up the dry fitted legs and aprons, placing the rails in position and marking the angle directly from the legs.  I love that technique.  Probably one of the key learnings in my hand tool journey.

Another view

The aprons and lower rails all are arched on their lower edges.  All joinery is m&t (20 of them, if you're counting, plus the four for the top attachment buttons).  The top is affixed with oak buttons.  The top was finished with poly and the rest with shellac.

The other project was for a friend who is babysitting two small children who can't quite reach the sink to wash their hands.  She asked for a simple stool.  So I combined aspects of a Paul Sellers stool (that I made several of a few years ago) and a Curtis Buchanan chair undercarriage.  The result came out great and will probably outlast those kids' grandkids.

Glued up with creative clamping (old exercise bands)

The stool is made from a mystery wood that had been a table that someone gave away.  The top is 1 1/8" thick and has a hand hole for easy grabbing and transporting.  The legs have tapered tenons that fit into tapered mortises.  Both rake and splay are 10°.  The leg shape was made using planes, drawknife and spokeshave.  I got some bungee lathe practice on (one or two of) the two rails and stretcher.  I used some techniques learned from Curtis when boring for the mortises for these pieces and fitting their lengths.

The finished stool with a couple coats of shellac

These were little diversions that got me back to some small furniture work.  Great fun.