Side Table Completed

[Neil Clemmons]

Made this table with my son over the holidays. Table is 13.5" x 10" x 29" high. It is made from quarter-sawn White Oak with Maple for the drawer sides and botttom. Finished with BLO and Wax finish. Still have a couple of more coats of finish to apply.

All joinery is mortise and tenon. Dovetails cut by hand. Top, shelf, and lower sections of legs were chamfered to provide some design consistency yet still allow for the lower shelf to be attached in a unique way.

Lower shelf was designed because the table without the shelf looked too top-heavy. I used brass rod drilled into the chamfered legs and shelf at 45 degree angles to allow it to "float" in the design.

All-in-all, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, but feedback welcome.

Neil

[Marshall Harrison]

Great looking table Neil. I especially like the way you floated the bottom shelf. It really makes the table stand out. Must be nice working with your son. My son wants a rack for his Xbox games so he designed one. Today we were in the shop cutting the wood together. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to cut the slots. Sure is fun working with him.

[Mark Singer]

Nice workmanship throughout!!! Very nice design also! Great to work on projects with your son!

[Ted Shrader]

Neil -

Pretty slick way to hang the shelf. And it does "anchor" the bottom. It is pretty cool that you and your son built it together.

Well done,
Ted

[Jim Becker]

A very interesting design and a nice execution of it, Neil! Beautiful.

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice design, dovetails and the unique bottom shelf. Great Job! I'm sure your son enjoyed!!

[Lou Morrissette]

Beautiful work, Neil. You and your son make a great team. Nice hand cut DT's.

Lou

[Brad Olson]

The floating table is pretty neat, I'll have to borrow your idea someday!


Nice work

[Martin Shupe]

Nice table. Only suggestion is to use half pins at the top and bottom of your drawer fronts. I have not seen a drawer done without them. Not that there is anything wrong with how you did it, I just like traditional dovetails. Very nice job on the dovetails, by the way.

May I ask what kind of drawing software you used? I really like how you color coded the drawings. How'd you do that?

[Dean Baumgartner]

Very nice joinery. Great idea with the floating shelf too. I'll have to keep that idea in mind.

Dean

[Neil Clemmons]

Martin,

The drawing program I used is Omnigraffle for Macintosh. www.omnigroup.com. I basically set the program to use 10 points per inch and get "close enough" for visual exploration. It's not "precision" at all, but easy to use and fast.

I agree with you on using 1/2 pins for the tops and bottoms of dovetails. I normally cut them that way, except this time... Unfortunately, I dropped the drawer front on New Years day and dinged the inside corner, and did not have enough matching QSWO to replace it, so I cut out the ding and reversed the dovetail layout. Lumberyard was closed and i needed to get the project finished.

Neil

[Bill Arnold]

Good looking table, Neil. Nice proportions and the floating shelf really adds interest.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

That's sharp.


KC

[Martin Shupe]

Martin,

The drawing program I used is Omnigraffle for Macintosh. www.omnigroup.com. I basically set the program to use 10 points per inch and get "close enough" for visual exploration. It's not "precision" at all, but easy to use and fast.

I agree with you on using 1/2 pins for the tops and bottoms of dovetails. I normally cut them that way, except this time... Unfortunately, I dropped the drawer front on New Years day and dinged the inside corner, and did not have enough matching QSWO to replace it, so I cut out the ding and reversed the dovetail layout. Lumberyard was closed and i needed to get the project finished.

Neil

Well, I don't have a Mac, but I like that software.

I have dropped several drawer fronts lately, so I feel your pain. After the third one, I put a foam pad on the floor under the vise. It seems they would slip out of my hand when loosening the vise. I used the hot iron and wet rag method to steam out the dents. I can still tell they are there, but my wife can't.