Bedside table

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Sorry, no pictures of the build process

2011-12-bedside-table.jpg

Legs and stretchers are cedar; surface and shelf are some sort of mahogany. Leftover oak pegs for the mortise and tenons.

I had a lot of fun doing this, trying to go for "fast" rather than "agonize over details". It came out fine; the construction is simple enough that it couldn't really go wrong - although I nearly split a leg when pegging a tenon

Now it needs a finish - something to do during vacations, I guess.

Thanks to all the people who post here and blog elsewhere - without your teachings, I wouldn't have been able to learn how to do this My wife is pretty happy with the result!

[Joe Fabbri]

That's a nice little table, thanks for sharing it with us. You did a nice job.

Joe

[Chris Griggs]

Nice work Frederico! The balance between "fast" and "agonizing over details" is tough - you pulled it off quite well. Congrats! Any idea what you are going to use as a finish?

[Steve Branam]

Looks great, Federico! Small tables like this are great projects, because they are very practical; you can always find a place for them. They also make great gifts.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Any idea what you are going to use as a finish?

I was thinking of just BLO and then wax. The top surface will get some traffic, but hopefully nothing too scratchy...

I really don't know much about finishing, but would rather not just slap some polyurethane on this...

(Need to find someone who sells shellac flakes here!)

[Chris Griggs]

I love BLO and wax - no it's not that tough, but at the same time if it gets damaged repairing it is super easy. Can you get the premixed cans of Bullseye shellac where are? I've used it on a couple projects on top of BLO and really liked the results.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks nice.

It makes me think about making another for my wife and my self. Last one I made works nice, but it is kind of small and doesn't have the shelf.

+1 to the honey do list…

jtk

[Federico Mena Quintero]

I love BLO and wax - no it's not that tough, but at the same time if it gets damaged repairing it is super easy. Can you get the premixed cans of Bullseye shellac where are? I've used it on a couple projects on top of BLO and really liked the results.

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll look around. Basically what is available here is BORG stuff, Sayer-Lack, and every kind of polyurethane imaginable.

[James Owen]

Very nice table! Great work!

[Russell Sansom]

A "satin" or semi-gloss varithane / poly is a great choice for a bedroom table. Not sure why you hesitate. Oil is ...how to say it? ... VERY common these days and people are used to seeing it. Shellac is perfect. For pre-canned shellac you can improve your chances by checking the pull dates in several stores over a period of months. It will give you an idea of the sale patterns and you'll recognize when they put out fresh stock. Buy a young container and try it on a scrap at home. If it dries after, say, four hours on a DRY day so that it sands down to powder rather than gumming up your abrasive, you've got a winner. You can also buy shellac mail order. Many of us have used ordinary alcohol for decades without gumminess, so you don't have to hold out for "water free" alcohol, but you could also order some when you mail order flakes.
Shellac is an important finishing tool in my work. It's forgiving of mistakes. Because cleanup is so easy with ammonia plus soap and water, I have hung on to the same two shellac brushes for almost forty years. This is a great chance to put this important tool into your bag of tricks.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Thanks for the encouragement, Russell! This weekend I'm going to Mexico City; staying there until Christmas. Maybe I'll have time to swing by ye olde furniture market downtown; apparently there are older cabinetmakers there and they may know where to get shellac.