This spring I posted pictures of a cherry end table that I made in the Shaker style. I just finished the second one of a pair. The first one was made from boards that were mostly flatsawn, and this second one was all from a single board that was more quartersawn to riftsawn. The dimensions are the same but the grain gives the two tables different personalities. Here they are together. The newer one (in foreground) has not had a chance to darken as much as its pair, but they should even out a bit. My wife has expressed a preference for the more flatsawn one, and I like the other one, so I guess we know which side of the bed to put them on.
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Heres a front view. I beveled the underside of the top to give it a lighter look. A departure form the original design.
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Just showing the panel construction of the drawers. I had some cedar boards lying around that had too much runout to use for guitar tops, so I made them into drawer bottoms. Cedar expands very little with seasonal changes when it its quartersawn like this, so it made it easy to account for expansion. You can also get a good sense of the differences in the tops of the two tables from this picture.
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I cheated and used violin pegs for drawer pulls rather than making round ones. Another departure from the original, but I just like how they look.
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Since this is the third table I made like this (first was a prototype out of the finest Home Depot pine), I sort of have a decent formula worked out for this design and am getting more comfortable with some of the fundamentals of furniture making. These are the first pieces of furniture I have made since high school shop, so it gave me a little experience with case work and drawers, so I am thinking of making a desk next. It worked out well making a prototype out of pine, so I will likely take the same route for a desk.