Jim Tobias
02-09-2010, 7:02 PM
These bedside tables have been in my shop in some stage of completion for the past year and a half. At first the delay was on me for procrastinating and then later (as life so often does) other life issues took precedence.
Anyway, I slowly came up with the design as I wanted 3 things:
• Something that would reasonably match our bed (it has some iron scroll type work on it)
• I wanted them to be practical/useful in handling what we want /need next to the bed
• Needed to be something that I wanted to build
There were also several first for me on these tables.
• 1st time to cut half blind dovetails on bowed drawer front(yes, it was on the Leigh jig, but it was still the 1st time)
• 1st time to make bowed front drawers and also to veneer bowed front drawers
• 1st time cutting coves on the table saw(under edge of the table tops
• 1st time using Tinted (with Mixol black dye) Target EM6000
The materials used are:
• Poplar for everything that you see that is black (frames, legs, side panels, stiles, rails, etc.)
• The veneer is English Oak Burl – It is on the 2nd level top insert and the drawer fronts
• Drawers sides and back are from soft maple, bottom is ¼” BB
• Drawer fronts are poplar covered with the veneer
• Iron work is from Alwin Wagener. My wife and I met him doing a demonstration up on the Blue Ridge parkway a couple of summers back. He is an “iron works”(?) artist. I asked him if I took pictures or drew something with dimensions and sent it to him, could he make it. He said yes and the iron you see on these tables are the result. I would
• Glass is 3/8” beveled
Early on I asked on SMC for suggestions on how I should make the curved drawer front with veneer (and not get cracking/splitting of the veneer) and also the half blind dovetails. Dave DeCristoforo suggested the that the best bet was to stack (and glue) solid wood so that the edge grain became the face of the drawer. That would give me a “solid core” and prevent veneer issues on the drawer front. That is the method that I used. I glued up the drawer front “cores”, squared and surfaced and then cut half blind dovetails. Next came the shaping of the front (bow) and lastly the veneer in the vacuum bag.
The back panel is held on with rare earth magnets at the 4 corners. I wanted to permanently mount a surge protector on the bottom (plug it in to the wall socket) and then try to conceal all of the other plug wires of the various things that we have on the table tops (reading lights, lamps, alarm clocks, etc.).
It stays in place but easily removes if I need to get to something. The cavity that I left for the wires is about an inch deep.
The drawer stops are “epoxied in” spring loaded buttons that pop down (unless depressed) and prevent drawers from coming out. To remove a drawer, I can depress the button and slide the drawer out. This was a solution for the fact that I made the dust frames too wide and could not use the back edge to attach a stop. I’m sure there may have been other solutions, but The spring button is the best one that I could come up with at the time.
The English Oak burl is some veneer that I bought several years ago and have been wanting to use it ever since. The pictures do not do it justice as to the depth of the burls and colors. Each of the 3 drawer fronts on each table all came from 1 sheet of the veneer. It is hard to see any pattern as the burl figure is so random. I actually screwed up and veneered one piece wrong side out, but I don’t think it is obvious.
Lastly, the finish.
The veneers got an initial coat of Danish Oil. Then, IMPORTANT!!, waited 3 – 4 days, wiped down with 50/50 DNA/Distilled water mix and then sprayed clear EM6000
The Poplar got a coat of sanding sealer (to hopefully reduce the number of subsequent coats), buff sanded, then 4 coats of Target EM6000 tinted with black Mixol dye. I sprayed the side panels before I glued the rails and stiles into place.
I wanted to get a final coat of the Target SC9000 (poly) on the top frames, but could not get the final sheen that I wanted so I sanded it off and topcoated with the Target EM6000 tinted with black Mixol dye.
I will have to buy or make coasters in case of a stray wet glass.
I did have difficulty getting a smooth “final coat” as the black tinted EM6000 shows every speck of everything. Not the product, just the color that I chose. Like a black car, when it is clean, it looks great, but the first bit of dirt and it needs washing. I finally opted to rub out the finish on the top to get it smooth and the sheen that I wanted.
All critiques are welcome.
Jim
Anyway, I slowly came up with the design as I wanted 3 things:
• Something that would reasonably match our bed (it has some iron scroll type work on it)
• I wanted them to be practical/useful in handling what we want /need next to the bed
• Needed to be something that I wanted to build
There were also several first for me on these tables.
• 1st time to cut half blind dovetails on bowed drawer front(yes, it was on the Leigh jig, but it was still the 1st time)
• 1st time to make bowed front drawers and also to veneer bowed front drawers
• 1st time cutting coves on the table saw(under edge of the table tops
• 1st time using Tinted (with Mixol black dye) Target EM6000
The materials used are:
• Poplar for everything that you see that is black (frames, legs, side panels, stiles, rails, etc.)
• The veneer is English Oak Burl – It is on the 2nd level top insert and the drawer fronts
• Drawers sides and back are from soft maple, bottom is ¼” BB
• Drawer fronts are poplar covered with the veneer
• Iron work is from Alwin Wagener. My wife and I met him doing a demonstration up on the Blue Ridge parkway a couple of summers back. He is an “iron works”(?) artist. I asked him if I took pictures or drew something with dimensions and sent it to him, could he make it. He said yes and the iron you see on these tables are the result. I would
• Glass is 3/8” beveled
Early on I asked on SMC for suggestions on how I should make the curved drawer front with veneer (and not get cracking/splitting of the veneer) and also the half blind dovetails. Dave DeCristoforo suggested the that the best bet was to stack (and glue) solid wood so that the edge grain became the face of the drawer. That would give me a “solid core” and prevent veneer issues on the drawer front. That is the method that I used. I glued up the drawer front “cores”, squared and surfaced and then cut half blind dovetails. Next came the shaping of the front (bow) and lastly the veneer in the vacuum bag.
The back panel is held on with rare earth magnets at the 4 corners. I wanted to permanently mount a surge protector on the bottom (plug it in to the wall socket) and then try to conceal all of the other plug wires of the various things that we have on the table tops (reading lights, lamps, alarm clocks, etc.).
It stays in place but easily removes if I need to get to something. The cavity that I left for the wires is about an inch deep.
The drawer stops are “epoxied in” spring loaded buttons that pop down (unless depressed) and prevent drawers from coming out. To remove a drawer, I can depress the button and slide the drawer out. This was a solution for the fact that I made the dust frames too wide and could not use the back edge to attach a stop. I’m sure there may have been other solutions, but The spring button is the best one that I could come up with at the time.
The English Oak burl is some veneer that I bought several years ago and have been wanting to use it ever since. The pictures do not do it justice as to the depth of the burls and colors. Each of the 3 drawer fronts on each table all came from 1 sheet of the veneer. It is hard to see any pattern as the burl figure is so random. I actually screwed up and veneered one piece wrong side out, but I don’t think it is obvious.
Lastly, the finish.
The veneers got an initial coat of Danish Oil. Then, IMPORTANT!!, waited 3 – 4 days, wiped down with 50/50 DNA/Distilled water mix and then sprayed clear EM6000
The Poplar got a coat of sanding sealer (to hopefully reduce the number of subsequent coats), buff sanded, then 4 coats of Target EM6000 tinted with black Mixol dye. I sprayed the side panels before I glued the rails and stiles into place.
I wanted to get a final coat of the Target SC9000 (poly) on the top frames, but could not get the final sheen that I wanted so I sanded it off and topcoated with the Target EM6000 tinted with black Mixol dye.
I will have to buy or make coasters in case of a stray wet glass.
I did have difficulty getting a smooth “final coat” as the black tinted EM6000 shows every speck of everything. Not the product, just the color that I chose. Like a black car, when it is clean, it looks great, but the first bit of dirt and it needs washing. I finally opted to rub out the finish on the top to get it smooth and the sheen that I wanted.
All critiques are welcome.
Jim