How do they acheive this style?

[Adam Cavaliere]

I am planning on making a nightstand very soon and I like some of the styles at Crate & Barrel with the lines in the wood where the wood is joined. How do they accomplish this in the way the furniture is built?

Here is an example of what I am talking about: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/furniture/nightstands/dawson-nightstand/s107070

If you look at the top, you can see the wood is not flush at where it is joined. Almost every point where one piece of wood joins another has a small gap. I want to recreate that, but am unsure as to how to try and approach it.

[Kyle Kaldor]

Adam, you just put a small chamfer around the edges of all of the pieces where they meet. Just like you see on certain hardwood flooring nowdays. It basically eliminates the need for the edges/surfaces to be perfectly flush.

[Phil Thien]

Heh, some of my earlier projects came out like that without me having to do a thing! :)

[Tom Hammond]

I believe those are all rabbets on one board being joined. If they are chamfers, it's more of a country-kitchen look.

[hank dekeyser]

Yup, looks like a saw kerf rabbet. Most likely "knock down" ie: comes in a flat box, you assemble it. made that way so when it goes together and nothing lines up right, it doesn't matter since no edges actually touch each other. Easy enough to do on the TS. Have fun

[glenn bradley]

Hank's got it.

[Steve Schoene]

Imitating cheap factory furniture that makes the risk of low tolerance production into a "design feature", isn't my idea of a good way for amateur furniture makers to travel. We can do a lot better than that, in a wide variety of styles. Just a thought.

[Peter Quinn]

Well, being the PB stuff is made in a factory, I'd guess they have cutters on a shaper or end matcher of some sort to add that detail as the parts are machined. You can certainly do it in a variety of ways, table saw, router table, shoulder plane with shooting board, etc. Many will question why you would want to recreate the hallmark of everything that is not craftsmanship. I can see recreating the overall design based on proportions, utility, etc, but the particular detail of obscuring a joint line on a flush design can be distracting. You will certainly find many designs that avoid flush parts altogether. Anyway, if you find the detail inviting there are lots of ways to accomplish it, it is just as simple as it looks, you can even do it with a laminate trim router and a small rabbiting bit just before joinery. Check luthier supplies shops for a small rabbit bit used for binding if that route works for you.

[Adam Cavaliere]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of the replies. I actually was able to make it out to the store and check that exact piece of furniture out. First, I'd like to point out that it isn't the type of furniture that is knock down. It comes fully assembled from the factory.

One of the things I noticed was that I was disappointed in the finish of the rabbited part. They actually didn't even get finish in those parts, so when looking at those lines it was very distracting. I have seen other furniture where I have actually really liked the style and it was done with a proper finish. I think it is a unique take on the lines, especially when the finish is darker in those parts and it actually looks like it was designed for the sake of design and not lack of perfection. I can understand the disdain for furniture that is being made with high tollerances.

The interesting part though, if you look at how the bottom table is joined at the legs, it seems like they were able to fully avoid any need for high tollerances. That looks pretty solid and perfect to me. What are your thoughts?