Craftsman tile top end table

[Chad Bender]

Here's one of a pair of tile top end tables I just finished. The dimensions come off of a drawing of a Gustav Stickley original. The current Stickley Co makes a similar model, with slightly different proportions that I don't like as much.

The table top and base are make of QS White Oak. The legs use Gustav's quartered leg design, made with the Infinity tools Lapped Miter router bit set.

The finish follows the Homestead Finishing recipe for replicating the Onodaga finish: Transtint Brown Mahogany Dye, Seal-A-Cell, Antique Walnut Gel Stain. The top coat is Waterlox Original Sealer, original formulation.

The tiles are attached to a 3/4" Baltic Birch subsurface with thinset. The plywood is screwed into a rabbit in the bottom of the top frame. I used Spectralock epoxy grout. This was my first time working with tiles. These are hand cut, and the tops are not uniformly flat, which made setting them with the tops all in the same plane a bit difficult. Still, I'm pretty happy with the results.

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[Eric Bong]

Chad, that is a very nice looking end table and a good picture s well. The QS oak looks nice as well. How long did did the finishing take?

[Chad Bender]

Chad, that is a very nice looking end table and a good picture s well. The QS oak looks nice as well. How long did did the finishing take?

The finishing took ~ 2 weeks of effort, but perhaps only 3 nights per week. Dye, seal-a-cell, and gel stain each took a night. There are 3 wipe on coats of waterlox on the base, 4 on the top.

I did some very light sanding with 400 grit paper after the seal-a-cell, and after the 2nd coat of waterlox.

I let the waterlox cure for ~ 4 weeks, and then rubbed it out with 0000 steel wool (with soapy water lube) to knock down any surface imperfections. The result is pleasantly smooth, although not mirror like (which I wouldn't want for a piece like this).

The exact finish schedule was a bit complicated because of the tile. Prior to finishing I set the tile, leveling them to be even with the plane of the top. I then removed the plywood base and finished the top through 3 coats of waterlox. I then re-installed the tile/plywood and grouted the tile into place. I then applied the last coat of waterlox. Between each potentially messy step (thinset & grouting) I liberly protected the top wood with blue painters tape.

[frank shic]

are those true through pinned tenons? very nice work!

[Chad Bender]

are those true through pinned tenons? very nice work!

Everything is pinned, but the tennons on the top frame are moderately faked. The assembly is mortise & tenon, but the mortises are only about 1.5" deep from each side and don't go all the way through.

I attempted to make them real on one top, but couldn't figure out how to cut 4" deep mortises that were tight and clean all the way through. I don't have a mortiser (and doubt the benchtop units in my price range could do the job). So all mortises are a combination of hogging out material with the driill press and chopping the rest with chisels. My initial attempts at through mortises ended up either not square, or loose on one side or the other of the mortise.

There's no structural need for such a behemoth tenon, so I eventually caved and faked it (with a much cleaner and tighter result).

[Chad Bender]

Although, after some thought it occurs to me that you're asking about the tenons on the shelf. Those are true through & pinned. The cross-rails are only 1" thick, so cutting clean mortises is trivial.

[frank shic]

yup that's what i meant. stellar job, again, chad!