Mission style End Tables out of Figured Walnut

[Jeffrey Martel]

I figured I would put a couple past projects up on this forum since I seem to be participating more now rather than lurking. These tables were built mostly in the spring of last year and finished in October due to a very busy Summer and Fall.

I wanted a pair of end tables to match my coffee table that I made in 2013. For these tables, I decided that I liked the plans from Woodsmith #127 enough to not come up with my own or do much modification. I increased the top rail height in order to accommodate a larger drawer. My dad actually has made this same set but used the more traditional oak. I had some very nicely figured air dried walnut that I had picked up off of craigslist that I wanted to use, and only had to purchase 8/4 stock for the legs from a dealer.


The drawer pulls are from Home Depot, of all places.

For a finish, I used Arm-R-Seal. 4 coats of Gloss followed by a coat of Satin.

Sorry for the not very good location of photos as it was raining here in Seattle. Hence the cardboard on the ground in the outside photos.

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And a pretty poor quality of it in my dirty living room next to the coffee table.

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[Kent A Bathurst]

Way cool, Jeffery. NIcely done.

May I ask: How did you attach the bottom shelf?

[Jeffrey Martel]

There's shelf cleats that are screwed into the lower rails. Then the shelf is screwed into the front and rear rail once in the center to still allow for movement.

[Kent A Bathurst]

There's shelf cleats that are screwed into the lower rails. Then the shelf is screwed into the front and rear rail once in the center to still allow for movement.

Good enough. That definitely works.

Do you have rabbets in the rails to receive the shelf, or is the shelf just flush/butted to the rails?

[Jeffrey Martel]

It's just flush and butted to the rails. I just took a 3/4"x3/4" scrap and put them on all 4 lower rails such that the shelf was flush with the top of the front and rear rails. I notched out the corners of the shelf to receive the legs rather than notching the legs to accept the shelf like the plan calls for. Bit of an assembly order error that required the fix.

[Shawn Pixley]

Very pretty!

[Curtis Myers]

Very nice. Love the walnut

[John TenEyck]

Arm-R-Seal really shows of that beautiful walnut. Your craftsmanship looks first rate,too. Congrats.

John

[Von Bickley]

Great looking furniture......

[Gene Davis]

Nice work, and some great looking walnut. Nice score off Craigslist. Did the figured drawer heads come with the air-dried batch?

Lower shelves in pieces like this require some detailing for seasonal movement that makes for careful work with machines and hand tools. Here is my take on the joint, shown using 3/4 inch shelf, 1-3/4 square legs, with the short end rail at 3/4 x 2-1/4 and the side rails at 3/4 x 3-1/8. The sides are wide to allow for the domino joinery I show for one option. 8mm x 50mm dominos shown.

The long side rails would not need to be tall like shown if doing the M&T joinery I show in the other option.

The shelf panel is captured only 1/16 in the receiving groove in the long side rail, which has 1/8" additional depth in the dado for expansion. This, when making the piece in winter dry conditions.

The leg housings capture the shelf panel both ways.

A single pocket screw or dowel or domino fixes the center (end grain end) of panel to each short rail, and the little bit of capture into the leg hopefully fixes the outboard corner

I plan to make some end tables with lower shelves, and will use plywood for the shelves, so as to avoid needing to detail this way.

[Pat Camara]

Very nice set. You should be more than proud of the final outcome.

[Jeffrey Martel]

Thanks everyone.

Gene: The drawer fronts came from Rockler, actually. They had some figured cutoffs for sale. As far as wood movement goes, I'm not too worried about it. The shelf was sized and installed during the most humid time in our area. Seattle is opposite of the rest of the country in that our Summers are quite dry and the winters are the wettest/most humid. But it's good info for next time.

EDITING TO ADD: I will be keeping an eye on it though, and may take some passes off of the sides with a hand plane just to give a bit more room in case of more movement than anticipated. It's only screwed on so it's easy enough to do.

[Terry Beadle]

Super ! Superb!

Great job and that wood is spectacular.

[Chris Hachet]

First rate work, nice! I am a sucker for Walnut...

[Will Boulware]

Looks great!

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Before I saw the photos I was thinking how much more appropriate QSWO would be. Now I'll shut up.

[glenn bradley]

Beautiful material, great craftsmanship. A real nice looking set that will be enjoyed for a very long time.

[Jeffrey Martel]

Thanks again to everyone. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, but of course I notice the flaws and have things to focus on for the next build so they don't show up again.


Before I saw the photos I was thinking how much more appropriate QSWO would be. Now I'll shut up.

It certainly is the proper and traditional wood used, yes. You also see it in Cherry and perhaps one of the Mahogany species as well. Not too common to see it in walnut, though.

I took a chance making my coffee table out of walnut (with some curl in it for the top, straight grain elsewhere), and really liked the look so I'm continuing the whole Walnut Arts & Crafts trend in my entire main floor. Next up is a storage chest, followed by a Bookcase and a Morris Chair. I'm going to wait until we move to build a dining table and chairs, however.

[Gene Davis]

If you are a user of Sketchup, Jeffrey, take a look at the bow-armed Morris chair I did and put up on the 3D Warehouse. It is a close copy of the one American Furniture Design sells plans for, and is simply the Stickley original with these changes: flared legs, and curvature given the side rails. My model was done as a study to see how well it might all be joined using Festool dominos, and shows all the domino joinery. No mortises, no tenons.

There will definitely be some work in jigging to get the parts cut and carved with the domino mortises, though. The chair would look spectacular in your walnut.

The very same model with the swapout of legs and side-rails and their pickets, turns into the Stickley classic, and the same domino joinery will work.

I recently completed two done to the Stickley lines and await the upholstery work.

Stickley took a look at the American Furniture Design idea and now offers the same.

[Jeffrey Martel]

Thanks for that, Gene. I'll keep your design on file, and probably tweak it a bit. I haven't found one that is 100% like I want yet, but this is another option to consider. I do like the flared legs, however.

I don't have a Domino, and was planning on doing traditional mortise & tenon joints as I have been using on most of my projects recently.

[Brent Ring]

Walnut is one of my favorites - My wifes favorite for sure. Very nice work!

[Joseph Valsi]

Very nice work, and great walnut. I like the design !