TV Stand Project

[David Eisenhauer]

My son wanted something to put his TV on when he moved to a different house. He wanted "dark wood, single shelf without dividers, no cabinet back (open shelf) and nothing wild". After some discussion, he searched the webs and came up with a vaguely craftsman style looking sort of a coffee table thing that would work as a basic design acceptable to him. He wants what he wants and doesn't want what you want. So, I had a little pile of leftover African Mahogany from a large project I finished several years ago and he liked that color as we had decided he did not require staining. I barely had enough wood and had to carefully locate each piece so as to hide some blemishes in the wood. I made the shelf with T&G slats fitted crosswise to use up some short drop offs I had in the pile. I used little M&T attachments for the decorative stiles in between the legs at each end and a sliding dovetail for the divider between the drawers. Of course the practice sliding dovetails and the one on the rear went well, but the "show" one on the front had gaps. I had intended to put breadboards on the ends of the top but did not have enough for two breadboards. I was able to use some secondary wood for some of the interior drawer frame, drawer sides and bottoms. Blue tape for the half blind dovetails and drawer slips for the bottom. I have attached a photo of the drawer slip profile.

[Jim Matthews]

Neat, tidy work.

Kudos

[Curt Putnam]

I hope your son realizes that will last his lifetime - and look good doing it. Very tidy work indeed!

[Erich Weidner]

Wow, looks great! What was the secondary wood used?

And, as often as not I find myself spying into people's shop as much as I can in the background of the photos. I like seeing how people work. Is your bench a SYP laminated build?

[Bob Jones 5443]

Sweet dovetails, David. I'm following your lead and hope to get there sometime soon.

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks to all for your kind comments. My son does have some other pieces I have made over the years, Curt, and does appreciate them even though (unfortunately) he is not interested in woodworking for himself. I used some pecan I have stored in the attic of my shop (left over from a large job years ago) for some frame members and soft maple for the drawer sides and bottoms. I did use SYP 2x10's and 2x12's laminated for my bench frame and top. It is comparatively inexpensive and easy to work. I let it dry in my shop for several (8? 10? months) before I grew weary of tripping over the air-drying stickered stack and went ahead and built the bench. Do not be so easily deceived Bob Jones number 5,443, I am not one to provide a lead for you to follow unless you want to know how not to do something, but there are others here that are worthy indeed. I don't sweat it, though, because I do enjoy it. A few more photos attached. I fab cauls for clamping over the tails of dovetails when it is time for glue up and create a flat spot on the cauls for use in running a diagonal clamp across the drawer to square it up.

[ken hatch]

David,

Nice, well executed clean classic design. Your son is a lucky man.

ken

[Anuj Prateek]

Looks crisp, clean and very upscale!

Right after looking at the photos, I looked at my Ikea TV stand. And, now I have one project queued up.

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks Anuj. Please replace all of your flatpack stuff, you'll feel much better for doing so.