Maple and Walnut Nightstand

Maple and walnut nightstand. Drawer pull is maple burl on a brass pivot pin.

I consider this my first "real" woodworking project. First project without any screws. First project from rough cut hardwood vs big-box-store pine. First project of my own design. First half-blind dovetails, etc.

First off, I think I executed my plan very well, but I wish I hadn't leaned into the contrasting woods so much. I wanted to show off the joinery with the contrast, but I feel like it's a little much now that it's all done. I wish I had done a matte finish with a wax/oil like Odie's or Walrus Oil instead of the high gloss Arm-R-Seal. I ended up ditching the idea of the lower shelf halfway through, but I attached a screenshot of my 3D model that I used in the design phase. Overall, I'm pleased that I was able to execute my plan as intended and I'll take these lessons on to the next piece I design.



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The joinery looks great. The finish looks good from the pics. I wish my first pieces looked as good! Well done.

Nice first "real" project. You can always put on a coat or two of satin arm-r-seal if you want to tone down the high gloss finish.

That looks very nice and is a bit of a how was it done brain challenge. I like contrast and the absence of score lines on the drawer side dovetails. Well done! I imagine it supporting two bowls of maple walnut ice cream in the evening and a stack of walnut pancakes with maple sirup in the morning.

Tell us more about how you did those leg corner joints. Very interesting.

John

It definitely fits together like a puzzle.

Fig 1: Each section is cut with the Width being 1.5x the thickness. The center third is cut out to a depth equal to the width. The top is half lapped to a depth equal to the thickness.

Fig 2: The sections fit together as shown with the highlighted pieces

Fig 3: A walnut block is glued into the corner

Fig 4: Cut the corner at a 45deg angle with a hand saw.


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