Cherry End Tables

[Dave Susco]

I started these around Chrismas time, and after a very slow three week finishing I managed to get them upstairs this past weekend. The tabletops, aprons, drawer sides and shelf breadboards are from cherry boards that my dad had under his workbench for some 40 years. Apparently he got them from a neighbor who used to build horse sulkies? I had no idea what that was until I Googled it...


Anyway, I didn't have enough to finish them so I picked up some 6/4 cherry for the legs, shelf slats, drawer bottoms and backs. There's quite a bit of contrast between the woods. I have no idea if that will last being up in a sunny room, but for right now it's pretty neat.











Below you can see where the router bit moved on me (a bunch of test cuts and it decides to drop 1/16" on the LAST drawer side). I was able to patch the end grain on the front pretty well, the side is more noticeable.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Nicely done!

I too have been 'forced' to mix old cherry with new. Similar story: Dad had the old for years, it had color like milk chocolate - - and I thought it was enough.... Oops. It was ~18yrs ago, and I can still see a difference (tho' MUCH less pronounced). SWMBO just tells me to shut up and stop pointing it out. By the way, I can plane/cut the darker color off on my 15-18yo cherry, but in Dad's really old cherry, the dark color goes all the way thru.

Your's looks like you got good symmetry in the mix, and in the short term that's great IMO. In the long run, it's all just going to be cherry!

[Lee Schierer]

It looks really nice and as long as you don't point out the problems 99.9% of the people that see it won't see them. The cherry will darken nicely with time.

I noticed on my Craftsman router that the collet sometimes loosens after the firs couple of cuts so I always run a test cut and then retighten the collet. I've not had a bit slip since I did this. Just make sure you never push a bit all the way into a router collet until it stops and then tighten the collet. The collet won't tighten properly if the bit is bottomed out and it will let the bit slip.

I also have some 75 year old cherry that is dark all the way through the piece and it has about 15-18 growth rings to the inch.

[Phil Mueller]

Very nice, Dave. I love working with cherry...old, new, whatever, it all seems to warm up over time to a beautiful color.
So, my suggestion is that everything you build in the future has one pin too deep. Make it your signature for generations to come to know it was made by you!

[michael langman]

Nice recovery on the oops Dave. Very nice end table too.

[Sean Nagle]

Very nice work. I love end tables. Their proportions are very pleasing.

[James Tibbetts]

Nice piece and nicely done.
Is that table sitting directly over a heat vent?

[Prashun Patel]

Love it. I like the errant pin. I would have though made the end grain visible from the side; end grain patches tend to blend in better than side grain patches.

That being said I like that feature best. Salt brings out the flavor.

[Dave Susco]

Thanks everyone.

James, one's a return and the other used to be that or a vent. Now it's just a fancy hole in my floor.

Phil, I like your "signature" suggestion.

[Richard Jones]

Nicely done, sir. I especially like the slat shelf.

[glenn bradley]

I failed to click 'post' when I first saw this . Nicely done. Clean classic lines. Sure to become part of the family.