Preparations for the base


The base for the nightstand is being made from dark Jarrah. This was chosen deliberately to contrast with the light Tasmanian Oak of the drawer case. The design aim is to make the case appear to float above the base.


Decent Jarrah is becoming difficult to access, and I am loath to purchase new stock. Consequently, I spent time laminating bits and pieces together. There was a good bit left over from my recent bed rebuild. Below are thin slats glued to form thicker boards, which will become the side rails of the base.





These will become round legs. The bevels will be removed in the turning ...





The top of the legs will have a 42mm diameter ...





The lower diameter will be 25mm ...





With careful selection of ends, it will be possible to remove splits and faults ...





The other boards prepared - width and thickness, but not yet cut to length - are the side, front and rear rails. The front rail will be curved to match the curve of the case, and has extra thickness for shaping.





This is a plan of the base. The outline (outside of the rails) will be in line with the case. The circles are the tops of the legs.





Close up detail - the rails will join the legs with (loose) mortice-and-tenons.





This is the front elevation ...





The legs taper and splay at 3 degrees from the sides. The rails are 45mm high and all are 18mm thick ...





Moving to prepare the legs for turning: registration is needed and so the mortices must be made before the legs are tapered.


Here are the legs being orientated and marked for position ...





Making sure I don't screw up the mortices by placing them on the wrong face!





The 8mm wide mortices will be made with a Festool Domino. This is a lot easier that chopping them out in the hard Jarrah, and preferred to routing ... as you will now see.


The loose tenons are shop made as the standard dominos are too narrow ...





I am really enjoying the MFT table I built. Here, the legs are held and the mortices marked off with a little placement jig I made ...





Finally, all the mortices are made ...





... and now the legs will be prepared for turning.


Regards from Perth


Derek