Night Stand (post eight)

It has been a few days since my last post, but I had some redundant work to do - gluing up the second stand. After I removed the clamps from the second stand I finished the tops routing a 5/8 radius on the underside and hand cutting a radius on the front corners. I then attached them to the stands. Next, I milled a some small blocks that attach to the top and fit into the dado milled into the sub-top.










They are shown above and loosely fit into the groove. These blocks will be screwed from the bottom to secure the top. The top then fits tightly, but can move without either splitting and cracking or tearing apart the joints below.

Next, the four doors. These are similar in construction to the rest of the stand - mortise and tenon construction with a floating panel; however, I used a thicker piece of wood and raised the panel putting the raised section toward the inside.






















The center stiles are half-lapped with a beaded edge run down the center. The center of the doors are cut at 2 degrees off of 90 so the doors don't bind when shutting. This all was done on the table saw and the router table. You might notice I have drawn exactly what I need to do the end of the center stile so it can't get screwed-up. After many steps it really sucks to mess up and have to go all the way back through to recreate the piece.





After gluing up the doors they are fit into each opening. There are a couple of things I can point out with the proportions of the doors. (you may have to click on the picture to see this) Notice that the bottom rail is the widest. Although, you may not realize it, a door with all of the rails and stiles the same width looks odd. Also notice that the center stiles are each much smaller, but together make up about the width of a regular stile. Next, I start the drawers.

Night Stand - glue up (post seven)

I had a list of about half-a-dozen items to finish before I was ready for a dry run for glue-up, one of which was to put a small bevel in the front legs. Both of the pieces I'm matching have such a bevel; although both are a little stronger than what I want to make. This is accomplished on the table saw with a small jig I threw together from scraps. After beveling the leg the cut is cleaned up with a hand plane.












With all of the pieces cut and all of the miscellaneous items complete I'm finally ready for the dry run. This is the fun part as I now get to see what everything will look like and how all my joints fit. One of the important elements of the dry run is making sure that I can fit, glue, and clamp everything in the order I anticipate. This is something that can get screwed up during the glue-up, so everything has to be just right. Here's the final stack. What's missing are all the drawer and door parts.


















Many of the parts are numbered and identified either one or two (I'm making two), but not all; so as I fit each piece I will note inside/down, etc... so I don't have any unexpected problems and so any defects in the wood face in. Glue-up needs to go as quickly as possible. It took about 45 minutes to get to this. Now to take it back apart and glue it up.























Here's what it looks like all clamped.























Now, the only thing that remains during this phase is attaching the sub-top. It gets screwed onto the end of each leg. I don't have to worry about wood movement so screws work well. These four screws will be the only fasteners in the stand (except for the hinges). Tammi and the kids are coming back tonight so I will go much slower now. Next, is to glue up the other stand and start and the doors. I also need to buy the hinges so I can make sure, as I make the doors, that everything will work.

Night stand - the details (post six)

The first chore for today was to remove the clamps from last nights glue-ups and clean them up. The wood seldom, despite your best efforts, matches up flush, so a hand plane cleans up the joint. Notice in the picture you can see where the boards joined at the edge, but not in the middle. That's the goal - here's the picture.







Next, the panel is trimmed to size and a tongue was milled into each side. This will become a floating panel - similar to a door or the sides. I used the tablesaw.


















In the following pictures you can see the panel as it fits into the bottom stretcher (it has the tenon on the end) and in the second picture the way the tenon fits into the same groove or dado that the panel fits into. I won't glue these up until I assemble the entire stand.















I also need to put the half-round profile on the under-top glued up yesterday. This is done on the router table. It is very simple - insert the bit, make a couple of passes and the job is complete.


















Here's what it will look like.


















Now, for some hand work. The bottom shelve will fit into a recess in the back legs. This is done by hand - well mostly, I did waste part of the cut with a drill bit. The square is marked out, the center is wasted with a forstner bit and the remainder is chiseled out. The shelve will fit into the hole.










This is part of the "stack" - I'll soon be ready to assemble! I won't make the drawer or the doors until the stand is assembled so I can fit the pieces. I have the rough sizes cut, but before I do the dovetails I need the drawer front to be the exact final size.