Well, they’re finally done! The Craftsman Style End Tables that I started several months ago are finished.

It’s always a thrill starting a new project and equally as thrilling, no, even more so, when it is finished. Sometimes this is because you are just happy to be done with the project, other times it’s because you are happy with the project. In this case, I’m quite happy with the project.

The overall size of each of the tables is 20 1/4″ wide X 24 3/8″ deep X 24″ high and they make a great match for the Craftsman Style Coffee Table made previously.

Although they took me several months to complete the actual time spent working on them was only between 40 and 50 hours. I worked at them periodically, interspersed between other projects. The pieces sat for a couple of months waiting for an opportune time to do the finishing which I knew would tie up the shop for a couple of weeks.

Here are some more photos of the finished tables:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style End Tables – Done!'

Once the finish was dry it was time to assemble the end tables. Like the first fitting, the final assembly is an obvious thrill. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. After each section is completed I get a real rush just standing back and looking at it, running my hands over it, marveling at the few perfections, justifying the many errors and just enjoying the completion of the project thus far.

First, the two ends were glued and clamped. This entailed gluing a fair amount of pieces, fitting them and then clamping the sides to hold it altogether. The concern here was ensuring that they were square.

Once the glue was dried the cross pieces, drawer skirt back and the bottom shelf were added to join the sides together. Once again it was clamped, ensuring that everything was square. Particular attention had to be made so that all four legs were setting on the table.

I left the front top stretcher off at this point as a precaution that if it did go out of square during clamping I could adjust it later so that the drawer hole would be square. I glued this in later.

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 3'

With everything fitting perfectly doing the sanding and applying the finish on the Craftsman Style End Tables was next on the list.

Sanding was a lot easier on these tables than on the coffee table because I have acquired a planer since that project. With the old finish planed off a quick sand with 180 grit was all that was required.

I prefer to apply any finish projects such as these before assembly. It makes it a whole lot easier though it does have it’s downfalls.

Finishing any project can sometimes be a logistic nightmare. Because finishes require a dust free area unless you have a separate finishing room this means that not only do you have to do a major cleanup of your shop you are also looking at downtime for whatever time it takes to do the finishing. Likewise, depending on the size of your project it is sometimes necessary to use every available space to lay out your project parts.

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 2'

I recently finished the matching Craftsman Style End Tables that I started a few months ago.

These tables are pieces two and three of a four piece set that began with the coffee table and will also include a sofa table.

Building these went a lot easier than the coffee table since a lot of the steps and procedures were already developed. The only basic difference was the addition of a drawer.

The tables are made with the same Red Oak that I got from the salvaged church pews a couple of years ago:

Once all the wood was cut to size I began with the legs. Again, these were done by cutting 4 pieces to width, mitering the edges and then gluing them together with a piece of 3/4″ square wood in the center to give a solid 2 1/4″ square leg:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style End Tables – Part 1'