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'

Master rocking chair maker, Hal Taylor, has released a new version of his book, How To Make A Beautiful Rocking Chair!

I recently had the opportunity to have a look at it and let me tell you, if you plan on making a rocking chair this book is a must have! It includes all of the latest updates and improvements that Hal has made over the last 12 years, both in the construction of the rocking chair and in the methods used.

Hal Taylor has been making beautiful rocking chairs for the past 15 years (to date he has built around 300 of them!) and this book is a culmination of his rocking chair building experience. It is the step-by-step guide to building his world famous rocking chairs.

With about 230 pages this new book is almost 100 pages longer than the previous version and includes sections on alternative back brace construction methods, rocker theory and grain matching techniques as well as new jigs and fixtures for cutting the headrest, arms and legs.

Continue reading 'How To Build A Hal Taylor Rocker'