I
made this Shaker style Nightstand as an early assignment for school.
For complete plans, be sure to refer to the the Technical Drawings pages
of my blog. The Shaker Style is great for beginner cabinetmakers, such
as myself, as it emphasizes simplicity and functionality over ornate
details. This allows us to learn and practice techniques that are not
overly complex but still very common in furniture-making, such as
leg-tapers, mortise and tenon joinery, and more.
The full drawing package I made for this project is available here.
The Shakers based much of their design principles off of their religious views. In their eyes, furniture's beauty was found in the balance and harmony of a work's shapes and proportions, its functionality, and simplicity, over all.
I made this Nightstand almost entirely from Yellow Poplar, and begun by pre-milling some 8/4 stock to be used for the table top, legs, and drawer face, as well as some 4/4 stock for the rest of the components. After I let the wood acclimatize for a few days to mitigate future wood movement, I milled all the components to final thickness, other than what would be used for the tabletop.
Tabletop Glue-Up, Dimensioning, and Edge Profile
While the final tabletop is 3/4" x 18" x 20", I glued it up oversized in all dimensions, to be able to avoid any issues in a imperfect glue-up and perfectly mill and cut to size afterwards. After a dry-fit and re-jointing some pieces that left small gaps between, I had 5 pieces to glue together, making sure to alternate the grain direction. This way, if the wood were to cup over time, the opposing movement of each board will keep the tabletop more stable than if all the grain ran in the same direction, compounding the wood's movement and leaving me with a warped tabletop.
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| Tabletop Dry-Fit Before Glue-Up |
Then, I dimensioned the tabletop to 3/4" x 18" x 21". Using a template, I traced the front curve on both its top and underside, then used the bandsaw to cut to within 1/16th of my traced line. I made sure to leave the extra inch lengthwise when dimensioning so that when I went to trim the edge profile on the table router, I have enough to work with for a clean, even curve. I fit my tabletop into a jig to cut the curve on the router. The jig has the same curve that I'm looking for on my tabletop, and so running the bearing of the bit against the jig, and cutting the overhang of my tabletop in about 3 passes produces a perfect, clean curve.
To
cut the 45° chamfer edge profile, I used a test piece of the same
thickness as my tabletop, marked the layout of the cut, and tested the
router set-up once or twice, adjusting as needed until I had the desired
height of the bit. I started cutting just inside the corner where the
front curve meets the side and stopped just before reaching the other
corner. This is to avoid tearout along the straight grain of the sides.
After routing, I sanded the ends of the curve to match the router
profile.
Leg Tapers & Mortises
The first step in making the legs (after dimensioning to 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 27") is to layout the taper markings. I start by marking the point where the taper begins, 4 1/2" from the top of the leg, Then, I measure 3/4" from the bottom side of the leg that wont be cut and connect the 2 points to draw the taper. Next, I secure the leg in a tapering jig and adjust the fence until the saw just begins to make contact with the leg’s overhang at the 4 1/2" mark from the top of the leg. After the first cut, I rotate the leg 90° clockwise, placing the off-cut back onto the leg to ensure even, secure pressure on the leg from the toggle clamps, and make the second cut.
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| Tapering Jig Illustration from Fine Woodworking |
Now
that the leg's taper is complete, I move onto the mortiser to begin
cutting the leg's joinery. After laying out my mortise and setting the
depth of the mortiser using test pieces, I first drill the deeper
mortises, stopping at my pencil line where my haunch begins. Then, I
raise the depth of the cut from 7/8, for the main body of the tenon, to
3/8, which will be the depth for just the haunch. It is important to
keep the leg held down and against the fence at all times during the cut
so that the individual cuts for the mortise are perfectly aligned,
ensuring the quality of the fit with my tenon later on.
Rails Haunched Tenon Joinery, Front Rail Dovetails
To begin cutting the tenon, I use the mortise as my reference point, aiming for a snug fit. I set up my tablesaw with a dado-blade to be able to remove material more quickly. Using a test piece the same thickness as my rails, I place it flat against the miter gauge fence, raising the height of the blade to my layout line for the thickness of my tenon. I make the initial pass, flip the piece over, and make another cut on the opposite side. After each set of cuts, I check the tenon's thickness by testing the fit in the mortise. If the tenon is too thick or too loose, I adjust the height of the dado blade accordingly until the fit is perfect.
Once I’ve achieved the desired tenon thickness, I set up a stop block on the miter gauge to match the shoulder depth of the tenon. After cutting the back and side rails on both sides, I remove the stop block and trim away the remaining material to reveal the complete tenon.
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| Illustration of Cutting a Tenon from 'World of Wood' Blog |
Finally, I mark the haunch on the tenon and cut it off with a bandsaw, then make any necessary adjustments for fit, using a sharp chisel.
For the front rail joinery,
I used a dovetail jig along with a router fitted with a dovetail bit,
securing the piece in the jig, aligning the extended metal piece with
the middle of my dovetail layout line, and using the router to make the
tail as shown in the example below. For the lower front rail, I cut a
simple mortise and tenon much like the rails.
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| Dovetail Jig Diagram from Woodsmith |
Drawer
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| Drawer before Assembly |
To make the joinery for the drawer, I created a 1/4" wide, 3/8" deep groove, 1/4" from the bottom of each of the 4 drawer sides. This will house a 1/4" thick piece of Baltic Birch plywood for the drawer base. I also cut a rebate in the front of both drawer sides to match the thickness of the front side, as well as a groove in the back for the back piece, so they the front and back can fit securely.
For the drawer face, I cut it to fit the drawer opening (after assembly), leaving a 1/16" gap around each side, to allow it and the drawer to slide smoothly in and out. For the front curve, I traced the front rail curve onto it, used the bandsaw to cut within 1/16" of the line, then sanded down to the line using a belt sander
For the drawer hardware, I installed drawer slides from Richelieu onto
the drawer body after assembling it, as well as onto the inner sides of
the rails (using a spacer to ensure the rails are aligned with the leg
edge).
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| Drawer Face Fitting |
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| Underside of the Drawer |
Assembly
I began assembling the nightstand by first gluing the left side rail to the two left legs, and the right side rail to the two right legs. Once the glue had dried, I joined these two assemblies by gluing the back rail and the two front rails in place. To keep the nightstand square, I use a clamp between two opposite corners along with cauls that fit around the leg, tightening slightly and checking until the whole piece is square. I also used two 3" tall spacers, clamped between the front rails, to ensure that the drawer opening in consistent in height at all points.
Later on, I assembled the tabletop onto the main body of the Nightstand by using figure 8 fasteners. I used a Forstner bit to make holes for the figure 8 clips so that they sat just below the top of the rails, where the tabletop will rest. Then, I chiseled away the edges of the hole so that the fasteners could swivel left and right. This allows for the tabletop to move slightly as the wood expands and contracts with seasonal moisture changes.
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| Main body Glue-Up |
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| Figure 8 Fasteners from Craftsmanspace |
Finishing
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| Tabletop Drying After a Clear Coat of Lacquer |
To finish the Nightstand, I removed the tabletop and drawer so that I could finish them separately from the main body. I also removed all the hardware. I began surface preparation by filling any chips or gaps in the joinery with an epoxy putty stick, matching the color of the stain I planned to use. After the putty dried, I removed the excess with a sharp chisel. Next, I used either my card scraper or 80 grit sandpaper, depending on the area, to remove any machining marks, dents, or other imperfections. I then sanded all surfaces with 180 grit, follower by 220 grit, except for the end grain, which I sanded to 320 grit to ensure it absorbed stain evenly with the other surfaces. I hand-sanded using a sanding block for the 180 and 220 grit to eliminate any swirls left by the random orbital sander. Finally, I softened all sharp edges by lightly rounding the corners with a few passes of 220-grit sandpaper.
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| Before Staining |
For staining, I used an oil-based wiping stain by Omega Coatings (product code MT 806 : CASSONADE), which was very easy to apply, absorbed evenly, and did not obscure the wood grain after applying. For the drawer face, I used a slightly darker stain to give the Nightstand a bit of a two-tone look, while also leaving the drawer body unstained. After the stained components each dried, I then went on to spray 3 clear coats of lacquer on each, scuff sanding with 320 grit between coats, so that they will adhere better. Then, I sprayed a finishing coat of 35° lacquer to give the nightstand a matte appearance. After drying and lightly sanding all surfaces so make them smooth, I reassembled all the components and took the Nightstand home! :)
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| Stain Drying |
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| Completed and At Home |
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