Another small table

[Crazyraceguy]

After seeing a few of the tables I have built for my mother, a friend of hers asked if I could do one for her.
The general size was given and the only special request was a lower shelf, but not way down at the bottom.
No paint, stained a medium brown, similar to the Maple one I did for mom. Simple enough.
I probably made it harder than it needed to be, by doweling in the notch, but I liked the look of the shelf nearly meeting the edges of the leg.
I would rather have done it in White Oak and skip the stain, but that was too strong, she liked the finer grain of Maple.

 

[rvieceli]

Very nicely done. I like it.

Ron

 

[smorgasbord]

Was the chamfer on the underside of the shelf to make it look thinner while keeping strength?
Hard to tell, but it looks like the chamfer in the middle photo makes the shelf look thinner than it does assembled.

 

[prjones]

I probably made it harder than it needed to be, by doweling in the notch, but I liked the look of the shelf nearly meeting the edges of the leg.
I would rather have done it in White Oak and skip the stain, but that was too strong, she liked the finer grain of Maple.

Beautiful work [member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member]!
I agree with your design choice on the shelf being set back from the legs. Together with the tapered legs, makes it seem lighter somehow. You have to show is the stain and finish when it's done!

 

[luvmytoolz]

Really nice work, looks great!

 

[smorgasbord]

Another question: Did you actively decide to put the shelf dowels into the end grain of the shelf, and if so, why? Stronger glue adhesion to the dowel or wood movement of the shelf?

 

[Rutabagared]

Love the look! You nailed the size and proportion of the individual components. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Thank you all for the kind words.
[member=77266]smorgasbord[/member] Yes, the chamfer was definitely to take some visual weight away from it. To me, a shelf that was really that thin would be all kinds of trouble. First, I would worry more abut it bowing, then comes attachment. At that thickness, it would have required notching into the legs, rather than the shelf. That could be done, but complicates things. The difference you are seeing must be in the lighting conditions or angle?
As far as the dowels, it was more about wood movement, but I don't know that it's a big deal either way?
I use the threaded rings and bushings that Lee Valley sells. I started buying them years ago, when I worked in the assembly area, fitting door/drawer pulls. Originally, I only bought the 3/16" bushings, but in that last purchase, I did add some others. 1/8", 1/4", and 5/16"
The 5/16" works with the 8mm dowels that the company stocks for cabinet assembly.

Thank you, that was just a "stick it in and eyeball it" thing. I dry-fitted the aprons to the legs and just used some blocks to space it up. The original request was "enough space for a book or something".
Somewhere around 6" or so was my first thought and it seemed to be ok. Tapering the legs also changed it quite a bit.
Love the look! You nailed the size and proportion of the individual components. 

[member=81653]prjones[/member] It is somewhat of a mentality that most of us have in the engineering and "special projects" departments, "flush sucks". It is mostly because of the materials we use, which is a lot of plastic laminate on very large pieces. Whenever you can get a deliberate off-set at a joint, things go much better. A lot of the things I make are huge, shipping in multiple pieces. Then they have to be re-assembled by someone else.
When I do bookshelf units, the outer edges are all flush, but additional vertical partitions set-back by 1/4", then the shelves another 1/4" from that. If something is off by 1/64", you will never see it, but if it is supposed to be flush, 1/64" is huge.

 

[prjones]

[member=81653]prjones[/member] It is somewhat of a mentality that most of us have in the engineering and "special projects" departments, "flush sucks". It is mostly because of the materials we use, which is a lot of plastic laminate on very large pieces. Whenever you can get a deliberate off-set at a joint, things go much better. A lot of the things I make are huge, shipping in multiple pieces. Then they have to be re-assembled by someone else.
When I do bookshelf units, the outer edges are all flush, but additional vertical partitions set-back by 1/4", then the shelves another 1/4" from that. If something is off by 1/64", you will never see it, but if it is supposed to be flush, 1/64" is huge.
[/quote]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] oh man that is such good advice! I've been working on some "IKEA hacks", turning some of their cabinet boxes into custom storage for my wife's jewelry and beading projects. I love the look of inset drawers, but because the cabinets aren't consistently square, but only off by a few milliliters here and there, when I make the drawer fronts square and flush it looks horrible! You just gave me a great idea to inset them even more and create a 1/4" reveal to see if that helps.