Building simple furniture

[jylu97]

I'd like to built a simple, modern bedside table with a couple of drawers and bed frame for myself out of solid wood.  I'm a Festool junkie and have the TS55, OF1400, CT22, Trion, Kapex, and MFT3 (been using it all for household repairs and projects).  Do I have the basic tools for such a project?  My concern is that although I can purchase the woods that I'd like to use, I don't have anything to mill or prepare the stock.  Is it better to edge glue stock or just buy a large single board -- is the former more stable and less likely to crack/warp?  I'm puzzled by how anyone is able to make solid wood furniture as a hobby with just a few power tools.  Can anyone enlighten me?  Thanks.

Liz

 

[Steve Jones]

Liz,

Sounds like you have the basic tools, you can buy planed lumber (since you don't have a planer yourself) which will not be much more expensive than rough cut lumber.

I find it better to edge glue up small lumber, depending on your clamping facilities you may have a bit of sanding to do to get everything perfectly flat after gluing up, but you can comfortably do everything you listed with the tools you have.

You didn't list a sander, if you don't have one you might consider adding one to your tool collection. (of course a Festool one).

You are correct about glueups being more stable than wide boards. although you could get away with solid boards for the bed frame rails. You might also consider some hardwood veneered plywood for things like the box sides on the table, it's easier to work with and more stable than solid wood, you can design the table to hide the plywood edges (either by solid wood or edge banding).

I've made solid wood furniture for many years both with and without power tools, remember you're better equipped than all those master craftsmen who made furniture for years before they invented power tools, you have a collection of the best professional tools in the world.

 

[Mark]

Would you consider using Europly or Baltic Birch? OK, not solid wood but definitely modern. Check out www.kerfdesign.com for some killer europly+laminate work though I suspect they now use a CNC router to machine out all their precision parts.

 

[sw1211]

Sounds like you have a good mix of tools to start building with.  When I built a poker table yars ago, pre-Festool, pre-Table saw, pre-miter saw, all I had was a crappy jig saw, bench top drill press, router & router table, and a B&D Circular saw.  A full shop of tools makes building easier but there are always work arounds.  The legs for my poker table were cut from thick stock and it would've been great to have a bandsaw for this.  When I tried the jigsaw (non-festool) it deflected real bad.  I ended up using a roto zip to cut them close and then sanded to the final profile.  Look at some plans and just plan how you'll perform the various cuts that are needed and jump in.  Start small and go from there.  If you get in the middle of a project and find you really need a tool you don't have then you have an excuse to buy something.  ;D  One final thing, post pictures!!!!!

 

[tenfingers]

nice link to kerfdesign

very impressive furniture, that 'looks' simple to build - if you can cut plywood accurately and consistently. It doesnt even look like they edgeband their plywood edges.....

 

[jylu97]

Another question... I'd like to spend some time with my family, so I don't want to be in the backroom constructing furniture every weekend -- if cost wasn't so important what tools should I buy to expedite my projects?  The Domino? VS600?  I don't have much space for the big stuff like a table saw, etc. 

Liz

 

[sw1211]

Non-Festool, I would vote for a bandsaw, kreg pocket hole jig and router table.  A domino would be very useful with furniture building.

 

[woodshopdemos]

I would think you would gain incite in my posting of "The All Festool Shop."

Here is the first page:  http://www.woodshopdemos.com/sidebd-two-1.htm

By the way, this chest is almost done and I will start a Mission Style bedside table after that.

 

[nickao]

If cost is not an issue the all Festool shop is a great start at woodshopdemos, BUT many techniques take a LOT longer than other methods. So in your case(time being a factor)I think a combination of the All Festool shop with a small table saw and a small band saw and small drill press could be the way to go. Personally I have to have a disc sander and spindle sander, but the tables saw can double as a disc sander and the drill press as a spindle sander if you have no space for bench top versions. I find my edge sander to be a life saver  especially when making cabinet doors.

Possibly a couple of the combo machines could work for you too, there are some awesome European versions out there.

 

[Toller]

Obviously you need a ROS.

It beats me how people make anything without a TS, but apparently some do.  It will cost both money and space because a cheap TS isn't much better than none.  But it costs less than a Kapex, so that shouldn't be a problem.  (I think it's kinda funny that the Kapex cost more than my 8" spiral jointer, cabinet saw, and 19" BS.)

 

[Woodenfish]

I'm puzzled by how anyone is able to make solid wood furniture as a hobby with just a few power tools.  Can anyone enlighten me?  Thanks.

Liz

Because it's all about expressing the beauty of the wood first. Better tools are nice to have but not a limiting force against a strong will and determined spirit. Experience will teach you there is more than one way to perform a tricky milling task. If you get stumped, (pun intended  ;D) post a question here and you will get a flurry of how-to responses.