It’s actually just friction fit together in this picture; as I type it’s in the clamps as the glue dries. Tomorrow some final touch up sanding and the first of four coats of spar varnish, then a few decades on my front porch under a couple potted plants.

There’s an education in all this oak; it looks conceptually simple compared to the shaker tables I’ve done so far, right? IT AIN’T! Each leg cambers out by 5 degrees in both directions, and that tiny difference make this project SO much more obnoxious than a table with vertical legs. Laying things out accounting for that compound miter at the top and bottom is “fun.” The upper and lower frame rails are no longer the same length, they’re different but related lengths. That lower panel? Can’t be installed with the frame assembled. Hell I didn’t even bother attaching it in any way, it’s just captive in there.

Unlike the previous tables I’ve built that are held together with floating tenons, the rails are thin and fit entirely into mortises in the legs, which meant some chisel work squaring the corners of the mortises, so I gained quite a bit of experience with chisels here.

But, another project nearing completion.

    • Captain AggravatedOP
      1•7 months ago

      Thanks! I think I have a personal style somewhere between shaker and mission/arts & crafts starting to crystalize.

      You don’t think the top is too big? I drew it as 10x10 but the bottom shelf had to be 12x12 so I glued up one panel and made them both the same size. Think it works?

      • aasatru
        2•7 months ago

        I think it’s a good size, any smaller and it would seem off balance with the wider bottom of the shelf.