Shown to the left is a Shaker end table that I am in the process of making out of cherry. Plans for the table can be downloaded from Wood online.The legs are turned, tapered spindles. Prior to starting this project in early November, I had little experience using a lathe. So I started with some scrap poplar and turned six practice legs before using expensive cherry. Once I was satisfied that I could get reproducible spindles on the scrap, I ventured on to the real wood.
So far, the results have been reasonably good. The legs are satisfactory. The only real problem I had was with some chipping at the point of transition from square to round, but I can fix some of that with sanding and can hide the damage by turning the worst of the chips to the inside of the table.
After making the legs, I machined the necessary mortises, and then cut the the rails with matching tenons. Again, the results were pretty good. The mortise-and-tenon joints fit snugly, and when I dry fit the pieces, the base of the table fits together nicely, as shown in the photograph below:
Over the next couple of days, I will sand and then glue up the base, and then begin work on the drawer and top.
