Shaker End Table - Work in Progress

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.