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Mission end table
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Build end tables that would make Stickley proud
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By Dave Boulton, photos by Roger Yip, illustration by Len Churchill
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Out of the shop and into your home, the visible quartersawn grain on this end table adds a touch of class to any space.
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When I designed this project, I took advantage of the benefits of custom woodworking. My house is always in need of more storage, so I included two drawers in this end table. If you'd like to make a matching set, you'll find this is a companion piece to my Mission-style coffee table. If you decide to make two end tables, I recommend making them at the same time. With the same set-ups for your machinery and tools, you will save a lot of time in the long run.
Before you start, lay out all of your parts in rough. Take a good look at the grain when you choose your boards. Tastefully matching grain patterns across parts makes a big difference in the beauty of the finished project.
A Place to Start
Rough-cut your pieces to approximate size so you can joint and plane them all with the same machine settings. When the 3/4"-thick material is complete, reset your planer and bring the frame facings to 7/8" width. Orient them so the oak's ray flecks show on the 7/8" face. Plane the drawer faces and tabletop to 7/8" thick.
Prepare more wood, this time for the legs. Make each of your legs a little longer and wider than necessary at first. I laminated mine from three pieces of oak per leg, followed by a 1/8"-thick layer of quarter-cut oak veneer glued on top to hide the lamination lines. Just be sure to use strips of scrap wood under your clamp jaws to spread pressure over the 1/8" strips. Trim and plane them to final size, using the same machine settings for each.
All panels in this project are 1/4" thick. If you don't have boards wide enough, you'll have to glue up the panels, but this is actually an advantage. It gives you the opportunity to bookmatch your panels. (See next page for the how-to.) Find the best final size for the panels later, by dry-fitting them after you've completed the frame assembly. To allow for seasonal expansion and contraction, make your panels a little undersized.
Outer Framing
Joint and trim all the rails and the kickplate to final width. Square up one end of each part. With a 1/4" dado set in your tablesaw, cut the panel grooves in the rails. They need to end up being 3/8" deep. I took three passes to achieve this, making each pass 1/8" deeper than the previous one.
The legs require grooves since they act as stiles supporting the panel edges. But since these grooves don't travel the entire length of the leg, you'll need to stop them 2 3/4" from the bottom ends. A table-mounted router with a 1/4" spiral bit works well for this application. Set up a fence and a stop block to keep you from going too far. White oak is quite hard, so limit yourself to no more than 3/8"-deep cuts in multiple passes.
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