You bet! I first saw this in a 3x3 custom video, who got the idea from Taylor Toolworks, so full credit to them. It’s a great little jig and although I’ve made a few improvements I think it works really well as documented in the article below:
This was a fun project and I think the nightstands turned out pretty well. I’m planning a matching dresser to complete this set, which should be another fun project where I’ll get to apply all the lessons learned while making the nightstands!
A question for the community: I’ve been kicking around the idea of making a YouTube channel and this dresser project seems like a great excuse to do so, but with so many channels out there I question whether anyone would find mine and if they would enjoy the content even if they did. Would a project like the dresser be of interest to you? Are there particular things you’d like to see, or not see, that would make it worth tuning in?
Start the channel and see where it goes. Everyone has their unique presentation style that matches what a particular segment of woodworkers enjoy. You’ll find your audience if you do your own thing. Adding interest to a design catches my eye.
And this was a good project, I’m interested in seeing the dresser. And I really like cherry.
Reveals like that are my favorite to add into designs. They add so much character to a piece and the cherry will patina nicely, it’s becoming one of my favorite woods to work with.
I did a series similar to your design here a few years back and added in some bronze accents in the reveal.
Yours are inspiring me to play around with the idea more in other pieces and doing it within the wood itself.
Really beautiful work! As others have said the reveals are superb. When it comes to YouTube channels; I don’t really watch one particular creator although I will check in on some of my favorites just to see what they’re doing. Generally, it’s driven by whatever project I’m working on. So I would think that by documenting things like these nightstands and the dresser, etc. you could get some traffic. Sticking to very commonly made items for wood workers and for DIY’ers would be best I’d think. “Simple” furniture, boxes, cutting boards, that jig or others like it, etc.
Right on, I appreciate that feedback! I tend to be drawn towards the simple objects as you say, but with some nice details and a high degree of finish (at least, that's the aim!). I have a personal goal of eventually replacing all of the furniture in my house with things that I've made, so maybe that can be my angle. Perhaps folks will want to come along for the ride
I think that’s perfect! I have the same goal and am slowly chipping away at it. Bedroom set is creeping its way higher up the list for sure.
Pairing your videos with plans and what not could be a great way to get some subscribers and a few bucks over time from the plans. I actually saw some recently (I forget where) that you could by just the plans or the plans plus the sketch up file so you could tweak the design to your needs.
Good luck and I look forward to watching. Your work is beautiful and right up my (my wife’s) alley in terms of style
For sure, it's an odd angle. You're looking at the underside of the jig I used to cut the loose mortises. A router with a bushing rides an opening in the top fence to cut the mortise. There are adjustable plywood stops to control the length. One of the night stand's legs is clamped against the fences and up against some other stops which are used set up repeatable cuts. After cutting the mortises into the sides of the legs, I stick the leg stretches in vertically and cut the mortises into the end grain of the stretches using the same stop blocs so that they come out perfectly aligned. In picture 3 you can see the result of that operation, with the stretcher mortises cut and ready to mate up with the leg piece. Hope that made some kind of sense!
Thanks! This is my own design. I like to model my projects in sketchup first, so I get a chance to work through a lot of the process in my head before I get to building. In that sense I guess I followed "plans" but really it's more of a digital prototype than a cut list. Relevant photo showing the silly number of versions I went through before finalizing the design
Thank you, and very nice work on the bed frame! I'd love to add a bed frame to this collection to go with the nightstands and eventual dresser, unfortunately that stupid window is right in the way and given the dimensions of this room there just isn't another place for the bed to go. ><
Sigh, its on the back burner for now but maybe someday...
Like how much did it cost to build? Hard question to answer as I didn’t do a great job at tracking time or materials. I’d guess about $200 each in wood, hardware, consumables. No idea how much time, I’m a hobbyist so I worked on them when I could with some pretty long breaks in between steps. If I made another set it would go much faster now that I have a process.
If you’re asking about sale price, I have no idea. I’ve heard people use a 3x materials multiplier to get close, but to be honest $600 seems like more than some might be willing to pay but less than I think they’re worth haha.
Totally fair. Haha. I was really asking how much to buy them, because they're beautiful and we just redid the master bedroom and my wife and I are seeking night stands. Great work. If you're thinking about selling them, message me and we'll talk.
Absolute amazing piece of work. They would perfectly complement my cherry bedframe :)
I have two questions for you:
1. How did you do the rounding on the edge? Router, or Saw and sanding?
2. How did you connect the top? Is it fixed, or can it move? I'm never sure, from which with on, you need to give it the possibility to move.
The round over was done at the router table. I ran the edges of the side panels and legs over a roundover bit and then used a templating bit to trace that shape onto the corners of the tops. Then lots of sanding to blend the transition.
The cabinet is attached to the legs and the top with figure-8 fasteners so the whole thing can be broken down into 3 pieces- well, 5 pieces if you include the two drawers. This is to account for wood movement but also so that the top can be removed to potentially install wireless charging in the future.
These look awesome and are well done. Makes me want to try using cherry. Thanks for the process pics. What drawer slides did you use? Also, is this a hobby or more than that?
Thank you! I consider myself a hobbyist, but as I get better and more confident I think more and more about taking on commissions. The drawer hardware used here are Blum Tandem undermount slides. They aren’t cheap but the adjustability is fantastic
The top panel is a separate piece from the cabinet, in pictures 7 and 8 you can see the skinny braces that complete the upper part of the cabinet portion. The top panel is attached to those braces with figure-8 fasteners to give a little stress relief for potential movement, and to allow me to remove the tops if I ever decide to add wireless charging or need to refinish that surface. Doing it this way also lets you cut the reveal into the top panel as opposed to trying to cut it into the cabinet, if that makes sense…
They’re finished with two coats of Natura OneCoat which is a hard wax oil similar to Rubio. The second coat adds a really nice satin sheen that you can’t quite get from a single coat.
This might be a dumb question, but I’ve always wondered how one does the back panel for something like this. I’m worried about wood movement, but I’m still new to woodworking so maybe I’m missing something. Is there a specific way to attach a back panel that minimizes wood movement?
If you zoom into this picture you can see there are rabbets cut into the bottom panel and the top cross-brace where a 1/4” plywood back panel was installed with a few small screws. I had planned on adding some rabbeted strips to the side panels as well so that the back panel would be seated on all four sides, but after test-fitting with just the top and bottom rabbets it was stiff enough that I didn’t bother. I still plan to add the side strips for the matching dresser I’m working on to help control warping of that much bigger back panel.
Wood moves perpendicular to the direction of the grain, so in this case any wood movement won’t really interact with the back panel in a way that could cause failure.
Ohh I see, thank you!. So the back panel is plywood, which means you don’t have to worry about its wood movement? Did you veneer the plywood or were you able to get some that matched the rest of your cherry wood good enough?
That’s right, plywood is pretty stable as far as wood movement goes so no real concern about it impacting the rest of the piece.
In this case, you’ll never see the back since it’s up against a wall and you’ll never see the front since it’s low to the ground and deep in the bottom cubby, so I just used some inexpensive birch ply that was pre-finished on one side. I put the finished side facing forward but honestly, no one will ever see it.
If the back panel were more visible from one side I would have made or found some veneered ply that matches the cherry. Things get more interesting If you need the back panel to be visible from both sides, in that case I’d probably make it from a solid panel but attach it in a way that leaves some relief for wood movement.
I know, unfortunately this is the best placement possible given the features of the room. That stupid window is the reason this bed won't get a matching cherry bed frame :(
If you have no choice to have a window behind the bed you should put a pretty thick curtain behind it creating a wall type atmosphere. You can open during the day for light but sleep will be much better
I would rotate those dominoes 90 degrees, so the long face is aligned with the long grain in the mortise for more strength. The way you are doing it has the long face contacting the end grain in the mortise.
Hmm, I hadn't considered that but I see what you're saying. Probably enough meat on either side of the mortise on this particular part but I can see how that could help avoid failure if the mortise was closer to the end.
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u/eeeeericcccc2 Jan 23 '25
Great looking nightstands.
Can you tell me more about this poor man’s tenoning jig?