I hope I have you interested. This is going to be a simple coastal style nightstand. We will use a few basic tools. The Tools we will be using will be a miter saw, Kreg Jig Jr. and a speed square or a framing square. I plan on using dimensioned lumber from Lowes/Home Depot.
If you are not familiar with what dimensioned lumber is it is lumber that is precut to a certain size for example 1x3, 2x4, etc. and is what in the woodworking world is called S4S or S2S. This means surfaced on four sides or surfaced on two sides. Essentially what happens is each side is cut to be made square to its parallel or opposite side. We want to use this type of wood to cut down on the tools you will need to have to make this and any other projects. By making the sides square when you join the boards of the table top they will fit closer together and you will have fewer gaps. There are tools and techniques that you can use to virtually eliminate any gaps between the boards but that is a post for the future.
I am working on getting the materials list together for you soon. I will also before we get started on the actual building go into miter saws a little bit more in-depth. If you don’t have one or don’t want to purchase one there are other options to building this table. You could also use a circular saw or a jigsaw, however if you are planning on building several projects I highly recommend a miter saw. I will get my thoughts together on this and post this soon.
We are looking forward to this and wish everyone success.
Have a Great Day!
I could sure use the info on miter saws - looking forward to that post! And the table looks great. I could really use one or two of those on the porch (instead of acting as a traditional nightstand).
ReplyDeleteYeah the would also make great plant stands as well. :) Just would need to paint them with some latex paint to help protect them.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I am SO excited for this series!! I am very interested in the subject, but have never actually built anything (aside from shop class in Jr. High, which was not a pretty picture). I am loving that you seem to be doing this for someone in my situation who has absolutely no knowledge. Thank you! I can't wait to get started!
ReplyDeleteRoxanne: Glad to see that you are so excited. I can't wait to see what everyone makes. I am extremely excited to get this started.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing so much talk about the Kreg jig on here and on Young House Love I went and bought one today!! I used it to make a big picture frame out of molding and I'm in LOVE!!! Man I wish I had known about this thing when we were building the table and dresser!!! I want to build chairs to go with the table and I think this will make it so much easier to accomplish alone! Now I'm kinda wishing I had bought the professional set..... our anniversary is coming up this month.... Such a hard choice between that and a table saw, I also want a router and table. Thank goodness for the military discount at Orange and Blue!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome Heather. They are great. The Master Kit is great. One of these days I will move up to that as well.
ReplyDeleteIf you are starting to build your power tool arsenal I would go with a Table Saw next. It will give you much more flexibility with the things you will want to do. Ripping boards down to the size you want is great as you can buy wider boards and get multiple parts out of it. This is another tool that I will be going into in the WIWW Series.
I am glad you are excited about building your own furniture. It is such a great feeling.
Oh and a router and router table are great. You will find that you will want to have both, a unmounted router and one mounted to a table. They are really versatile as well. I am going to build a router table here in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I found you through Knock-Off Wood. This nightstand is very cute and I look forward to following your blog and seeing more great projects in the future!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great starter project Grover. I'm thinking the ladies will enjoy it and yes it would be just as great as a plant stand or the legs could be shortened and it could be an end table with a rustic look. Perhaps for a cabin or vacation home or a home decorated in Early American. It's all in the finish! Just wanted to mention for folks starting out that when I started I didn't have ANY big power tools. I used a hand saw to build several smaller items in the early going! Just takes more time and some Ben-Gay! Of course it didn't take me long to realize I loved this sport and tools were the name of the game! Betty
ReplyDeleteThanks Betty. I hope the ladies will enjoy it and will take the opportunity to build it along with my wife and I. There are all kinds of great things that can be done with this design and I really hope that some people will think outside of the box and create something of their own. You could put a drawer on it or enclose it all kinds of stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct you could build this with nothing but hand tools which would be fun as well.
--Grover