Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)
I wanted to grow my woodworking skills so I picked a project for which I can learn to cut dovetails.I had some leftover wood from previous projects so I designed an end table that would use those. I looked up some Stickley designs, checked out Pinterest, and laid out some thoughts on SketchUp. Most of the techniques were familiar: mortice and tenon, curved legs, and resawing slats. Making a drawer, though, was a first. I watched Rob Cosman's 350 videos on fitting a drawer, Tom McLaughlin's series on his shaker side table, and a bunch of dovetail videos. I'm happy with my drawer except that it's a little tight in its hole. Over time, we'll also see whether I've accommodated wood movement well enough.I had to use a different finishing regime on this project that on previous ones. My old one was fine but, unfortunately, General Finishes discontinued the Early American stain on which it was based. I settled on a variant of Steve Erwin's approach. It gives me a really good color and it pops the grain and the figure in the wood but I'm unhappy with the level of blotchiness I get. I imagine it has something to do with my technique and I'll be practicing to try to improve that.Ultimately, though, I think I'm happy with my end table.