Preparing Quartersawn Stock

Round up some attractive 4/4 quartersawn white oak so you can make the four big panels for this project — the top, two side rails and the shelf. The top is large enough that if you don’t have a large planer or drum sander, you might need to glue it up in sections. While the panels are in clamps, mill the 1-3/4″-thick leg blanks from some 8/4 stock, making sure they come out flat and square. Go ahead and make blanks for the front, back and shelf rails as well as the backsplash from 3/4″ material.

I often mutter, “Joinery before curves” and “Mortises before tenons,” and we’ll take both of those mottoes to heart with this build. Lay out the 1/4″-wide mortises as shown in the Leg Mortise/Taper Detail Drawings, and machine or chop them with your best method. Cut 1/4″-wide x 3-1/2″-long mortises on the inside of the front legs to receive the curved front rail. Start these mortises 4-1/4″ from the tops of the legs, and inset them 3/8″ from the front faces. The back rail requires 1/4″ x 4-1/2″ mortises that start 1/2″ from the top of the legs. Position them 1/2″ in from the back faces of the back of the legs so the outward face of the back rail will be flush with the back faces of the legs. The mortises for the shelf rails need to be 2-1/2″ long, and they start 7-3/4″ up from the bottom of the legs. Locate these mortises 5/8″ away from the inside edge of the leg so they will be properly positioned once the legs are tapered.

I was tempted to make the centered 11″-long mortises for the side rails with a router and edge guide, but clamping the workpiece for that operation is sometimes problematic. So, I used a 1/4″ hollow chisel in my mortising machine instead. Take note that the mortises for the side rails are only 3/4″ deep, while all the other mortises are 1″ deep.

Once the mortises are chopped and cleaned out, it makes sense to work on the tenons next. When you look over the plans for this project, there are admittedly some cross-grain issues, and it would be difficult to build this form conventionally without violating some rules of wood movement. That’s why, as with the original, the grain of the side rails runs vertically and not horizontally. With a dado stack installed on the table saw, cut 3/4″-long tenons on the side panels to fit the long mortises.

Aim for an easy friction fit, because these long-grain tenons are somewhat vulnerable to breaking until the frame is glued together, if they are flexed. Then reset the rip fence for making 1″-long tenons on the front, back and shelf rails. The front rail has a simple centered “blind” tenon, however the back rail is a little different.

To position the outer face of the back rail flush with the outer faces of the back legs, an off set tenon is required. So, raise the blade incrementally to cut those tenons until they fit the 4-1/2″-long mortises you made in the back legs. When all the tenons are sawn, fine-tune their fit with a shoulder plane until they slide easily but not sloppily into their mortises.

More Preliminary Details

Now that the basic joinery for the server is complete, go ahead and mark out the curve on the front rail. Use a flexible strip of wood or a thin metal yardstick to lay out this line so it creates a smooth, flowing arch and leaves the front rail just 1-1/2″ wide at the apex of the curve.

Cut the arch at your band saw or with a handheld jigsaw, sawing just to the waste side of the layout line. Then fair and smooth the curve up to your layout line using a drum or spindle sander. Start with 80- or 100-grit, and work up from there.

This is also a good time to cut 1/4″-deep grooves along the inside faces of the side rails to receive the shelf. Center these 3/4″-wide grooves on the rail widths. I have found it easiest to cut the grooves first, then plane the shelf’s thickness down until it fits the grooves without gaps. Then, assemble all the parts you’ve made so far to confirm the actual size of the shelf. Measuring directly off the project will give you confidence to proceed with trimming the shelf to final size.

Next up, we need to taper the legs on two sides. There’s a long taper on the front face of the front legs and on the back face of the back legs.

The left or right outer faces of all four legs have two tapers instead of one: a short one on top and a long one below it, which matches the long tapers on the adjacent faces of the legs. The four long tapers remove 1/2” of material at the bottom of the legs, reducing them to 1-1/4″ x 1-1/4″ at the floor.

These primary tapers are 25″ long, stopping just short of the upper rail joinery. The subtle top outer tapers are 4″ long, and they remove just 1/8″ of material from the top left or right faces of the legs. This gives the server “hips” when viewed from the front.

While you could certainly band-saw the tapers, I like the precision of using a tapering jig at the table saw. Mark the taper cuts carefully and saw the first long one on each leg. Then rotate the leg blank away from the blade to make the second long taper cut. The single short side taper at the top of each leg can be completed in the same way.

Take a little time now to ease edges of the parts you’ve made. Pay particular attention to “safe edges” or areas you don’t want to round over. Notably, these are where the back legs intersect the back rail. Likewise, the back edge of the top panel stays crisp for the addition of the backsplash. None of the shelf edges should be eased, either. Finish-sand all the parts up to 150- or 180-grit.

Assembling the Sideboard Framework

Retrieve the backsplash workpiece you made earlier so you can round both of its top corners to a 1/4″ radius before attaching it permanently to the top panel. Finish-sand both of these workpieces up to 150- or 180-grit first.

Glue alone is sufficient for strength, but I always add a row of #20 biscuits for alignment when attaching a backsplash in this manner, so cut those mating biscuit slots if you decide to do the same. Glue and clamp the backsplash to the top panel with the biscuits installed, then start assembling the server’s frame. First, create a pair of side assemblies by gluing two pairs of legs together with their side and shelf rails. Be sure the top edges of the side rails are flush with the tops of the legs as you draw the clamps tight. Allow those joints to dry.

When the side assemblies come out of the clamps, bring the two together by gluing the front and back rail tenons into their mortises and the shelf in its rail grooves. Double-check the height between the top of the front rail and the tops of the front legs, which should be 4″. Tighten the clamps, and set the frame aside to dry overnight. Then drill 7/8″-deep holes through the long tenons, centered 3/8″ from the edge of the leg, so you can peg the joints with 3/8″-diameter dowels. The front and shelf rails receive two pegs per joint.

Building a Side-Hung, Center-Guided Drawer

You can construct the drawer box however you like, but I thought half-blind dovetails were a proper choice for a Stickley-style reproduction. You can see the dovetail layout I used with my router dovetail jig in the Dovetail Detail Drawing. The original server appears to have a “piston-fit” drawer, but I elected to use a different Stickley hallmark: a side-hung
and center-guided drawer. While there’s a little more work constructing a drawer with these features, it promises trouble-free operation for a long time. The center runner prevents racking and conveniently acts as a drawer stop, while the top edges of the side runners are the only points of contact when sliding the drawer in or out. (To see side-hung, center-guided drawers in action, look for a video on my YouTube channel, The Thoughtful Woodworker.)

Now rout a groove in the drawer sides to receive the side runners. This 3/4″-wide groove needs to stop about 1-1/4″ from the front of the drawer sides, and it’s best cut on the router table. Make sure to use a router bit capable of making plunge cuts, as one of the grooves should be made by tipping the drawer down over the bit with the drawer standing on its side and against the router table fence (often referred to as a “drop cut”). The groove in the other drawer side can be cut in the traditional fashion, starting the groove from the back edge of the drawer instead of at the stopped end of the cut. Set the length of these groove cuts with a stop block clamped to the router table fence. The reason for routing these two side runner grooves differently — a drop cut for one and a typical groove cut for the other — is to ensure that both grooves line up exactly with one another across the drawer so it will hang evenly in its opening and slide smoothly.

Loosely assemble the drawer to check the final sizing of the drawer bottom panel. Cut a plywood panel for it to size Finish-sand all the drawer parts, then prefinish the drawer front. Once the finish dries, glue the drawer together with the bottom and divider in place.

The secret to fitting this type of drawer is to mill the 1/2″-thick filler strips with the same router table setup as the side runner grooves you just made. So, make up a pair of filler strips from scrap stock and lower the router bit height to 1/16″. Rout a groove into one face of each filler strip along its full length. Mark the edge of each filler strip that was against the router table fence “top.” Then bore three pocket holes that face the “top” edge of the filler strips for attaching the top panel later. Fasten the filler strips to the inside faces of the side rails with screws. Set their marked “top” edges flush with the top edges of the rails. Then head to the table saw and trim 1/16″ of width from the drawer parts on both the top and bottom edges to set the drawer reveal. Hand-plane the divider’s top edge flush with the other edges.

At this point we’ve laid the groundwork for a really nice drawer, and there are just a few remaining parts to build. Make up a pair of drawer runners from maple or other dimensionally stable hardwood. Size them to slide easily in the drawer grooves, and notch their back ends so they’ll fit around the back legs. Mount them in the filler strip grooves with countersunk screws.

The back of the drawer also needs a 1/4″ x 2-1/2″ centered notch to make room for the track that’s mounted underneath it. Saw that notch now. Then make the drawer track component from 1/2″ stock, and cut a tongue on one end to fit the mortise you made earlier beneath the bottom panel groove in the drawer front. The track also needs a 1/4″-deep x 2-1/2″-wide groove plowed into its bottom face and centered on its width to receive the center slide. Install the track on the drawer by fitting its tongue into the drawer front mortise and securing the back end in the notch in the drawer back with a couple of small screws.

You’re ready to install cleats in the server to support the center slide. Make up the 1″-wide cleats from scrap stock. Cut centered notches, about 1/16″ deep, into the top edges of both cleats to register the slide before fastening the cleats to the inside faces of the front and back rails with screws. Locate them so the top edge of the front cleat is flush with the top edge of the front rail. Position the back cleat’s top edge 4″ down from the top edge of the back rail.

Make up the center slide from a piece of dimensionally stable hardwood. Cut a notch into its front and back bottom edges, leaving a 3/8″-thick tongue to fit into the slide cleat notches. Set the slide into place in the server and test the drawer action. If it opens and closes smoothly, fasten the slide’s tongues to the cleats with countersunk screws.

Applying a Multi-step Finish

I use a multi-step stain-over-dye technique, which enhances the figure of quartersawn white oak and lends a vintage appearance to the piece. I start with TransTint Dark Mission Brown Dye. To avoid raising the grain, I mix 1-1/2 ounces of concentrated dye into a quart of a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinner. Apply the dye with a terrycloth-wrapped sponge. Adding five to 10 percent lacquer retarder will slow the drying time and help avoid lap marks. I then seal the dye with a light coat of sprayed shellac (don’t wipe or brush on the shellac, as it will resuspend the alcohol-based dye) before applying General Finishes Antique Walnut Gel Stain. I complete the finish by spraying on two coats of satin lacquer.

Attach the top panel to the server’s frame by driving 1-1/4″ pocket screws up into the filler strip pocket holes. You will notice that I added dowel pins to the tops of the front legs. They are optional but do help to register the top evenly. Complete this lovely little server by installing a reproduction Stickley drawer pull, centered on the drawer front.

Click Here for the Drawings and Materials List.

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Mine is constructed from solid walnut lumber. If you’re fortunate enough to have 8/4 stock available, you can simply cut the legs from a plank of walnut. My best-looking stock was only 7/8″ thick, so I laminated leg blanks from two strips of wood.

Rip eight strips of walnut 1-3/4″ wide, and glue them together in pairs to make four legs. Once the glue cures, flatten and plane them to a finished size of 1-5/8″ square by about 19-1/2″ long (the legs will be trimmed to final length later).

Leave their ends square for now, as the notch at the top of each leg needs to be cut before the legs are angled. Use a tenoning jig and dado blade to form those 3/4″-wide x 2″-deep notches at the table saw. I installed a 5/8″-wide dado stack and cut each notch in two passes, flipping the legs to opposite faces for the second cut. This centers the notches perfectly.

Once the notches are completed, go ahead and miter-cut the top and bottom ends of the legs at a 5-degree angle. This operation can be tackled at either the table saw or on a miter saw. I chose to use a standard blade and my miter gauge equipped with a long auxiliary fence at the table saw.

First, miter-cut the top of the leg, then slide the leg down the miter gauge fence, making sure to keep the leg in the same orientation. Set a stop block on the auxiliary fence, and trim the leg to a final length of 18-7/8″ (measured “long-to-short”).

Creating the Side Assemblies

Next, glue up a pair of side panels from 3/4″ stock. Trim these panels to overall size. Their pleasant tapered shape is 5 degrees along each edge, so set a bevel gauge and draw layout lines to mark these taper cuts.

I used a shop-made tapering sled at the table saw to cut the angles uniformly. If your shop isn’t equipped with one, a circular saw with edge guide could also work fine. When you trim off these edges, be sure to save the offcuts for use as the table’s corbels.

There are a number of ways you can attach the legs to each side panel. Loose tenons or biscuits typically work well for this sort of application, as do splines and grooves. Dowel joinery would be problematic because it wouldn’t allow any adjustment to align the parts. I decided to go with loose splines fitted into grooves in the legs and panel edges.

To mill the stopped grooves, install a 1/4″-wide dado blade in your table saw. Start by setting the blade height to 1/4″, and position the rip fence for a centered cut on the panels. Clamp a stop block to your table saw’s rip fence to limit the length of cut to 15″, so the groove stops about an inch from the bottom of the panel.

Complete all four grooves this way, before adjusting the rip fence for a centered cut on the legs. Each leg receives one groove, also approximately 15″ long. Make some spline stock to fit these grooves, and test fit the legs with the side panels. Don’t glue the side assemblies together just yet, as we have a couple more steps to complete first.

A template is useful to make matching ginkgo leaf cutouts that dress up the side panels. I made a full-size template for them from 1/4″ plywood. Lay out the ginkgo leaf shape on the template using a set of French curves and following the gridded Drawing. Cut out the template’s shape with a jigsaw or scroll saw, and refine it with files.

Once the template is complete, clamp it to a side panel, and rough out the shape with a router. I used two different router setups to cut out the leaf shapes. My first was a 1/4″ spiral bit paired with a 7/16″ O.D. guide bushing.

Make several clockwise passes to remove the material, increasing the depth of cut with each pass. This will invariably leave some lines and ridges, so there’s one more step to clean up the cut: I switched to my 3/8″ O.D. guide bushing and made one final clockwise pass around the template cutout. This left a nice clean surface that only required some light hand sanding.

Through mortises in the side panels for the lower shelf come next, and that’s another job for the router. Carefully lay out the mortise locations on both faces of the side panels. Outfit your router with an edge guide and a 1/2″-dia. spiral bit, and cut just short of your layout lines. I plowed the 3″-long x 1/2″-wide mortises into the outside face first.

Then maintaining the same edge guide settings, I flipped the side panel over and extended the mortises to an overall length of 7-1/2″ (I trimmed the material between the mortises to a depth of 1/4″ on the inside face as well to preserve the strength of the panel). Finish the job by squaring up the four mortise ends.

At this point, all the joinery for the side assemblies is complete. Go ahead and sand all the parts you’ve made, and glue a pair of legs to each side panel with the splines installed. Use your panel offcuts as clamping cauls when you bring each side assembly together.

Once the glue sets up, trim the panel offcuts to a length of 12″, and install them as corbels — one on each leg. I used a pair of #20 biscuits to center and attach these corbels on the leg. Align the corbels flush with the top of the legs, and glue them in place.

Making the Shelf

Glue up a panel for the shelf, if you’re working with narrow stock, then cut it to 9-1/2″ wide and 15-3/4″ long. Now switch to a wide dado stack, and install an auxiliary fence on your miter gauge so you can raise a 1″-long tenon on each shelf end.

Make multiple passes until the tenons ease into the mortises from the outside face. Once the tenon thickness is established, turn the shelf on edge and raise the dado blade to a height of 1″ to form its outer shoulders. Finally, turn the shelf up on end, lower the blade to 3/4″ and make side-by-side cuts to separate each long tenon into two with a 1/4″-tall shoulder in between.

I added a V-notch detail in the long edges of the shelf to echo the ginkgo leaf motif. You could make a template for pattern routing these notches, or simply make the cuts at the band saw and sand them smooth. Use a file to refine the point of the “V” here the bit can’t reach, if you rout these notches.

You’re rounding third now and on the home stretch with this intricate little table! For the final glue-up, bring the two side assemblies together with the shelf. Small blocks may be helpful to direct clamping pressure between the protruding tenons. Ease the edges of the clamping blocks to avoid denting or damaging the side panels.

Next up, make the two stretcher rails that will nestle into bridal joints atop the legs. These 3/4″-thick rails are 2-1/8” wide x 24″ long.

The only wrinkle here is that the top edges of the rails need to be angled to sit flush with the legs.

So tilt your table saw blade to 5 degrees and rip the stretchers to width as needed until the parts fit. Then crank the blade back to 0 degrees and cut the cross rail to size.

Forming Half Laps and Adding the Top

Go ahead and install a 3/4″-wide dado stack so you can form the table’s half-lap joints. Set the blade height to about an inch, and cut a centered notch on the top edge of each stretcher rail. Now two complimentary notches need to be formed in the bottom edge of the cross rail. For this part of the half-lap joint, tilt the arbor on your table saw to 5 degrees, and make the two opposite-facing notches. To locate these notches correctly, install the stretcher rails on the table legs and measure directly from these parts. Use a bevel gauge to mark the exact location of the angled notches.

While the cross rail is still a loose component, drill it for the figure 8 tabletop fasteners. You’ll also need one centered and two elongated pilot holes for screws at each end. Then you can create tapered ends on all three rails. Mark a line that leaves their ends about 7/8″ tall. Cut these angles at the band saw, and plane them smooth.

If the half laps fit together correctly, you’re ready to permanently attach them with screws and glue. Countersink and pre-drill the stretcher rails for #8 x 2-1/2″ screws, driven into the legs from the top. The cross rail can be attached in a similar fashion to the stretcher rails with a pair of #8 x 1-1/2″ screws.

All that’s left to make is the tabletop. It starts out as a 22-5/16″-wide x 26″-long panel. Lay out a curved treatment along its edges with a bowstring, so the ends of the tabletop are reduced by the curves to 18-1/4″ wide. Band saw these barrel-shaped curves and sand the top smooth. Round over any sharp edges, and give the table a final inspection with a shop light to check for any imperfections.

As far as finishing goes, I often use a medium color “fruitwood” oil-based stain on walnut projects. While some may argue that walnut doesn’t need stain, I find that it darkens the wood in a pleasant way and tends to unify the parts. If you choose a liquid stain as opposed to a gel stain, the natural grain of the walnut won’t be obscured. After the stain on my table dried overnight, I sprayed on a top coat of pre-catalyzed lacquer in a satin sheen. Attach the top with figure 8 fasteners to allow for seasonal movement, and this Asian-inspired side table is ready to display your favorite vase.

Click Here to Download the Drawings and Materials List.

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On a recent file cabinet project, I wanted to have two locking drawers. I selected cam locks to do the job, and even found them in an antique brass finish. Since I was installing the locks on drawers with false fronts, I needed the cam barrel to be long enough to reach through the entire drawer front … 1-1/4″ thick in my case. I purchased 1-3/4″ cylinder locks and set out to install them on my finished drawer boxes.

The first step is to mark the location of the hole in the false drawer front. To determine where the hole should be located, assemble the cam lock and choose which cam arm to use. The kit comes with a short, bent-arm cam and a long, straight cam. Based on the dimensions of my cabinet frame, I selected the long, straight cam.

With the center of the hole location marked on a piece of painter’s tape, head to the drill press. Use a 3/4″ Forstner bit to drill a hole through the false drawer front. Make sure to back up the cut to prevent chipout on the back side.

Next, mount the false drawer front onto the drawer box as you normally would. Set the false drawer front for an even reveal, and screw it to the drawer. Now chuck the 3/4″ Forstner bit into a handheld drill and finish drilling through the drawer box. Clamp a scrap of wood to the inside of the drawer to back up the cut.

Install the cam lock into the drawer, and use the optional trim ring if desired. A two-pronged washer pierces the inside of the drawer to prevent the lock from turning. That is followed by the nut to hold everything firmly in place. Then select either the 90° stop or 180° stop. I use the 90° stop for a shorter locking action. That is followed by the cam and cam retaining screw.

Great; now the cam lock is installed on your drawer and you’re just about finished. There’s just one problem … there’s nothing for the cam to engage in the cabinet. The usual solution is to mount a small metal tab inside the cabinet frame.

The problem with this method is the tab hangs down and can snare the file contents as you open the drawer. To get around this limitation, I used a biscuit joiner to cut a slot in the cabinet frame. Mark the location where the cam meets the cabinet when the drawer is fully closed. For the 1-3/4″ long cam lock, the slot was centered 1-3/4″ back from the front of the drawer. Then set your biscuit joiner for maximum depth of cut. Mine is marked “0,” “10,” “20” and “M.” I selected the M setting for maximum depth of cut. Adjust the fence on the tool until the blade aligns with your mark and plunge a single slot for each drawer. Reinstall the drawer and test the lock operation. If the cam tab hangs up on the edge of the slot, make a small fence adjustment on your biscuit joiner and widen the slot.

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