Nightstands (Side Tables)
After deciding to build a couple nightstands for the bedroom, I looked at a few examples for the general idea, and then started to draw up a design. After sawing out and planing the legs to the dimension I had chosen, I felt like they were too clunky. So I looked through my books and magazines, and found a similar square side table in the August 2004 issue of Woodworking Magazine, which in turn was based on a Thomas Moser table in his popular book How to Build Shaker Furniture, first published in 1977. Although the table was a little wider than what I have planned, the legs were more slender and graceful. So I suppose I backed my way into building a Moser Shaker (Moker? Shaser?) table; but really I worked out a design based on Shaker pieces I had seen, and arrived at similar conclusions. I had just over-engineered the legs.
The primary wood is red alder (Alnus rubra). The drawer fronts are quartersawn madrona (Arbutus menziesii), sides maple, and bottoms western redcedar (Thuja plicata). The finish is several coats of platina and amber shellac.
