Floating Night Stand

Cleancutwoodworking Apr 03, 2020

There is always that moment when your better half comes up to you and says, with those beautiful puppy eyes, "baby, would you build a **** for me". Those words make me cringe! I don't cringe at the idea of another project I cringe at the idea of design. For some reason what she is picturing is NOTHING like I'm picturing. None the less I try my best to make what she is asking for. This particular time she was asking for a butcher block top floating night stand. I had to take a moment to let that sink in. After talking it over with her I understood what was going on in her head. At least I got an idea. So, like any other project, I went into the attic and started rubbishing through the lumber I had available. That's when I saw the scraps burn box! As I stared at it for a while trying to convince myself that this butcher block idea could be epic or I can just be lazy and go with a more traditional butcher block idea, I said why not!! It would be good to use up some of these scraps. The other thing that caught my eye was the 8/4 ash slabs that was up there waiting for the perfect project to be used on. The wood was chosen and the measurements were scribbled on 6 different note pads and I was off to the races!! Each picture tells a story throughout the process. I have been slowly and diligently trying to lean new methods and techniques. This project was a huge challenge for me as I didn't want to use any power tools other than rough cutting the timber. After the rough work was done I pulled out the hand planes, sharpening plates, and the scrapers. There is a very big learning curve when it comes to hand tools and I was really challenging myself as this was the first actual piece that I would incorporate what I had been practicing. There were quite a few times where I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and just flip the switch on a power tool so I could achieve the task I was trying but in the end I am more than happy with myself for the skills and the will to push through the adversity. Thanks for checking out this build and I hope it brings inspiration for others. The links are just a few videos that I took during the process.

The absolute mess that I was making wile milling the floating shelves flat: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B7uCXFtevrf7FZVxBXnnidDQ3KP0ePh2

Applying finish to the top: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1k8EvsAoHiF_tNIl--gJLkRHkoAq49lFY

Applying finish to the bottom: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x6rvEk5aiOYQpLRsiZTnLWL-Hy0bAFAt

The final finish on the bottom: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bxJlyYfDG3PnJrXKSwrsbCPh2nfyTWFB

The final finish on the top and sides: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wO7AXKDwvHy3n98f4ZxJbeAZf8yRCvU_

This was the main inspiration for the whole project. It's amazing how a box of random scraps and miscellaneous "junk" can really get your gears turning!

In that pile of scraps these were the biggest of the scraps. To determine the best thickness I had to go through this pile and see what would work out so i could get at least a 3/4" thick final thickness for the top.

After standing at the table saw and cutting one little piece at a time "carefully" measuring and cutting then getting them all to seamlessly fit together this is the first layout of what would become the top of the floating night stand. That's the point where I scratched my head and asked myself what was I really thinking. Now I have to glue all this together.

I think I was at my workbench for about an hour slowly adding glue to the sides and edges of each piece. The whole time I was thankful that I actually had enough clamps for this project!

With the amount of time it was taking me to glue them all together I decided to make 3 panels so I wouldn't have to rush the glueup. PHEW I was definitely lucky it wasn't a typical south Louisiana day. The cooler less humid air was on my side for this one!

Now it was time to get started processing the Ash!! Man that is definitely some fine Ash!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of me milling the ash down but for some reason this was the last rough picture I had taken. I must have gotten into the groove and just rolled with it. The process went from rough cuts on the chop saw to resawing on the band saw. That is where I pulled out the hand planes and the diamond stones to get the pieces to the right dimensions. Glued up my panels for the bottom and cut the pieces for the sides and drawer fronts.

Again, I must have gotten into the groove and not many pictures in between. I flattened the top and bottoms after glue up and then cut stop dado's for the outside and middle divider. Put some glue in the joints and clamped it all up.

This is where things really started to come together and I really got that evil giggle in the back of my head because I can see how awesome this piece was going to turn out.

After sanding and filling some really small gaps (which really surprised me how few seeing the nature of this glueup) I was getting that end of project itch. That is the point that you have to really sit back and realize that this is not the time for me to be getting in a rush. Sooo.... I grabbed a beer, or 6, and slept on the idea of pushing through and putting finish on that night.

I finished the floating night stand with one of my absolute favorite finishes Tried & True danish oil.