So following on from my first project dump, I decided to take on a couple slightly more complex furniture projects.
Bedside table
The tulipwood outer box was made with tongue and rabbet joints, and the inner box with similar joinery but from MDF which was then painted white.
I didn’t take pictures of the build unfortunately, but the joinery was done on the CNC and I used an off-the-shelf handle, set of legs, and drawer slides. The colour comes from ~3 layers of a water-based stain, then finished with Natura hard wax oil.
What went well: the colour, fit of boxes, squareness of the glue-ups.
What went badly: joinery for the boxes. More or less everything was mis-sized off the CNC, so needed lots of hand tool work to clean up and get working together.
Living room bench
Following the painful joinery experience of the bedside table and to reduce my reliance on the CNC, I learned how to use the table saw and hand router. To practice with these new tools, my partner asked me to make a bench for our living room. White Ash was chosen for its colour and relative affordability (e.g., compared to Oak).
I started by modelling the whole thing in Fusion 360. This really helped me dial in a design that I liked, and I was able to even 3D print a scale model to get a better feel for proportions (the legs in the model felt too weedy/boring so was worth the effort).
I glued up two boards to make the top. Aligned with dominoes which meant everything came out nice and straight. I rounded the corners roughly with the bandsaw, then precisely with the router + template, and added a soft radius to the top and a large chamfer to the underside.
I then moved onto the legs. I rough cut the 4 legs, and glued them together with two “joiny bits” (technical term) which splayed the legs out at a 10 degree angle. I used the CNC to cut the profile of the nice curves I’d made in Fusion, and then finished the cut with the router (my CNC bit couldn’t cut the full depth). I also CNCed in a pocket for a support bar to connect the two legs.
After this I hit almost all the edge of the legs with a soft roundover with a router, but for the inner curve of the outer facing parts of the legs I used a big chamfer to match the bench top underside. I glued the legs together with a support beam, but in the end decided to reinforce the legs → beam joint with an embedded screw covered by a wooden plug as it didn’t feel as strong as I’d liked (after taking the below picture).
Finally, since I had modelled everything in CAD, I could easily cut a 5mm pocket into the base of the bench top to match the shape of the legs + support beam with the CNC. I left the pocket loose 1mm lengthways and 3mm widthways to account for potential wood movement, and attached the legs to the top using countersunk bolts and threaded inserts.
For a finish I used two layers of Natura hardwax oil all over. Here’s the glamour shots (finish has cured a bit more since so it’s less shiny)!
What went well: it looks really nicely proportioned overall - almost certainly since I tinkered with the CAD model loads before committing to the build, or even to materials. I also tried to slow down and take a bit more care with almost every step than I have before, which definitely was worth it in the end (and actually more enjoyable than I’d expected).
What went badly: It’s more than strong enough for normal use, but if you were sadistic it would be quite easy to snap the legs if the bench was upside down and you kicked hard enough at an angle. Maybe unrealistic, but was hoping for it to feel a bit more bulletproof. Also made a few silly mistakes with a drill causing some horrible tearout - both for threaded inserts (thankfully hidden) and the inset screws holding the legs to the support beam (less hidden).
As always, a massive thank you to all the @woodtechs and @CNCtechs for all the work you put into maintaining the space and equipment, and to @mbg and other more experienced brains around the shop for all your tips and tricks along the way.