Mission Nightstand

[Kurt Triebe]

This will be my first build journal, and probably my most "involved" piece of furniture yet. The other projects I did over the past year were pretty simple- sit/stand desk and a live edge coffee table. Neither of those required much brainpower, minimal joinery, etc.

Anyway- my youngest daughter needs a nightstand. Her room is kind of a mish-mash of hand-me-down furniture (second second child syndrome, LOL- her older sister got all nice brand new stuff) and I figured it was time to make her something nice of her own. A lot of the other furniture in her room is oak, so I figured I'd stick to that and do something Mission or Arts & Crafts. I googled a bit and found something that the wife and I both liked a lot, made by Dryad Studios. It'll be the inspiration.

I have a crapload of walnut in the basement, but no oak- so this was a good opportunity to check out a wood supplier near me that I'd never been to before. I grabbed two 4/4 boards, 5 & 5.5" wide, and one giant 8/4 board that's 7-8" wide. Quartersawn. Cost a freaking fortune- I think I paid more for this stuff than I've ever paid for walnut. Oh well. From what I vaguely estimated based on the Dryad image, nearly everything in my piece will be one of 3 thicknesses- 1.5" (legs), 3/4" (all other major components), and 3/8" (panels on the back and sides, and on the door). The top will come out of one of the 4/4 boards, the leg stock will come out of the 8/4. The rest of the 8/4 will get resawn for various pieces.

I got a quick start today on the top. Took the 5.5" 4/4 board, chopped it into 4 pieces about 24.5" long, face jointed each one to flatten them, planed it all down to 3/4" thick, jointed the edges, did some Dowelmax work to make the glue-up close to perfect, glued it up, then trimmed each edge on my big ol' crosscut sled and got it down to its final dimensions (24" W x 20" D). A few minutes of sanding per side with my ROS and the top is basically done. Just have to break the edges- I'll probably just do a tiny 1/16" roundover- and then it'll get set aside until assembly. Was really happy with how easy all of this was- I probably only spend an hour and a half and I've already got a major part done. Having a real jointer makes this sort of thing sooooooo easy.

Hoping to have another good shop session on this project over the weekend. I've got everything mentally mapped out pretty well, so I'm hoping that I can move through this project pretty quickly.

[..Kev]

Looking forward to watching the build!  Great start!

[pkinneb]

I like it!

[Chet]

This should be enjoyable to watch.  Now that you have that top done make sure you keep it stickered or it could still cup on you.  Here is a good resource to do the type of finish that your photo shows. Stickley Mission Finish Guide pdf  I have used this technique on a couple of pieces.  Any questions just send me a PM.

[Kurt Triebe]

Just now, Chet said:

This should be enjoyable to watch.  Now that you have that top done make sure you keep it stickered or it could still cup on you.  Here is a good resource to do the type of finish that your photo shows. Stickley Mission Finish Guide pdf  I have used this technique on a couple of pieces.  Any questions just send me a PM.

For sure- it'll be stored somewhere where that it can get nice even airflow. Thanks for the finishing tips- lots of good info in there. The rest of the furniture in her room approaches the "unstained" look (sample 6, I guess) so I'm probably going to just keep it pretty simple, rather than go full-bore traditional Mission, but, we'll see. I generally prefer darker finishes/woods- this will probably be the one room in the house that's a complete departure from what I'm building everywhere else. My wife would never let me build the kiddo a new bed, dresser, and bookshelf just because I don't love the current finish on her furniture, hah!

11 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

I like it!

Thanks!

[Kurt Triebe]

24 minutes ago, ..Kev said:

Looking forward to watching the build!  Great start!

Thanks! I'm probably going to deviate from the Dryad piece a smidge- I'm letting my wife pick the shape of the door panel cutouts, rather than whatever that shape currently is- tulip or something? It may end up being kinda cheesy and just something that my daughter loves, versus a very traditional Mission kind of thing, we'll see. I may even have my wife do the scroll saw work... hah... she said she wants to learn how to use the scroll saw, this would be a perfect first project. If she screws it up, I'll just cut her a new panel, no big deal.

[Chestnut]

Looking forward to following along with this build. I'll throw out fuming. Pkinneb recently did a fumed coffee table and i thought it looked great. If you want to color to stay lighter just don't fume as long. Check his build for some details.

[bushwacked]

Looking good! I want to build me a set of these as well. Following to learn


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[Kurt Triebe]

Finally got back to this; been a busy few weeks.

Milled up a bunch of pieces including some of the sides and the legs. Drew out some marks for joinery on the legs. Used my Jet mortiser and a half inch chisel to do the start and finish of the mortises; “connected the dots” using the router table and a 1/2” upcut spiral bit. This actually worked really well. These will eventually have drawbored dowels.

I’ve never done mortise & tenon, or drawbored dowels before, so this may be a bit ambitious for a first attempt, this whole “mortises from each side” thing, with drawbored dowels in each side as well- it may be a bit “busy”- but whatever. Go big or go home, I guess.

Should be able to finish the lower mortises in the next day or two, then will work on the connecting pieces and their tenons. That will allow me to do a dry fit on the main structure of the piece, to see if any of this is actually going to work. Then it’ll be shaping some of the arched connecting pieces, and milling some more QWSO to turn into the side panels that’ll be frame & panel construction on the left, right, and back sides. I’ll do the door last.


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[Kurt Triebe]

Oh, and I wiped the top down with mineral spirits a week or so ago, after doing some sanding. Looks pretty nice


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[Chestnut]

I like the combination of the HCM and router mortise, but i have to ask if your going to drawbore why not do the whole mortise with the HCM?

[Kurt Triebe]

52 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I like the combination of the HCM and router mortise, but i have to ask if your going to drawbore why not do the whole mortise with the HCM?

So my logic (and it could be faulty- I'm a total noob) behind how I made the moritises was basically:

1. I suck at using chisels by hand, and wouldn't trust myself to square off the ends of a router mortise effectively/cleanly.
2. I feel comfortable making tenons a few different ways, but wouldn't feel comfortable rounding the edges of the tenon effectively/cleanly in order to make a square tenon capable of fitting into a round ended mortise from a router.
3. The hollow chisel mortiser is fairly easy to use, but these are long mortises, like 3" and 4", and that would be a lot of plunges- each leg has two mortises, it'd be like 60+ plunges?

To me, it felt easier/faster to just set the router table up once, and then just quickly zip between the two square holes in order to finish the middles of the mortises, rather than do plunge after plunge after plunge with the HCM.

So- major noob question here- I guess I don't understand why the decision to do the mortises one way versus another would be impacted by the fact that I'm going to do drawbored dowels afterward? Was the way I did this overly complicated, and a drawbore dowel will eliminate the need for the complication? I have upcut spiral bits that match the size of each of my hollow chisels; my plan was do to any 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" mortises this way in the future, because it actually seemed pretty easy and effective to me. But if this is a dumb method for some reason- I'd like to learn why now, rather than screw these up repeatedly! Hah.

 

[Chestnut]

@Kurt Triebe I've never used a(an?) HCM so i wouldn't really know how much of a pain it is to hog out long mortises. I do know that doing long mortises with a router is fast and easy. I was just thinking that setting up 2 machines might cause some error but if you can nail the settings your combination is probably the best.

1. Squaring mortises sucks, as long as it's with in the shoulder it doesn't need to be accurate unless it's a through mortise though. No one is going to see that the corners of your mortises aren't perfect. The 1/4" of tenon glue surface lost isn't going to be the breaking point of the furniture.

2. I just cut my tenons in what ever the radius of the router bit is, in your case 1/4" so basically you have a square tenon that fits fully in the mortise and leaves the round bits with no tenon in them. Depending on the mortise that portion of the leg is end grain and isn't adding any strength to a glued M&T joint. If it's JUST pinned this is a different story. This is the method i used on the Morris chairs i just built and i have zero concerns about strength on the joints.

The shaded areas above just being empty. If people fret over this the domino uses this technique on medium and wide setting and makes perfectly strong joints.

3. The router probably gives a smoother sidewall to the mortise giving you a better glue bond where it matters? Seems like all HCM mortises i see are very rough on the sides potentially causing some uneven fitting tenons?

[Kurt Triebe]

16 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

@Kurt Triebe I've never used a(an?) HCM so i wouldn't really know how much of a pain it is to hog out long mortises. I do know that doing long mortises with a router is fast and easy. I was just thinking that setting up 2 machines might cause some error but if you can nail the settings your combination is probably the best.

1. Squaring mortises sucks, as long as it's with in the shoulder it doesn't need to be accurate unless it's a through mortise though. No one is going to see that the corners of your mortises aren't perfect. The 1/4" of tenon glue surface lost isn't going to be the breaking point of the furniture.

2. I just cut my tenons in what ever the radius of the router bit is, in your case 1/4" so basically you have a square tenon that fits fully in the mortise and leaves the round bits with no tenon in them. Depending on the mortise that portion of the leg is end grain and isn't adding any strength to a glued M&T joint. If it's JUST pinned this is a different story. This is the method i used on the Morris chairs i just built and i have zero concerns about strength on the joints.

The shaded areas above just being empty. If people fret over this the domino uses this technique on medium and wide setting and makes perfectly strong joints.

3. The router probably gives a smoother sidewall to the mortise giving you a better glue bond where it matters? Seems like all HCM mortises i see are very rough on the sides potentially causing some uneven fitting tenons?

Part of my initial desire to do it this way may have been simply wanting to use the new router table, heh. I've got the Woodpeckers rig, just set it up a week ago, and the Micro-Adjust functionality made it very easy to get the exact positioning of the fence right to match what I'd done on the HCM. But, looking back- this was definitely an easy method, and I suspect that it'll be a process I use again.

The router does give a smoother sidewall, yeah. I'm sure most of the strength of the joint will come from the a tight fit between the parts of the walls that the router did, and the tenon, which hopefully I'll be able to get perfectly smooth as well. The HCM is pretty good- but not as clean as the router. I'll try and take some closer pics of the inside of the mortises later to show the cut quality on both sections.

Interesting approach with the slightly smaller squared tenons in the router made mortise. You're right, I may be fretting over something here that probably doesn't make a lick of difference. And, ultimately, this is just going to be a nightstand- even if I do a bad job on construction, it's going to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay stronger than is actually necessary for a nightstand. This thing may hold a lamp, a few books, and some stuffed animals. Not exactly high stress!

[wdwerker]

A slightly different approach to routing a mortice is to use a bit that is slightly smaller than the width and then you can run both or all 4 sides against the jig . Ends up a little more accurate.

[Chet]

2 hours ago, Kurt Triebe said:

1. I suck at using chisels by hand, and wouldn't trust myself to square off the ends of a router mortise effectively/cleanly.

You have to try or you will always suck at any skill.  Like Drew said, unless you are doing a through mortise how it comes out will never be seem.  It is actually pretty easy, you start by referencing your chisel of the side wall of your routed mortise.  Check on Marc's free site he has some videos on the technique.

2 hours ago, Kurt Triebe said:

but wouldn't feel comfortable rounding the edges of the tenon effectively/cleanly in order to make a square tenon capable of fitting into a round ended mortise from a router.

Again you have to try or you won't develop the skill.  If you don't want to work on your project to develop skills, in the future go to your lumber yard and gets some poplar to practice on.  Again your first try at rounding a tenon won't be seen in the finished project, it just need to fit in the mortise.

[wdwerker]

Rounding a tenon can be as simple as a cut across the bottom with a razor knife and a little patience with a rasp. Even a cheap home center rasp will work. Or a sharp, or reasonably sharp chisel peeling shavings will do too. Doesn't have to fit the mortice exactly , any excess space provides a pocket for excess glue which would otherwise squeeze out.

Your top looks good. I will follow along with your project.  Have fun!

[Kurt Triebe]

23 minutes ago, Chet said:

You have to try or you will always suck at any skill.  Like Drew said, unless you are doing a through mortise how it comes out will never be seem.  It is actually pretty easy, you start by referencing your chisel of the side wall of your routed mortise.  Check on Marc's free site he has some videos on the technique.

Again you have to try or you won't develop the skill.  If you don't want to work on your project to develop skills, in the future go to your lumber yard and gets some poplar to practice on.  Again your first try at rounding a tenon won't be seen in the finished project, it just need to fit in the mortise.

Yeah, at some point I'm sure I'll have the time to practice some of these techniques. Getting more comfortable and proficient with hand tools is on my list of things to accomplish- I've just got a handful of projects I'm trying to knock out ASAP, and I knew that I could accomplish this another way right now- figured I'd just get it done and keep moving things forward.

 

[Kurt Triebe]

41 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

A slightly different approach to routing a mortice is to use a bit that is slightly smaller than the width and then you can run both or all 4 sides against the jig . Ends up a little more accurate.

That's a good approach too, hadn't thought of that. I may do that on the next set of mortises, for the lower portion of the legs.

[wdwerker]

Just make sure you do practice cuts with the smaller bit. Depending on how you are guiding your router & bit you might need to allow for the different diameter. A different bushing/ bit combination  might require a different sized opening to yield the mortice you want. 

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, Chet said:

You have to try or you will always suck at any skill.  Like Drew said, unless you are doing a through mortise how it comes out will never be seem.  It is actually pretty easy, you start by referencing your chisel of the side wall of your routed mortise.  Check on Marc's free site he has some videos on the technique.

Another good point I'll add to this is that practicing here is good practice for when you want to pull of a nice through mortise. I always find it helpful to use a chisel that is slightly smaller than the mortise as well.

Steve's method also allows to make more mortise sizes with 1 bit. With a 1/4" bit you can size them all the way to just under 1/2".

[Chet]

17 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I always find it helpful to use a chisel that is slightly smaller than the mortise as well.

Excellent point.

When I bought a new set of chisels, I got them in Millimeters instead of imperial.  6 mm is about a business card thinner then 1/4 inch, Same thing with 12 mm and 1/2 inch, 18 mm and 3/4 inch.  This way you don't mar or gouge the walls of your mortise.

[Kurt Triebe]

Just make sure you do practice cuts with the smaller bit. Depending on how you are guiding your router & bit you might need to allow for the different diameter. A different bushing/ bit combination  might require a different sized opening to yield the mortice you want. 

For these mortises, I am using the Woodpeckers setup, and an MLCS carbide upcut spiral router bit. The microadjust rig made it pretty easy to nail the positioning. I did one test cut, made one small adjustment, and it was pretty much perfect.




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[Kurt Triebe]

4 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Another good point I'll add to this is that practicing here is good practice for when you want to pull of a nice through mortise. I always find it helpful to use a chisel that is slightly smaller than the mortise as well.

Steve's method also allows to make more mortise sizes with 1 bit. With a 1/4" bit you can size them all the way to just under 1/2".

Yeah- the through mortise is the one place where I'd definitely have to get a bunch of practice in first. At some point, maybe late this year or next year, I'll be attempting to tackle the Morris Chair- I know that's got a few through mortises to contend with, so I'll have to up my skills before then.

Really good point about this method being a good way to increase mortise size; my biggest suitable mortise bit is only 1/2" diameter, but this method would allow nearly a 1" mortise, which may be as big of a mortise as I ever do.

[Kurt Triebe]

3 hours ago, Chet said:

Excellent point.

When I bought a new set of chisels, I got them in Millimeters instead of imperial.  6 mm is about a business card thinner then 1/4 inch, Same thing with 12 mm and 1/2 inch, 18 mm and 3/4 inch.  This way you don't mar or gouge the walls of your mortise.

I'll have to check what size chisels I have. The metric/imperial thing is something I hadn't considered- you're right, having metric chisels that are just slightly narrower than the common Imperial measurements could be very useful. I have a set of Narex mortise chisels, which I'm pretty sure are Imperial- but on a whim I also grabbed the Aldi chisels, which I believe are actually metric. I haven't done anything with those yet- they're still in the original packaging- no idea what sizes they even are... was there grocery shopping and couldn't pass up a small chisel set for the $8 or whatever they were charging!