# Paul Sellers Console Table



## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Decided to finally try a piece of furniture. I subscribe to the Paul Sellers Masterclass (paid instructional videos not published on YouTube). Paul recently bought a house with the sole purpose of having a blank slate to fill up with handmade furniture. This console table is the first project in the series. I like this table because it can be resized for any space, and the design is simple enough that it would be at home in just about any decor. With a few modifications, it can be mid-century modern or more traditional. 

This is a build in progress. The project calls for 3/4" stock. I chose white oak. 


*Pic #1:*
First up are the legs, a two-piece tapered design. There is a visible seam between the two pieces, and rather than try to hide it, the design calls attention to it by creating a decorative groove that is duplicated on the other side. 

*Pic #2:*
A closer view of the legs. The leg in the foreground has been finished, while the background leg just came out of glue-up. The "artificial seam" is created by running a tenon saw the length of the leg, creating a groove. I then used a beading tool to add a chamfer to the edges of the groove, creating a shadow line for visual interest. Finally, the 90° corner where the two components meet are rounded over.

*Pics #3 and 4:*
A look at the offset mortises. A mortise is just a hole, right? Nothing to write home to mom about. The layout here was a bit tricky - just had to make sure the orientation was correct for each leg. This is 3/4" stock and a 1/4" mortise. Not sure if there's a special name for the notch at the top - there probably is. 

*Pic #5:*
Here's the bottom of a finished leg. Here you can see the two grooves and rounded edge. The endgrain was chamfered using a file.​
Next up are the aprons. I have 3 of them cut to size already, but the front apron is special. A drawer will be cut into the front apron so the grain is continuous across the front for a seamless appearance. Then, tenons cut into the aprons to join the legs and form the carcass of the console table. Stay tuned!

Thoughts, advice, comments are always appreciated!


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Congrats on your first piece. It lookin good.
When you get through this, you will be designing your own. The principal in designing furniture is pretty mush the same.
Same goes for entertainment Centers which are basically cabinets with less doors. 
Maybe on your next post you can telll us a little bit about the joinery without revealing the final product till it done.
How long you been woodworking?


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Tony B said:


> How long you been woodworking?


Hmm...I finished my first real project and started accumulating tools about a year ago. I had some DIY projects under my belt, but nothing "serious." This is a retirement plan for me. I'm hoping to build up enough skills to one day supplement my income with building furniture after I leave the workforce.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Good luck to you Anthony and I hope you get to achieve your goals.
I have several careers and some of them while actually owning and operating a woodworking business at the same time. It kept me busy. I have not lived in a brick and mortar structure in 30 years. in order to keep my hobby/business while also maintaining a career, I had to rent/lease buildings. for the past 30 years I have been living on my boat all but 2 years which is now living in my RV. I have now been retired 7 years and am seriously thinking of starting another woodworking business. Thats a long story and I dont think it will happen though. Anyway,congrats again and best wished to you.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Time for the front apron. The design calls for continuous grain across the front...which is tricky since there is a drawer.

*Pic #1:*
The front apron gets a 2" drawer in the middle. I selected a piece of wood that had a nice grain pattern, but wasn't wild or directional. We're essentially ripping this into 3 sections and gluing it back together and making the cuts disappear. I ripped a 1" piece on my table saw, followed by the 2" drawer, then another 1" piece. I used a table saw because my hand sawing skills are not good enough to keep tight tolerances like this. Here you can see the layout lines for the center and edges of the drawer.

*Pic #2:*
After hand planing all of the sawn edges and several test fits to close the gaps, the drawer is laid out and cut in. After that, this is glued up and cinched tight in clamps, leaving the drawer front unglued so that it can be removed and fitted later.

Once the glue cures, I'll run screws through the top and bottom for added strength. Then the face surfaces will be hand planed smooth, which should remove any remaining visible seams and this will look like a single piece of wood again.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Anthony

Running screws through the top and bottom are totally unnecessary. You just have to have faith in the glue. it will do its job.
spotsSame goes for table top glue-ups. They dont need biscuits, dowels or anything else but glue. If anything, screws and the like might even cause weak areas. Keep in mind that modern glues are stronger than the wood they are holding together.

Anyway, nice going. Now I cant wait to see the finished product


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Here is another tip: 
Always keep chalk handy. One white and one any other colr like pink or blue. When youy parts are laid out, you make an inverted "V" with the point of the "V" upward. Then you will always know which end is up and which sides are the fronts. Because of the cut-out for the drawer, make 3 'V"'s or one really wide one so you wont get the left and right pieces mixed up. Chalk is just dust, the air compressor jet nozzle will blow it right off. 
Hope that helps.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Front apron is done! Well...mostly. I still need to add tenons to the ends. You can barely make out the vertical seams of the drawer front here, but that's okay because the gap will actually be widened when I build the drawer later anyway.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Looks great so far.

Red oak is one of my favorite woods to work. Something about it makes the seams disappear. 
If only it didn't smell so bad when I cut it. 

Anyway, great job and I'm sure you will be so proud of yourself when you complete it. I believe this is your first piece of real furniture.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I gotta admit that I always look forward to @AmishElectricCo's posts. He has come so far in a short time. Kudos to him!


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

If you dont push yourself, you will never learn and never be good at anything. In the distant past, I have seen many woodworkers on here accumulate wood and "wait til they are ready". Some probably still aren't ready. I am of the thinking that you will learn a lot more by building one not so perfect piece a month than if you worked on the same piece, making it perfect for 6 months. 

Also note that most imperfections in our work are only noticed by us. if you keep correcting the same piece, it will never be done. There comes a point at which you just have to say "it's done" - ready or not.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Tool Agnostic said:


> I gotta admit that I always look forward to @AmishElectricCo's posts. He has come so far in a short time. Kudos to him!


Thank you!

Today I started joining the aprons to the legs. This calls for tenons with haunches, which is a first for me. Below is a pic of my first attempt. It's not horrible, but there's definitely room for improvement. Need to close up those gaps. The table top will cover this, so no one will ever see it, but like @Tony B said...I know it's there.

I framed and hung one of Paul's quotes in my shop: "How we work determines the outcome." If I settle for close enough on the little things, then the final project will turn out that way too.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

AmishElectricCo said:


> Thank you!
> ............... Need to close up those gaps. The table top will cover this, so no one will ever see it, but like @Tony B said...I know it's there.
> 
> I framed and hung one of Paul's quotes in my shop: "How we work determines the outcome." If I settle for close enough on the little things, then the final project will turn out that way too.


Knowing it is there will kill you. So in this case, if the joint is loose, it must be repaired. Glue is not a 'gap filler' and so, it's only strength is in adhering 2 pieces together, so glue alone won't work. This leaves you several choices: One is to use epoxy on the joint. Another is to look in scrap pile or make a really thin slice of wood on the table saw, that can be glued to the tenon. When dry, test fit it and see if more needs to be added or some sanded away. Simple repair. I steer clear of the word 'fix' if I can. I like 'repaired' better. Knowing what went wrong with this joint will tell you how to avoid it in the future. 

Here is another quote for you..."Strive for excellence and settle for completion". (This quote is meant as guideline and not necessarily literally). The more you build and the more you challenge yourself, each succeeding project will get closer to 'excellence'.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

I'll just be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time in the shop lately because of the heat wave. 95+ in September? No thanks! Finally got some rain to cool things down a bit, so I was able to get my tenons finished and get the table up on its legs. 

You can see my assembly triangle in the front apron along with the continuous grain drawer front that's still wedged in there. I'm happy with progress so far. I need to clean up the edge of a few tenons to close the gap, otherwise, so far so good.

A bit more joinery in the next step. A pair of drawer supports run across the width of the table. Nothing fancy, just a couple of dados. Then it's on to the drawer and top. Stay tuned for the drawer - it will be my first attempt at dovetails.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Looks great

Keep in mind for next time, when you have your working sketch, plan on Dados for your drawer supports Then you can assemble the table and the dados will already be there. 
When I am working on a project I have a bunch of "Dont Forget" notes and go through them before every step. 

I think you are becoming an inspiration for some on here. My motto is "Just Make Something".


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## EdS (Mar 21, 2013)

Really fine joinery, congrats. I will follow your build.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Dovetail time. I went with poplar for the drawer because I had some on hand - didn't see a need to buy more oak just for the inside of a drawer. Plus, I figured poplar would be a bit easier to work with for my first dovetails. The drawer front was popped out of the apron and the drawer sides and back were cut to the same size. Once everything is assembled, the whole drawer is planed down to fit the opening later. 

*Pic 1:*
These are half-blind dovetails, so they get a 1/2" x 1/16" deep rebate. The drawer front will register against this later. I used my router plane to set the 1/16" depth and went across the surface to make sure everything is clean and level.

*Pic 2:*
Marking out the tails. Made sure to mark the waste so I wouldn't be tempted to throw my expensive tools later on because I didn't pay attention to what I was doing. 

*Pic 3:*
Houston, we have tails. Sort of. I used the Katz-Moses dovetail jig, which has a magnetic guide to help keep things aligned. Highly recommended if you're a newbie like me. I used a chisel for the ends and a fret saw to remove the waste between the tails.

And this is where where I stopped. The smallest chisel I have is 1/4" and it's too wide for this. I went to my local Lowe's and Menard's hoping to find a 1/8" chisel, but no luck. I ordered a cheap $8 chisel from Amazon that will arrive in a couple days. Finishing this off with a 1/8" chisel should be no problem at all.


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

That is very nice looking tails. Where is all the dust and wood chips? It looks like everything is brand new. :wink:


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

hawkeye10 said:


> That is very nice looking tails. Where is all the dust and wood chips? It looks like everything is brand new. :wink:


Thanks! Oh...everything _IS_ brand new LOL! The oldest woodworking tool I have just turned a year old.

Onward!

*Pic #1:*
Transferred my tails to the drawer front and traced around them with my marking knife. Then I chopped out the bulk of the waste of the pins with a chisel.

*Pic #2:*
Refining with the chisel. Working up to, but not quite touching my gauge lines. 

*Pic #3:*
My First Dovetails™. Not perfect, but I'm happy with it. They do look better in person. I think the crappy lighting in my shop casts too many shadows and makes this look worse than it really is. Pretty sure I wasn't getting close enough with my knife when tracing around the tails. This is poplar, and I was afraid of cutting into it. You can see in the photo, I actually did nip off a little bit of the corner of one of the tails. Guessing that once this is glued up, no one will be able to tell anyway.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

I know, I'm slacking off. This project is taking much longer than I thought. Between the bathroom renovation, the crazy heat wave, and my niece's volleyball tournament - I haven't had much shop time lately.

Here is the finished drawer. Oak front, poplar sides, plywood bottom. In case you haven't seen a drawer like this, the sides extend beyond the back so that you can still pull the drawer all the way out and it won't fall out of the opening.

Next, I have to fit the drawer slides to the aprons. I did save myself a bit of time by purchasing some Izzy Skirt Washers. The plans call for mortises in the aprons and hand made turnbuttons to fasten the table top on. I can appreciate the method, but that just seems like a lot of extra work.


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## ftnuna3819 (Sep 26, 2019)

Really like your progress man. The drawers out of one plank is a killer idea. Keep at it!


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Fantastic job.
Keep up the great work.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

*Pic #1:*
The drawer supports are simple stop mortises and tenons. Not gonna lie, I used my table saw and crosscut sled for the tenons. I'm pretty much over the whole hand tool purist thing. I'll never be a power tool guy, but some things are so much faster and easier with power tools. Especially sawing. 

The drawer has a tight friction fit from front to back, so I guess that means I did it right. Next, I'll cut the runners that go underneath to support the drawer, and then it's down to planing the drawer a bit to slide freely in the opening.


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## Old_Tom (Aug 12, 2019)

It is coming along fine Anthony. I especially like the WIP shots.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Anthony, keep on trucking.

I personally think getting over the whole purist thing is a step forward. 
If you just like using hand tools, thats a different story.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I'm a power tool guy ......*



AmishElectricCo said:


> *Pic #1:*
> The drawer supports are simple stop mortises and tenons. Not gonna lie, I used my table saw and crosscut sled for the tenons. I'm pretty much over the whole hand tool purist thing. I'll never be a power tool guy, but some things are so much faster and easier with power tools. Especially sawing.
> 
> The drawer has a tight friction fit from front to back, so I guess that means I did it right. Next, I'll cut the runners that go underneath to support the drawer, and *then it's down to planing the drawer a bit to* *slide freely in the opening*.



I use hand tools when they are the best solution. You could use a hand plane to skinny up the drawer sides, but I'd use the table saw. I would set the fence over to the width of the drawer minus 1/64" or less, and raise the blade up to cut half way through just shaving a small amount off the sides. That way an even parallel amount is removed, with no tapers or non square issues. However, iif you feel confident in hand planing and securing the drawer well enough to get the proper body position and leverage ....then go for it. :vs_cool:


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Got the drawer fitted today by taking a few shavings off where needed and test fitting. Very little side-to-side slop, it fits like a glove. Once I get some finish and wax on there, it should be like ice sliding across glass. I'm very happy with it. Once I get the top secure, I will trim the drawer to final size so it sits flush with the front apron.

I was really hoping to find a ring pull for this drawer, but because it's so shallow (only 2"), I couldn't find anything I liked that was small enough. Decided to just make a pull instead, per the original plans. There's a scallop underneath to hook a couple fingers on - it doesn't take much to open. Used a gouge for the scallop, then rasps and files to shape the pull. 

Next is the top panel glue-up. I've got a slight bow to deal with, but shouldn't be much trouble. I hope. Once the top is glued together as one piece, the edges get chamfered with a hand plane. Should be wrapping this project up this week if all goes well. I'm anxious to get some Odie's Oil on it!


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Anthony, You have come a long way in a short time! It's amazing! I love the detail on the legs, the proportions are perfect, and your attention to the details... Paul would be proud. I am looking forward to see more of your work.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Figured I'd give an update this morning and show a new product that may interest some of you: the Izzy Skirt Washer. 

*Pic #1:*
The product was developed by Izzy Swan, a popular YouTuber and maker. The problem with traditional "Figure 8" skirt washers is that the wood can't expand and contract. Izzy's design allows the screw to travel along a slot.

*Pic #2:*
I started by marking out my locations, then used a self-centering drill bit to mark the position of the washer. Then I used a 9/16" forstner bit to drill out the recess. The washer isn't very thick, so you don't have to drill very deep - about 1/16".

*Pic #3:*
Next, take a small chisel and chop out the corners.

*Pics 4 & 5:*
Attach the washer with a 1/2" screw. The washer should sit flush with the top of your rail.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Decided to finish the drawer since it was the one piece I could do separately. This is what the entire piece will look like when it's done.

The finish is Odie's Oil. I made a post on this stuff in the Finishes forum, and apparently nobody else has used it. It's expensive, but for ease of application and final results, I really like it. Simply rub on, wait an hour, and buff off.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

The end is near! Here is the table top finished with Odie's Oil.

I made an executive decision and didn't add a big chamfer to the edges. I've been on the fence about the look and ultimately decided against it. Just added a small 45 with a block plane all around instead. Paul's the design expert, but I thought the chamfered edges made the top look too thin. Didn't fit with the rest of the design.


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Jan 27, 2017)

That's all wonderful work! Very nice looking table, and I think the leg grooves really make it stand out.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Done! The lighting in our living room is horrible - I'll get a few shots tomorrow when there's natural light coming through the front window.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

So Beautiful! What talent you have!


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Jan 27, 2017)

Tony B said:


> I personally think getting over the whole purist thing is a step forward.
> *If you just like using hand tools, thats a different story.*


That's me. I find much enjoyment in using just hand tools. It's a slow, methodical activity that is relaxing. But when I need a hole, I pull out the cordless drill. I have a brace and bits, but for some reason I'm not driven to use them. And I wish I had a band saw for squaring and ripping rough wood into new planks; another not-so-enjoyable task.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*The bandsaw!*



AwesomeOpossum74 said:


> That's me. I find much enjoyment in using just hand tools. It's a slow, methodical activity that is relaxing. But when I need a hole, I pull out the cordless drill. I have a brace and bits, but for some reason I'm not driven to use them. And I wish I had a band saw for squaring and ripping rough wood into new planks; another not-so-enjoyable task.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandsaw#/media/File:Deutz-Motor-Bandsäge_1911_r.jpg
Even the earliest woodshops were equipped with bandsaws. There's just no better way to manage cutting lumber down into usable dimensions. Combine that with a thickness planer and you can use the correct size stock for all your projects. I love all my bandsaws ..... :grin:


Size matters, but the proper blade is even more important. I walked past a 10" Craftsman on sale at Sears about 10 years ago when my son was 8 years old and thought it would be perfect for him. He turned out to be an auto mechanic with almost no interest in woodworking, so I use it now. It's a 1/3 HP motor, but it has surprising power. I really tested it here:
https://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f12/craftsman-10-bandsaw-tested-61133/




:vs_cool:


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

AwesomeOpossum74 said:


> That's me. I find much enjoyment in using just hand tools. ............I wish I had a band saw for squaring and ripping rough wood into new planks; another not-so-enjoyable task.


You could learn to love it with a pit saw. You can even get the wife into enjoying the experience with you.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Anthony, it looks great!.


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## DesertRatTom (Aug 14, 2012)

That is a really handsome table. I think you were right to make a slight chamfer. I don't like it when the top looks too thin. I like using hand tools now and again, but getting older, the effort for planing is sometimes a bit much.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Finally got a decent pic. Bonus B&W for the artsy-fartsy.


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