My Father’s best friend passed on a while back. He was an enigmatic man who was brimming with creativity and craftsmanship: a musician, a carpenter, an artist, a father, a counselor. Through his art and my small time with him as an adult, I leaned a lot from him more than he could know. Needless to say, this is a special project for me.
He also tumbled rocks and my dad wanted to give his surviving wife a unique way to present the rocks. The original idea was to make a side table where the rocks would be sealed in epoxy. Though this was a neat idea, it felt like the rocks should be free to touch. So the updated model features a top that can be slid back and the rocks accessed.
I’ve had a pretty board of cherry that I have reserved for a special project and the side table is perfect. As always, I built the model in Sketchup and laid out all of the pieces.
Here are all of the sections cut to size and planed down.
I cut the tracks using a flat top blade on the table saw and then dug out the middle with the router. This worked pretty good. Obviously, if I had a dado blade, I would have used that.
Next I needed to remove the rectangle where the drawer will fit. I cut a 1″ hole with a spade bit and then cut it out with a jig saw. The jig saw can cut a little wavy, so I cleaned it up where I could and chiseled out the corners.
I have become attracted to the tapered leg that you see on a lot of my tables. My vertical clamp sled makes pretty quick work of them too.
I propped up the top section of the table to make sure all of the measurements are accurate. They are!
I need to get some Baltic birch plywood for the drawer and for the drawer to sit on. Also, I am still waiting for the pane of glass for the top. I ordered it online, so I hope it gets delivered soon; and not cracked!
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