Website: The Dovetail Chronicles

Location: Brunswick, NY

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Project Name: Media Cabinet

Wood Species: Walnut

Finish Used: Sanded to 400 grit, used one coat of 1 lbs cut shellac to seal pores, this helped in blotching issues that I was having on test pieces with the quarter sawn walnut, 2 coats boiled linseed oil sanding to 600 in between coats and finished with renaissance wax.

Project Description:
This being my first project, I wanted to start out by building something that would benefit my wife and I. We were in desperate need for a new T.V. stand and with the right design I would be able to implement all the different techniques and knowledge for woodworking that I have acquired from The Wood Whisperer site.

I am very inspired by Shaker furniture, not only the visual design but also the construction. When designing this a lot of my inspiration came from the Shakers. I know that Shakers definitely were notthinking of T.V. stands when they made furniture, but hopefully they would be able to appreciate this one. Creating a piece from design through construction and into the finish is an amazing process. It really brings out your creative side and also your problem solving side.

You learn a lot when building. The experience that you gather is invaluable. Hopefully for other woodworkers who are just starting out this piece will be inspiring and show that no matter what skill level you are, if you put your mind to it and stick with it you can build anything. So, get out there and start building!!!

The TV cabinet is 29 ¾ X 19 ¼ X 27 ½” (LxWxH). Solid walnut and maple except for the back panel and interior shelf which are Baltic birch ply. I used offset knife hinges and ball catches for the doors and the dark glass panels allow the interior components to be controlled while the doors are closed. All construction for both pieces is mortise and tenon.

Location: Broken Arrow, OK

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: A couple coats of natural Watco danish oil, followed by numerous coats of Arm-R-Seal.

Wood Species: Mahogany

Project Description:
I wanted to build a TV stand. I was inspired by Marc’s Walnut TV stand, but knew I wanted something different. I also didn’t want simple metal drawer pulls.

Most of the main box is mahogany plywood, joined with dadoes. There are a few pocket screws here and there, and a lot of glue (thank goodness for Titebond slow-set glue).

The top is a solid wood glue-up. It’s the first glue-up I’ve ever done. In fact, this is only my second decent sized project. The drawer boxes are birch plywood, trimmed with mahogany to cover the visible ply’s. The back is some sort of ply as well. The back panels fit into a slot at the bottom and they’re held by magnets at the top. I used the nice easy-close/self-closing sliders for the drawers. Really smooth and nice, but ridiculously expensive. Overall this project turned out a lot heavier than I expected. I should have integrated retractable casters.

It was a good project, and I want to make a whole living room set that matches now. I built it during the heat of Summer in an outside garage in Jacksonville, FL. Although not as “hot” as a desert, the humidity made up for the difference. It’s still missing shelves, so I have work to keep me busy. I probably won’t start on a new project until Spring. Not sure whether to make the coffee table next, or a fish tank display. Thanks for the motivation and insight!

Finish Used: Cabinet carcass finished with 3 coats of hand rubbed danish oil. Slab top stained with 2 coats of wood conditioner, then 2 coats of stain. To top it off I gave the whole thing 6 coats of thinly sprayed on poly.

Wood Species: Pine slab, reclaimed maple, birch plywood carcass, fir log accents.

Project Description:
Inspired by watching Marc’s video build of the retro low entertainment center. I had a client call me up right after watching the series, and he wanted something very similar to match some log work I had done for him in the past. PERFECT TIMING MARC!

You can check out the whole process on my blog, RusticWorks.

I purchased a large screen TV that sat on our hearth for quite a long time. I gave the design much thought and did a mock layout using Adobe Illustrator. It is all red oak plywood carcass, with solid trim pieces. There were several issues to consider. It couldn’t be taller than 27″ and no longer than 52″. Half of the case had to sit on the fireplace hearth. Each end bay had to be able to hold a 17″ device. It had to hold a lot of DVDs, VHS tapes, and video games. It is also notched on the sides to fit on the hearth, with the front sitting on the floor. After pondering for days over how I wanted the face to look. I finally came up with the idea of 2 drawers in each bay, where one sits above the other, and the bottom has the full frame attached to it. The drawer faces are built with the stiles sitting horizontal. When closed, the grain runs across the top and bottom. I used a standard joint, with a 1/2 plywood insert. The insert has 1/4″ dados on the back to bring the insert flush with the frame. This was glued and screwed to the drawers. The handles are from Rockler.

The design took on a life of it own. I usually change designs in my mind several times before I come up with the final one. I did have a moment of panic. I had placed the vertical pieces to cover the dividers and the ends. The next day I woke up panicked. I had forgotten that I needed at least 17″ space to allow for equipment. I had left 19″, which was great, but forgot that I still needed the clearance. I got up and went out immediately to my shop and measured it. The space was 17 1/2″, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

There are 2 VHS recorders, a DVD player, the cable box, a mac-mini, audio receiver, iPod, UPS, and storage for all the DVDs and tapes. I still need to wire in my Playstation2. I will save that for another day, because I am running out of audio ports on the receiver.

Joe’s Cherry End Table

Thank you for the advice you gave me along the way as I built this project (via your podcast, live chat and emails). This was my first “Real Furniture Project”…. so your podcasts videos help push me to try new joinery and your answers to my email questions concerning finishing cherry were right on the mark. The Bulls Eye Seal-a-coat and Arm-R-Seal worked great.

Another unique part of this project was how it morphed from a simple “arts/craft” style end table (no drawer) I prototyped in sketch-up, to its final design with a drawer and turned legs. A picture is worth 1000 words so I attached 5 pictures: 1) The original sketchup picture; 2) My Cherry End Table view 1; 3) My Cherry End Table view 2; and 4) My Cherry End Table view 3.

Cory’s Cutting Board

Here are some pictures of my completed Tucson Mesquite cutting board made from some logs I pulled out of the fire wood stack. This was my first attempt at a cutting board and although I did not follow Marc’s design exactly since I was not using contrasting wood colors, I was pretty happy with the results. Anyway, I also attached a picture of what I felt was a more efficient design for finger holds, enabling either side of the board to be used without loss of workspace. Also a picture of the simple setup I used to make the finger holds. I look forward to making some more for friends. Thanks for the site, I really enjoy it.

Joe’s Cash Drawer

Well I thought you might enjoy seeing my version of a Wooden Cash Drawer. I built this wooden cash drawer for a very good friend who helps out with collecting the admission fees for girls basketball games at our local High School.

This project was a bit of a challenge for me since I usually follow plans or a picture to build projects, but since I could not find any plans or designs for a cash drawer…I simply improvised. I’m quite proud of how well it a came out. It was built using more common wood from the local Lowe’s, I used red oak for frame, top and the bottom. The dividers are birch plywood and the coin scoops are poplar ( I already had the 2×2 poplar at home). Each divider is inserted into mortises and interconnect. The top slides on via a mortise as well. The frame corners are mitered. I need to work on miters a bit :-) The bottom is set in a rabbet on the bottom of the frame. The coin scoops were a real challenge, I ended up slicing a 2×2 diagonally and then sanding out the curve on a stationary belt sander. As for the finish, I simply wiped on 3 coats of Formby’s Traditional Tung Oil Finish. I have had good luck with this finish in the past.

Well Marc I’ve been watching all your videos and reading up for a couple months now and I finally built up the confidence to take on a “big” project. I saw a design for a bookcase which I really liked and decided to incorporate it into the entertainment center. I used Ash and Peruvian Walnut. Only the panels for the doors are veneered MDF. I had to hand cut the notches in the shelf support and cut it to 10 degrees so my DVR would fit. Finished only with two coats of shellac with a 220 grit sanding in between. Just wanted to say thanks for the great and most helpful videos. Keep up the great work.

I’m happy to say that I have just finished the first project that I am truly proud of. I built it to hold my video games and Blu-Ray movies and my PS3 will sit on top.

My wood of choice was alder. It was a new wood for me and the price was good. Everything was made from 4/4 stock aside from the legs which are from 8/4 material. I didn’t want to mess around with laminating boards together to get the thickness I wanted.

After everything was all milled up and cut to size, I constructed two identical side pieces made up of two legs and what is essentially a case side. Those were both joined together with glue and some dowels to help with alignment. The case sides have a dado routed about a half an inch up from the bottom where the shelf fits into to join the two sides together. The shelf piece has two dadoes for the divider pieces to fit into and those were glued in next. I milled up some pieces that were about 1″ x 3/4″ and were as long as the case is wide and set those into notches that were cut out in the upper corners of the side and divider pieces. I felt this would give the case more rigidity and it would also allow me to use some table top fasteners for the top. The back is made of solid wood. I resawed some alder on my tablesaw so it was just over a 1/4″ thick then used my thickness planer to bring it to exactly a 1/4″. Then at the router table, I routed some rabbets on opposite sides of the pieces which created a sort of lap joint. The pieces were attached with only two brads, one on top and one on the bottom, both located in the center. Finally the top, was attached with table top fasteners. The top was made up of two boards and I used a router to put a chamfered edge all the way around.

Obviously, I spent some time doing some finishing work on this piece. I have to thank you for how well the finish came out. Prior to finishing, I reviewed both your Simple Varnish Finish DVD and your podcast about coloring blotchy woods to make sure I wouldn’t mess anything up. The first step was to sand everything up to 150 grit, which works for me. I then proceeded to apply a coat of shellac that was diluted with equal parts of denatured alcohol. Next was the stain. I used General Finishes Gel Stain in the Antique Walnut color. It was applied with a foam brush and one coat was all I needed to get the color I wanted. Finally, I applied the top coat. I decided to try out some Arm-R-Seal for the first time and ended up choosing the satin sheen. I wiped on three coats and I love the way it came out. This is the first piece I’ve completed that I can’t keep my hands off of because it feels so smooth.

Well, that’s it. It’s nothing fancy, but it was a big project for me and I’m actually pleased with the final product. I couldn’t have done it without all your awesome videos. Thanks for all you do!

Hey Marc. I just finished a project I’ve been working on for a while. It’s an entertainment center designed around a top my customer bought on Ebay from a closed Starbucks coffee shop. The top also had a hole right in the middle where a garbage can used to be. Talk about a design challenge!

Anyway, based on the tones of the top, I chose maple and black walnut for my materials. The construction is all loose mortise and tenon joinery. Since this unit houses home theater equipment, the back of the right side has a false panel to hide all the wiring behind. All the shelves are adjustable.

Now…about the hole in the top. After visiting the customers home, I noticed that the throw rug in the living room where this piece was going to live had circles randomly placed in it. Also I found a 7.1 channel surround sound system waiting to be installed. Based on the room layout, I devised a small stand that sits in the hole to hold the center channel speaker. The stand is basically two plates. The bottom plate rotates in the hole allowing the speaker to be aimed left or right, while the top plate pivots in grooves cut into the lower plate allowing the speaker to be aimed up or down. Cool, huh? Anyway, here’s the pics. Hope you like it!

Kevin put up a series of blog posts over at Lumberjocks.com describing the entire process. So if you want more detail, check it out!