We needed a place to collect the pocket stuffings after entering the house, you know keys, pocket knife, glasses, etc. So I designed this table to do the job. It fits snuggly up against the wall as to not take up too much of the walking space. The dimensions are 14" wide x 40" long x 33" high.

The top is made out of 5/4 Oak with a 3/16" Black Walnut inlay. The remainder is made out of Maple. The two drawers also have 3/16" Black Walnut inlay. The majority of the table was made using hand tools, although some tailed demons helped size the lumber and rough out the legs. The carcass was constructed with mortise and tenon joints, and the drawers were dovetailed by hand. I used a 1/4" plow-plane to put the groove on the isides of the drawers to hold the bottom piece of Birch plywood.

I tried something new with this project by using High Density Molecular Plastic for the drawer guides. The stuff is very stable, smooth gluiding and very easy to machine with a table saw or plane to fine tune.

The table was finished with 5 coats of medium brown Danish Oil, then several coats of shellac and finished off with a hard paste wax. Of course a lot of good old elbow grease helped too...:)

A number of folks have asked how I put the Black Walnut inlay in the table top, well I used the quirk router shown below. Mine has three blades, a 3/16", 1/8" and 1/16" widths. I used the 3/16" on the table and cut the grooves approximately 1/4" deep. The corners were cleaned up with an 1/8" chisel. If you use one of these keep in mind to put the groove in before you shape the edges, it allows better control over the tool.

I hope you Enjoyed my Page!

Best Regards,
John

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