I built this bedside table for a friend to keep their books and sundries close at hand.
It was an opportunity to play with texture (in the unsanded, porous oak and cord wrap) as well as to learn techniques (hand plane smoothing, dovetails, wedges, and drawer channels), as only hand tools were used to construct it.
Made from white oak, walnut, and cotton cord.
I kept the process very simple, with no CAD and few dimensions to start, I allowed the piece to grow as I made it, feeling my way through:
Plane smoothing and a basic shellac finish rewards close looks at the wood grain:
Installed:
