Last month, I finally finished four tables that I started two years ago. I am embarassed to admit how long it took, but the project involved several techniques which were new to me. These include: hand-cut dovetails, resawing and bookmatching table tops, making the drawer fronts from the same piece of wood as the front apron for a perfect grain match, cherry sock feet, finishing the parts before assembly, close tolerance drawer fit, solid cherry bookmatched drawer bottoms, and hand-made laminated maple/cherry drawer pulls. My original intent was to benefit from the efficiencies of making four tables in parallel, but these tables had so much hand work that there was not much efficiency! One power tool that came in handy was my 25" double drum sander. This allowed me to use abrasive planing on the highly figured maple, giving glass smooth and flat tops with zero tearout.
