All that red oak we were milling recently wasn’t just for fun. A customer ordered a set of nightstands in solid red oak with a golden oak stain. These were to be given as a birthday gift to his wife so we didn’t want to post the finished pieces until they had been presented.

These nightstands are HEAVY. Everything is made from 3/4″ or thicker red oak and it shows. The design was entirely the customers and we built them to spec.

The process for building these is fairly straight forward. We started with a bunch of kiln-dried but rough cut red oak. We planed that down to 075″ and 1.75″ respectively. Then passed that through the drum sander. Then each piece went into the joiner before heading to the table saw to have the widths cut.

Once I have a bunch of usable stock it was time to cut the grooves for the 1/2″ red oak plywood drawer bottoms and do all of the pocket holes. Pocket holes get beat up pretty hard by some of the “purist” woodworkers out there but they have their place in furniture making for sure. In this case, they offer excellent strength (when coupled with Titebond wood glue) and a much more efficient build schedule.

After the pocket holes were cut I also used the biscuit jointer to cut some grooves for where I will install the tabletop fasteners. This will allow the top to flex and expand over time as all wood does but now it can do so without fear of cracking.

Once everything was put together it received a final sanding, some TLC with the tack cloth and then it was ready for stain. The clear coat was sprayed on instead of being hand wiped and then it was sanded to 400 grit. A final paste wax was applied to the usable surfaces to make sure a glass of water won’t leave a ring.