Builds Archives - Pruett Woodworking

The Building of My Shaker Workbench

My Shaker style workbench. After working for many years on sawhorses and makeshift tables I decided it was time to build a bench that fits my style of work. One that allowed good work holding and was suited for power tool use but was solid enough for hand tools use when needed. Plans for the bench are available here

The Shaker Workbench — The Shaker style workbench

Time to get started.

To get this build started I milled up enough cherry stock to make the legs and upper and lower rails. The legs are 2 in. x 2 in. and 33 inches tall. The upper rails are 2 inch x 3 inch while the lowers are 2 inch x 4 inch. The front and rear rails are 56 inches long and the side rails are 20 inches long.

Rear and end panels.

I also made the center supports for the front, back and end panels at the same time. While those were drying, I used my bandsaw to resaw some 1 inch thick cherry stock, and this allowed me to book matched the panels. The rear and side rails along with the legs received groves to accept the floating panels.

Starting assembly.

I used the Festool Domino for joinery but traditional mortise and tenon is another option. I assembled the rear panel and end panels and let them dry. The next morning, I assembled the two side panels and the rear panel. Now its time for the front assembly.

The front assembly.

I built the front assembly and the two center supports. The two center supports give me places for the drawer slides. Another result from this is that they transfer any forces from the top directly to the floor. This design has 12 points to transfer any forces from the top to the floor making it very solid.

Interior assembly.

The next step was to install 7 pair of drawer slides and build drawer boxes to fit. The plans have 4 shallow drawers (two in each cabinet) but I decided that I was going to use two one the left and one on the right. The extra drawer on the right can be added at a later time if I need it..

Let’s build the doors.

Now I am so close to complete. Time for the doors. These are standard floating panel doors. The panels are book matched and are set in grooves cut in the rails and stiles. I must say they look great. I added mission style hardware to finish off the main assembly of the bench.

At last the top!

The last thing to build was the top. I used white oak for my top. I made the top by laminating 28 strips of oak to reach my desired dimension. My final dimensions for the top are 28×72 and 2.75 thick. I finished the bench with three coats of a wipe on poly. The top has two coats, just enough to keep glue from soaking into the top while I am doing a build.

Beautiful Pedestal desk with drawers.

Pedestal desk, the Beginning.

The need for a pedestal desk with drawers came from the COVID-19 pandemic. After working from home for a few months my customer asked me if I could build her a “real” desk. So, I sat down and drew up the plans (available here). She loved it and the build began.

Picking out the stock for the desk.

pulling out the needed lumber for the pedestal desk.

The first step was digging through the lumber pile and pulling out the cherry and poplar needed for the build. I started with 85 board feet of rough sawn cherry and 50 board feet of poplar to use for the drawers and other internal parts.

Making the Legs.

The material for the legs was the first job. I cut strips and laminated them together so I could mill the legs down to a 2×2 size. Then for looks I added an angle to the bottoms of each leg. Then I cut the groves for the panels to fit into each leg.

Cutting the rails and stiles.

After the legs were complete, the rails and stiles for the sides and back of the pedestals were cut to size. I then cut a 1/4″ wide by 1/2″ deep grove for the floating panels to sit.

The floating panels.

The floating panels were made by taking thick stock and resawing it into thinner parts. This does two things for me. First it allows the material to go farther. Second it gives the panels a mirrored look when glued together. This will make the Pedestal desk different from others.

Time to assemble the pedestal panels

I assembled the side and back panels for the pedestals next. The floating panels are slide into the groves that were cut in the rails and stiles. These panels are allowed to float so they can expand and contract with changes in humidity.

Desk drawer slides and the internals.

Installing drawer slides and the internals in the pedestal desk

Once the panels were dry, it was time to add the legs. At this point the pedestal desk was showing its beauty. The internal structure and the drawer slides were added to finish of this step of the process.

Drawers and a top!

My next job was making the drawer boxes and the top. The boxes were made out of poplar with cherry fronts installed. The top is 1 1/4 thick and is 72 inches long and 30 inches wide. This thing is heavy!

Finishing the Pedestal desk with drawers.

Once the hard work was completed, the desk was finished with General Finishes water based dye stain. It is top coated with a satin water based poly to give it just a little shine.

Stratocaster guitar, Custom build.

This build started life as a ST Style Paulownia build your own kit. When I received it I decided to do a couple of minor mods to the body

The building of my stratocaster guitar was a very fun and relaxing build. I used paints I had never used before and received excellent results in the process. This is a sponsored build with Thefretwire.com

This build started life as a ST Style Paulownia build your own kit. When I received it I decided to do a couple of minor mods to the body to make it a little different from others in this design. All of the rounded corners were chamfered and the jack plate hole plugged and moved to the side of the body.

My first step was to take the Stratocaster guitar body to the spindle sander. I gently sanded the outer edges of the entire body to square off the sides and remove the rounded shaped look. I sanded with 80 grit the stepped up to 120 grit to get it shaped like I had in mind. the idea here was slow and easy to keep the main shape just make it look a little different so it stands out.

The next step was to remove those annoying rounded over corners. To add some style to the shape, a chamfer all the way aroundis added. I chamfered both sides and where the belly cut is. I let the chamfer fade into the belly cut so the body was not sharp and pointy in that area. With a little hand sanding the belly cut blends right into the chamfers on the back and looks seamless.

I marked a square area around the stock jack plate hole and used a chisel to cut back to the line so the 1/4 in spiral upcut bit in the next step didn’t cause tear out on the body. Use a sharp knife to mark out the lines you want to cut to then take a sharp chisel and cut back to the line you just made so the router bit cuts up to the line cleanly.

I used a small Grizzly plunge router to slowly cut out the hole for the jack plate. Then I plugged it with a piece of poplar scrap 5/8 of an inch thick. A new jack plate hole was drilled into the lower side of the body. Set the depth stop on the router so you know when you have reached the proper depth and take a few shallow passes to get clean cuts down to final depth.

After filling the jack plate hole I sealed the body and sanded to make everything look like a factory body. I then drilled into the end of the body to attach the new jack plate.

The next step was applying a few even coats of a heavy silver metal flake paint from Duplicolor. The metal specks paint has a very nice sized flake that is perfect for applying a candy paint over.

The body was sprayed with blood red candy color. Then it was sprayed with 6 coats of clear and wet sanded and buffed. In the sun it really shines!!

The Queenanne end table project.

Since I made the Queenanne sofa table I needed two end tables to match it. Like the sofa table they are made from air dried rough sawn cherry lumber and finished with General Finishes water based dye stain and Old world garnet shellac mixed in a one pound cut so I could layer it to achieve the tone I was looking for.

To get started I made the leg blanks out of 4/4 rough sawn cherry lumber from a local mill. Each leg is made up from 4 boards glued up to give me the 3 inch thickness I needed. Then I trace my template onto the leg blanks twice. They are then cut out on the band saw. Each leg requires four long cuts to make the shape.

Cut along one part of the pattern then tape it back on to the blank. You can see the tape in the picture to the right. This is done because you will cut your pattern off the second side and you need to add it back to the blank. Your cuts do not need to be perfect because you will be shaping with files and rasps in the next step.

After cutting your pattern four times per leg you will end up with something like the picture to the left. A rough Cabriole leg. This was cut on a 9 inch under powered bandsaw so it is very rough. But I didn’t worry about that because the fun part comes next. Shaping them so they all look alike.

Once you get the legs cut you can start the fun time of shaping them with files and rasps. Start out by marking layout lines to so you know where to stop removing excess material and start with the rasps. On these legs I marked a little over 1/4 inch from each corner. The amount removed is up to you and your design.

I then started with a spokeshave to remove the most of the material slow and easy until I hit my layout lines. When I reached a curved section I use my Narex chisels to cut back to the line. I stop now and then to be sure that I am heading in the right way with my design so I do not go to far or maybe I need to remove more to get the desired shape.

Once I get back to my lines I grab my Narex rasps and start rounding over the edges until I get a shape I like. Go slow and easy so you don’t make any area to narrow for the look of the legs. Once you get the basic shape with the rasps the switch to a fine file to refine your curves. You might even want to get some needle files for the tight spots.

Work with one leg until it is exactly how you want it to look. Then you have a template you can compare the other three to as you repeat the process on them one by one. There is no set standard pattern for these. You can make them look how you want. You can carve them or make them as round as you want, It is all up to you.

The shaping of Cabriole legs

Here I am shaping the legs for the sofa table with files and rasps. Defining the shape I see in my mind and getting them all the same. I find the process relaxing and fun. I learn what works and what does not. I am using Narex rasps for this work.