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sprague lake, estes park, colorado, 09.19.2004

Oak Plant Stands To the right is a picture from the plans for the oak plant stands I built. This was my first time working with red oak and I am satisfied with the results.
48 mortises sure sounded like a lot of repetitive work. I did half of them, took a break to play with the dogs, then finished them up. I can get impatient when doing repetitive work, so I try to take breaks to avoid rushing and making mistakes. These were done with a forstner bit on the drill press.
All the rails are done and the holes drilled for the spindles. The drill press is getting a workout.
Another 48 mortises had to be drilled on the ends of the rails. For this, I used a doweling jig and cordless drill.
All 96 mortises are finally done. It sounded like a lot when I started the project, but it wasn't too bad.
Here are the dowels and loose tenons.
The first part of the glue ups are done.
Assembly is complete and I wiped them down with mineral spirits.
It took about an hour and a half to put two coats of Watco Natural Danish Oil on these.
Here's the ceramic tile I used.
Finished stand #1.
Finished stand #2.