From tree to table: Designing and creating a night stand

Oct. 23, 2017

Right next to the house were I was born there was this chestnut tree, sadly it died one and a half year ago. When it was taken down, my brother saved me a slab of wood. I intended to create something from it, a nice "do it yourself" adventure, worthy of a blog post!

The chestnut slab wood on bench

Designing a night stand

I wanted to create something from the three that I would use frequently. It turned out to be a night stand, a small table next to my bed. To make things interesting I set out a few design objectives:

use the entire slab of wood

do not use screws or metal for the structure

the "tree" should be visible in the end result

about 50 centimeters high

Before doing anything I measured the slab of wood. With the measurements I worked out a design that would use the circular shape of the slab to achieve the appropriate height.

"Willem.com" night stand - Designed on iPad

The slab contained a large crack that I had to work around. Basically the design cuts the slab into four pieces (right along the crack). The pieces are bonded together to create a "folded slab design". If done well - the idea was - I would not need any metal parts to support the structure...

Smoothening the slab

My brother used a chainsaw to get me this slab of chestnut tree. The chainsaw left a lot of marks on the wood that I had to smoothen.

Sawing off rough edges

Sanding the slab of wood

I used a Bosch Multitool for sawing and sanding the surface. After some hours of work, both sides of the wood where smooth enough to saw the slab of wood into the pieces designated by the design.

Multitool sawing

Sawed pieces on work bench

Testing the design concept

Sticking it together

In line with the design I wanted to connect the pieces witouth any visible means, no screws or metal pieces.

Drilling holes for the wooden pins

I drilled holes and used wooden pins to achieve enough strength (in combination with glue).

Glueing together

First connections made

After glueing the two angled pieces I let them dry in the afternoon sunshine.

Transparent Lacquer

As a product of nature wood has an interesting texture because of its nerves. In this particular tree you could see the "year rings" in the wood. Due to changes in the seasons and weather, the speed of which the wood grows differs from time to time. I wanted to maintain these lines of life and chose a transparent lacquer.

Two pieces on bench, painted.

Again and again

After applying the lacquer I sanded the surface again and again. Every time I used a finer sanding paper; I stared with 60 and went all the way up to 400.

sanding again

Fresh lacquer... again

... and again

Result

Many hours later the result is a night stand with a very smooth surface in an original design.

Result (design fully visible)

Smooth surface detail

Wood nerves nicely visible throught the transparent lacquer

Drilling holes for wheels

I mounted three wheels for easy moving (and some additional height). I choose three to prevent the stand from wobbling. I used metal rings to allow fine-tuning the angles (as the wooden slab isn't perfect flat).

Wheel with ring

Result on garden table

Lacquer finish is fantastic

Night stand next to the bed

It was an interesting experience doing some "do it yourself" wood design. Just take your time and don't rush yourself. I had a lot of fun and can recommend it to anyone. In fact I had so much fun that I probably will do it again!