One more picture...I like the distant perspective, the pegs are obviously sticking proud of the bread board end. We see that all joints do not sit flush to one another, this turned out to be a terrific feature.

My two night stands complete with an oil finish. We see the handles are finally in place. I'm very pleased. I would like to tackle a kitchen table in the Greene and Greene style next. We'll see.

Side by side. Lots of detail.

I know it's not obvious, but this is the handle for the drawer. You can see the steps and slight curve in the walnut. The ends are cut off and the handle is sanded to its final shape.

Protruding finger joints

One of my favourite features. It really feels like knuckles when you rub them. I was a little nervous adding the exposed pegs so close to the edge. I was afraid it would split the wood. Luckily it didn't. I chamfered the pegs considerably to prevent splitting.

Greene and Greene Night Table

Almost done. You can see the keys in the top here. Still missing...the drawer handle.

One of the nicer features found in Greene and Greene furniture...the splined key in table tops.

It is very much a decorative and sensual detail, but it does help in aligning the breadboard end with the bottom of the top.

A breadboard end stabilizes the top from warping. The Greenes knew that the top would move throughout the year and fixed the breadboard in the middle allowing the ends to move. At the same time, as in my example, the top is 17 1/4 wide and the breadboard is 17 1/2 wide allowing for the top to move.

Seeing as the top was glued up in early spring, I need to account for it to swell somewhat this summer. I've done tests before and have seen cherry swell 1/16 of an inch over a 5 inch span in one year.

Note: the keys are glued to the top and not the breadboard allowing them to move with the top.

This is the top in one piece for both night stands. A lot of people hate sapwood. I don't. Sapwood is the lighter colour. Its found towards the outside of the tree. The darker more uniform colour was once sapwood too, but as the tree ages it gets harder and changes to the colour we expect to see. In this case the red in cherry. The sapwood is more like a creamy maple.

This is a glue up of 4 individual boards cut from a 9 inch 8 foot long board. I like to rip all my boards to less than 6 inch so these boards are all roughly 4 1/2 inch wide. Playing with the grain direction I discovered this pattern which looks like the figure 8 pattern.

Greene and Greene Night Table

This is a detail I figured out once the design and construction process was well underway. The sides and back of the stand are cherry veneered mdf.

Following in the Greene brothers example, the mouldings applied to the panels are not the same thickness. The North/South moulding is 1/4 inch thick and the East/West moulding is 3/32 inch creating a nice little jump at the joint. It pulls your hand towards it to feel the lip. Much more enjoyable than if they were flush and even.

Cloud lifts

There are 8 cloud lifts situated under the middle rails. They are attached with the loose tenon and edge glued. Purely decorative. Very much a Greene and Greene staple.

Greene and Greene Night Table

Here's the Greene and Greene nightstand as of last week. The top and handle are missing in this picture.

Greene and Greene Night Table

I'm almost finished. Within a couple of days I'll start blogging for real and I'll explain how certain details are accomplished. But first I need to iron out the kinks.