Dowel Joint Strength
June 27, 2008
Today must be dowel day. I’ve always been a big fan of dowels because you don’t need any special equipment to make the joint (like a biscuit cutter, joiner, etc.). I always wondered how strong their ultimate yield was, and I found a great video on the subject. All the modern furniture plans from Plan Canvas use dowels, now I know just how strong those joints are!
I’ve been trying to find a way to drill out dowel holes consistently for quite some time. I came across this dowel jig from Rockler. While I haven’t yet bought it, I think its now on the top of my wish list for building up some of the cool plans I’ve found.
 Rockler 3/8” Doweling Jig |
About Modern Furniture Plans Blog
June 23, 2008
I love modern furniture plans. I love design and I love function, but can’t afford to drop $1000 on a table and a couple of chairs. So how can I get what I want? Since I was just out of school, I had very little money to get those gorgeous pieces in my small apartment.
So I started to learn how to build the bare essentials – and find modern furniture plans who’s inspiration came from Frank Lloyd Wright and Eames. I didn’t have any tools, and very little room to build anything, so I tried to figure out the best way to build my new ideas. I started with a jig saw and a hand drill. Then I bought some low grade plywood and started to figure out how to build what I wanted.
The results were better than expected. I was able to build more than just the table and chairs – my whole living and dining room furniture up for about $200. A far cry from the thousands to get the look I really wanted. And as a bonus, it felt good to build my own furniture.
That’s when the idea came up to find plans that anyone could work with to create their own furniture, whether its a seasoned woodworking professional or someone just starting out on their own. To keep it in line with the inexpensive, plywood is a very common material. Its easy to work with, very uniform, and is far better than particle board that a lot of the cheap put-together-yourself stuff is made of.
Modern Furniture Plan – Diagonal Storage Coffee Table
June 23, 2008
PLEASE NOTE: OUR SITE HAS MOVED – MODERNFURNITUREPLANS.net
Plan Canvas LLC – Diagonal Storage Coffee Table
This is a modern furniture plan of a wonderful retro modern style coffee table, perfect for your sunken living room or den! This simple 50’s / 60’s design and extremely easy to build. This table can be made from one piece of 4 foot by 8 foot plywood, a few dowels, and a jig saw and drill.
Table:
Width 20″
Height 16″
Length 52″
Main Supplies
Plywood – 1 Piece of 4′ by 8′ 3/4″ thick ~$20
Dowel Pins – Pack of 50 ~$3
Main Tools: Jig Saw, Drill
