Oak End Table with Stained Glass Inlay - Craft Technique

The aprons on this oak end table are all curved, which in addition to being a nice design accent helps to keep the piece from feeling too blocky.

There is a fairly simple technique for making sure all of the aprons have the exact same curve so the piece is nice and even. To start out I took a piece of MDF (medium density fiberboard) cut the same length and width as the table's aprons will be. I use MDF because there is no need to waste good wood for a template part. On the MDF I trace out the curve I want (using a large compass to make it nice and even.

The I take my MDF template to the band saw and cut out the curve. Band saw cuts are fairly rough so it's necessary to smooth it out afterwards. Once I am satisfied with the shape of my MDF template I then trace the curve from the template onto all 4 of my oak aprons. I cut all of the aprons on the band saw as well. It's important to cut a little bit proud of the curve line - in other words leave a little extra, don't cut right to the line. Once I have all of my aprons cut I can then match them up to the MDF template one by one.

I clamp 1 apron to the template at a time and use a flush trimming router bit to finish the apron curve. The router bit uses my MDF template as a guide and cuts the actual apron to an exact match of the template. By doing this with all 4 aprons they end up being an exact match of each other.

Oak End Table with Stained Glass Inlay

I like this piece for the bold color in the stained glass, yet the practicality in its use. This is a fully useable end table, with a 1/4 inch piece of glass over the top to protect the surface. I really like making useable pieces, this way my work isn't just decorative, it's also functional craftsmanship.

I visualize this as being the perfect piece to site between a pair of arm chairs and having a lamp sit on top of it - preferably a stained glass lamp :) The table top is 19 inches by 18 inches and the table stand 19 inches high.

The stained glass piece is focused around the center bevel cluster. It may be a little hard to tell but all of the clear glass, which in these pictures appear white because of the background, are all beveled glass pieces. The pattern is a fairly simple geometric pattern that I designed that I feel makes the piece beautiful without being too busy.

The legs are tapered on two sides to keep the table from feeling blocky. Also the table aprons all have a gentle curve to keep the table looking light as well.

The oak table is finished with tung oil to bring out the natural grain of the wood. Tung oil is a great finish for pieces where you don't want to add stain but still want the wood grain to really stand out.

Victorian Stained Glass Light with Tooled Leather Crest - Craft Tip

One of the unique challenges with this piece was the assembly of the stained glass cylinder.

A typical stained glass panel is easy to assemble. You just use a flat mdf board with push blocks or tacks to hold the glass in position and then you tack solder the glass. Tack soldering is a technique where you apply small beads of solder to the joints in the stained glass piece. You essentially are creating small spots where the pieces of glass adhere to each other. Well really, you are creating small spots where the copper foil on the pieces of glass adhere to each other, because the solder wouldn’t stick to just the glass alone.

Anyways, when you make a piece that’s 3 dimensional, such as a lampshade or in this case a 2 foot plus half cylinder you need to have the glass assembled in it’s end shape. In other words, before I could start soldering any part of this piece I had to have all 300 plus pieces of glass already in place and in the shape of the half cylinder. That’s not particularly easy since the glass isn’t inclined to just stay whereever you put it, gravity being what it is and all.

The form for my half cylinder was a piece of 4″ diameter PVC pipe cut lengthwise into 2 halves. So I needed to find a way to have all of the stained glass pieces sit in place over this PVC pipe, but also be able to remove the piece easily from the pipe once I had soldered it. My solution was electrical tape. Lots and lots of electrical tape. I laid all of the stained glass pieces out flat in the proper pattern and then ran many strips of electrical tape across the piece until I was sure I had every single one of the pieces of glass partially covered by the electrical tape. Then I very carefully picked the whole thing up and transferred it onto the PVC pipe to give it the half cylinder shape I wanted.

Once I had it on the pipe I was able to start tack soldering pieces together and gradually removed strips of electrical tape until I finally had all of the joints tack soldered together and no electrical tape left. Only then was I able to start doing the full soldering of the stained glass cylinder. Yes, it was very time consuming but the end result I think was well worth it.

Welcome to Robert’s Workshop

Welcome to my workshop blog. The blog will feature the work of Robert Golden artist/craftsman. I work in wood, stained glass and hand carved leather. My goal with my pieces is to create functional art, that is both beautiful and useable. I try to blend the wood, stained glass and leather together in my pieces to create truly original work.

As you’ll see from the different pieces I share I don’t limit myself to particular styles of work. I really like to explore the creative boundaries of what I can come up with that incorporates these 3 types of medium.

In the posts in my blog I will talk about individual pieces. I will share tips & techniques, talk about the tools I use, even have some videos of me working on pieces.

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you enjoy my work!

-Robert Golden