Project Information
This project is responsible for my introduction into woodworking. My wife saw a TV stand/entertainment center in a Pottery Barn magazine that she liked, problem was, it cost around $1000. It was a pretty simple design, and my wife liked the dark color. I have a few friends that are woodworking enthusiasts, so I asked if they would be willing to help me build it….in their shops. 
They were all receptive, but we couldn't work out the logistics…I wanted to build it for my wife for our first anniversary. Since I couldn't build it in time, I convinced my wife that she should buy me a table saw, and I would build her entertainment center.
So, I went to sears and spent $200 on a table saw. I ran into a few problems with that saw along the way. I ended up using three different saws to build the TV stand. I really like Sears tools, but their ~$200 table saws aren't the best for building furniture. I will say they were great about me returning three different saws over the course of 6 months. I've since sold my last sears model and purchased the Ridgid TS3650.
I finished the TV stand in November of 2006….just in time to buy a new TV on "Black Friday." I have since started on the two towers that will sit next to it….Another project on it's way…
It's a pretty basic design made of Poplar posts and face frame, with white birch plywood for the shelves. The guys at Austin Fine Lumber and Hardwood are fantastic, I picked out some 2" rough cut poplar and my salesman ran it through the planer himself to get me as close to 2" as possible, because I wanted the face frame and post's widths to match. I used Dowels on the face frame joints, and I cut a blades' width notch out of the face frame to support the plywood shelves. In hindsight…I would have re-thought my plans a bit. It was a pretty tough final assembly and glue-up. I wish I would have invested in a pocket-hole jig. My father-in-law loaned me a dowel jig, so that's what I went with. I'm not looking forward to the final assembly of the two towers!
I stained it with two coats of Olympic mocha brown wood stain, and three coats of semi-gloss Poly.
All-in-all…I'm pretty happy with it. I had never used a table saw before this project, so I learned a ton! I really only used the table saw and miter saw for the project, since I bought pre-milled face frame.
They were all receptive, but we couldn't work out the logistics…I wanted to build it for my wife for our first anniversary. Since I couldn't build it in time, I convinced my wife that she should buy me a table saw, and I would build her entertainment center.So, I went to sears and spent $200 on a table saw. I ran into a few problems with that saw along the way. I ended up using three different saws to build the TV stand. I really like Sears tools, but their ~$200 table saws aren't the best for building furniture. I will say they were great about me returning three different saws over the course of 6 months. I've since sold my last sears model and purchased the Ridgid TS3650.
I finished the TV stand in November of 2006….just in time to buy a new TV on "Black Friday." I have since started on the two towers that will sit next to it….Another project on it's way…
It's a pretty basic design made of Poplar posts and face frame, with white birch plywood for the shelves. The guys at Austin Fine Lumber and Hardwood are fantastic, I picked out some 2" rough cut poplar and my salesman ran it through the planer himself to get me as close to 2" as possible, because I wanted the face frame and post's widths to match. I used Dowels on the face frame joints, and I cut a blades' width notch out of the face frame to support the plywood shelves. In hindsight…I would have re-thought my plans a bit. It was a pretty tough final assembly and glue-up. I wish I would have invested in a pocket-hole jig. My father-in-law loaned me a dowel jig, so that's what I went with. I'm not looking forward to the final assembly of the two towers!
I stained it with two coats of Olympic mocha brown wood stain, and three coats of semi-gloss Poly.
All-in-all…I'm pretty happy with it. I had never used a table saw before this project, so I learned a ton! I really only used the table saw and miter saw for the project, since I bought pre-milled face frame.
