---
title: Shaker Side Table
description: "Real furniture. Mortise and tenon, tapered legs, a glued-up top."
url: "https://thejoinery.club/docs/project-shaker-side-table/"
updated: "2026-08-04"
category: Projects
---

# Shaker Side Table

*Real furniture. Mortise and tenon, tapered legs, a glued-up top.*

## Why this one

The first piece of real furniture on the ladder. Loose mortise and tenon joinery, tapered legs, and a glued-up solid wood top that has to stay flat. This is the Introduction to Woodworking class project — if you took the class, build it again on your own and find out how much you were leaning on me.

> Wood will do what wood wants to do. We can plan for movement, design around it, and do everything right — but wood is ultimately unpredictable.
>
> Steven

[![Shaker side table project overview and anatomy: finished dimensions, and labelled diagram showing top, legs, aprons, braces, and loose mortise-and-tenon joinery.](https://i0.wp.com/thejoinery.club/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/intro-woodworking-infographic.png?w=1290&ssl=1)](https://i0.wp.com/thejoinery.club/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/intro-woodworking-infographic.png?ssl=1)

## Skills you will use

- The four-step milling process
- Loose mortise and tenon with the Festool Domino
- Marking and layout for joinery
- Tapering legs
- Gluing up a solid wood panel
- Flattening and sizing a tabletop
- Routing a chamfer
- Sanding and scraping to a finish-ready surface

## Tools

[Mitre Saw](https://thejoinery.club/docs/dewalt-mitre-saw/) · [Jointer](https://thejoinery.club/docs/jointer-planner/) · [SawStop Table Saw](https://thejoinery.club/docs/sawstop-table-saw/) · [Domino](https://thejoinery.club/docs/domino/) · [Router Table](https://thejoinery.club/docs/router-table/) · [Drum Sander](https://thejoinery.club/docs/drum-sander/) · [Drill Press](https://thejoinery.club/docs/grizzly-drill-press/)

## Time

Five phases. The class runs it over five weeks.

## Download the companion

  [Download the Shaker Side Table companion (PDF)](https://thejoinery.club/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Shaker_Side_Table_Project_Companion.pdf)

## Stuck?

Open office hours run Wednesdays and Saturdays. Bring the project, bring the board, bring the question. Worth bringing in before the base glue-up.

### *Related*