The Duality Entry Table Retrospective
It’s been over a month since I finished the Duality Entry Table and I neglected to do a retrospective until now.
Holidays distracted me, but now that I’ve moved on to new projects I’m going to take a step back and reflect on what I believe is my best piece yet.
For more pictures, click the image to take a look at the full gallery.
In case you haven’t read or done a retrospective it’s a look back to see what went well and what could have been done better. I like to start with the good first.
What went well
The most obvious thing about this project is the front panel. I carefully selected a wild grained board to use as the drawer fronts and I’m sure glad I did. The wood does a great job elevating this piece and all I had to do was get out of its way and let it shine.
Secondly, the design. I started listing each detail individually but am consolidating all the little details that make this piece special into one statement and that’s because this piece went exactly has I envisioned it. From the way the stretchers nest into the legs to the sliding dovetails and mortise and tenons. Every part of this project came together exactly how I wanted it to.
Third, the drawer slides. The drawers will built design first, function second and I had no idea how they would actually ride on the curved rails. It didn’t matter to me though as these drawers aren’t going to be used daily, but I was surprised how well they glide after a coat of finish and some paraffin wax. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the build video.
What could have been done better
The sides of the drawers still have some lines in them from the dado stack. I think it might have had a chipper not fully seated and was causing some grooves. Unfortunately I could not sand the grooves out without messing up the geometry of the drawers and opted to leave a few lines.
The drawer divider connection to the back stretcher did not go well, as seen in the video. My first mortise attempt was a fail and my second dowel attempt was also a fail. Not so much that it caused any issues in the end result, but also not as perfect as they could have been.
Final thoughts
I try to keep the retrospectives focused on the project so I excluded talking about the video itself, but I couldn’t be happier with the way it came out. It’s been nearly a year and a half since I created my first YouTube video and I’ve learned so much in that time. I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings me and I’m hoping for many more builds and videos like this one.