BasicBUILDS
Prop up your houseplants in style
I’ve always been drawn to the clean lines, gentle curves, and obvious functionality of mid-century modern furniture. This plant stand incorporates all three attributes in its simplicity and usefulness. I designed it as a teaching tool for the two basic woodworking joints it includes: the mortise and tenon and the lap joint. The project is easy enough for a beginner to make in a day while learning valuable woodworking skills and getting time on two of the most-used shop machines: the table saw and the router table. And even if you’re an experienced woodworker, the aesthetically pleasing stand will look good in any home. As shown, the design fits a 10" round planter, but you can adapt the dimensions to fit nearly any size pot.
Order of Work
- Mill the legs and rails
- Rout the mortises
- Cut the half laps and tenons
- Assemble and finish
onlineEXTRA
- See onlineEXTRAS below for a full cut list.
Simple connections for a strong base
The plant stand, made from mahogany, consists of four legs with two rails crossing between. The rails connect to the legs with mortise & tenon joints and have a lap joint in the center where they intersect. The legs are rounded on their outer edges to soften their look and add a touch of flair. The dimensions are based on a 10" tall planter, 10" in diameter. Purchase the planter first so you can adapt the dimensions as necessary.
Make the parts and rout the mortises
Mill stock to the thicknesses and widths specified in the drawing on the facing page, adjusting their lengths to suit your pot. Mill extra for test cuts. Lay out the mortise on one leg and transfer the lines to its outside face. Mount a 1/4" straight bit in your router table and set its height to 1/4", adjusting the fence to center the mortise on the leg. Mark the bit’s location on the fence, then set stop blocks to control the length of the mortise. Place the marked leg against the fence with its bottom end to the left. Align the mark for the mortise bottom with the bit’s left location line, and clamp the first block at the end of the leg to the right. Repeat the process with the mortise’s top mark and the bit’s right location line to locate the left stop block. Using stop blocks ensures consistent mortise length without having to lay out each mortise. Rout the mortises to their full depth in three successively deeper passes. Switch to a 3/8" roundover bit and shape the outer edges of each leg.
Rout the mortises. Hold the leg against the right-hand stop and pivot it down the fence onto the spinning bit to start the cut. Push from right to left until you reach the left-hand stop.
Cut the lap joints
Lay out the lap joint notch at the center of a rail. Rather than trying to set up the dado blade to the perfect width, I prefer to make the notch in two passes, using both ends of the rail as reference to center the cut. Set the dado to 5/8" wide and just under 5/8" high. Attach a wooden auxiliary fence to your miter gauge to support the rail and help prevent tearout. Clamp a stop block to the auxiliary fence aligning the edge of the blade with the layout line nearest the block. Make the cut then flip the leg to widen it, checking the fit against the thickness of the other rail. Adjust as necessary. When you have a good fit, adjust the blade height as needed to make the tops and bottoms of the rails flush.
Saw the tenons
Make a follower block from a piece of 3/4" plywood about 6-1/2" wide by 8" long. Clamp a wooden auxiliary fence to your rip fence. Set your dado to about 13/16" wide and bury it under the auxiliary fence with 11/16" of the blade exposed. Set the blade height to about 3/16". Make the cheek cuts as shown. Check the fit and raise the blade as necessary, cutting both sides after each adjustment. The tenon should slide into the mortise with a little hand pressure. If you have to hammer it in, it’s too tight, but it shouldn’t fall out either. Make the cheek cuts on all the tenons then reset the dado height to saw the tenon shoulders using the same technique.
Cut the shoulders. Reset the dado height to a little less than 1⁄8" to cut the shoulder. Incrementally raise the blade and make light passes until the tenon fits its mortise. Despite the gaps to accommodate the round mortises, there is plenty of long-grain contact to ensure a strong joint.
Fine tune, assemble, and finish
Trim the rails flush to each other as needed with a hand plane. I also use a hand plane instead of sandpaper to remove the mill marks, as it’s less likely to distort the shape of the parts. Dry clamp the assembly to make sure all joints close. Tweak the fit of the joints by paring the tenon cheeks with a shoulder plane or a 1" chisel. Apply glue to the notches in each rail—a tight joint may not require a clamp. Brush glue in the mortises and on the tenons, and attach the legs. When the whole piece is dry, check it for level. If it rocks, sand the feet as shown. Finally, sand the piece through 220 grit, and apply two to three coats of your favorite finish. I used wiping varnish.
Pull it together. Get your glue-up supplies ready first, then draw the joints together with clamps. Wipe away any glue squeezeout.
Level the legs. If you find your stand rocks slightly, level the legs by taping squares of sandpaper to a piece of MDF and scrubbing the stand back and forth across them.
About the Author
Ellen Kaspern is a graduate of the North Bennet Street School’s Cabinet & Furniture Making program. She owns Ellen Kaspern Design and is a member of the Charlestown Furniture Makers cooperative in Boston, MA. In addition to designing and building custom furniture, she has been teaching woodworking and furniture making for over 15 years. This is her first article with Woodcraft Magazine.
