I recently got these back from the upholsterer, and I think they turned out pretty decent (except for all the flaws I know about...).  I let a pro do the upholstery as we wanted leather cushions, and I didn't want to screw it up since leather takes special tools to work and is so costly.  These were really my first serious project since I got the shop up and running and they took forever to complete.  I think I was too worried about making a mistake or something.  I did learn a lot from this project and I feel my next project is going a lot quicker as a result.

The wood is Qtr Sawn White Oak.  The legs are cut from an 8/4 board, and everything else is 4/4.  The finish is ammonia fumed and then Watco Natural, rubbed out with White ScotchBrite.  I did have some trouble getting coloring to be consistent enough, mainly because the legs didn't darken as much as the rest of it did.  I experimented with several ways to darken the legs including aniline dyes, pigment stains, and Watco Dark Walnut.  No matter what anyone tells you about dyes not collecting in the pores, don't believe them - they do.  The effect just isn't as harsh as with a pigment stain since the dye colors the wood between the pores a lot more.

The design is based on a plan from the Dec 94 Popular Mechanics, but they used slats instead of spindles on the end panels, and I wanted this to look consistent with an end table design that is in the works.  Besides, I like the spindle look better.  I find it helps to use a plan or existing piece as a baseline so the general dimensions are appropriate to the piece.
 
 
 
 
 
 

A close-up of a through tenon and the square walnut peg that secures it.  And, no, you aren't seeing things - the walnut pegs are beveled to a pyramid at the tip.  I'm a details sort of guy.  The pegs are actually square all the way through, as I found it a lot easier to use the mortiser to cut the holes and then make a square peg to fit than to mess with dowels and drill bits that are supposedly the same sizes but really aren't.  Through mortise and tenon joinery requires a whole step up in accuracy above regular blind M&T.  These things are tough to make look good as the slightest gap looks like a canyon.  I found it easier to trim the mortise to fit than the tenon, in a lot of cases, which is opposite of what you find on blind M&Ts.  Still there were gaps...
 
 

This shot gives a nice look at the ray-fleck patterns on the legs.  I was a bit surprised that the 4/4 parts didn't show their grain patterns as well after finishing as the 8/4 did.  The 4/4 rays came out darker for some reason.  You can see a little of what I mean on the upper rail.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The "Before" shot of many of the parts prior to glue-up.  If you want to make Mission style furniture, a mortiser is a great investment.  There were 40 individual mortises for the spindles alone.  I did the rail mortises by hand, and realized how long it would have taken to do all those spindles by hand...
 
 
 
 

I made a prototype out of cheap pine 1x4's to determine the number of spindles I wanted to use (7 or 5).   I thought 5 looked better than 7.  This isn't glued up, but I may do it one of these days and paint it for the kid's room or something (very low on  the priority list...).  I highly recommend prototyping out of cheap pine 1x's and 2x's as it can tell you a lot about how a project will look and come together - things you often don't want to learn about on your good (expensive) wood.
 
 

All in all, a very nice project to start with, and it gives the baby one more thing to gnaw and drool on...