Getting It Just Right
I finally got to a point with the poplar prototype's proportions that I was happy with, so I began milling some 8/4 cherry down to the final dimensions needed for the feet to the base. As I mentioned in a previous entry, this base is definitely influenced by some of the Thomas Moser work I have seen in a few of his more recent designs, but also pulls from some Asian influences as well.
The mass of the case left me with the desire to give it a lighter feel overall, almost like it's floating, but not too overwhelming too look like some rudimentary droid from Star Wars. Elevating the feet off the the base with some perpindicularly located rails allows me to achieve this look, without sacrificing stability. Cutting a recess in the bottoms of the feet allowed me to lift it off of the ground, and gave the base four points of contact for an additional level of stability.
The feet are milled to 1 3/4" wide x 1 1/2" tall. The taper on the rails and the front ends of the feet were cut on my shop made rip-fence extender to a 20 degree angle. The recesses were cut on the bottoms and tops with a table saw, and smoothed. Notched recesses on the rails and the feet are cut to an equal depth of 1/4", and fit snugly with each other when mated up.
With the feet and rails dry fit together, I drilled two holes along each joint through the top to a depth of 1 1/2". I then glued the two pieces together with some Gorilla Glue wood glue, and glued some dowel pegs into the base for additional stability. When dried, I then trimmed the dowels flush with the surface. No worries on the final finish, as this will then be glued and screwed into the case with some wood screws through the underside of the feet.
A Design Inspiring a Future Project
My daughter also needs a nightstand for her room at some point, and I can easily see myself talking this base design and applying it to a case piece with a drawer for my next project. I feel like taking the time to prototype the base design with some scrap lumber, really helped me get to a place in the design where I am really happy. I'd love to hear what some other woodworkers think about this as well.