I built this side table at the Bauhaus Woodshop in 2010. This is my first table to be built with almost exclusively hand tools. Along with learning important basics like flattening the top and edge gluing boards, I learned how to layout and cut difficult joints.
I designed the table around the decisions to use only three legs and to be unusually short. Since this was going to be a small, light, and rigid piece, and since every floor in my Chicago apartments have been as non-flat as possible, I wanted three legs so the table would never rock on any floor. The top is tapered from the back to front to match the layout of the feet, and the legs taper outward to maintain the tapered theme. A stretcher joins the three legs with a three-way lap joint. Since the legs are angled, any downward force on the table applies a torque on the legs which strains the oints attaching them to the top considerably. The stretcher provides strength by holding the legs in and countering the torque.
The joints between the legs and the top and the legs and the stretcher are angled blind mortise and tenons. I had only done square mortise and tenon joints before, so this was a useful project to learn how to do them at angles. They turned out to be fairly straightforward. The trick is to use templates and gauges rather than measurements to figure out the angles and lengths of the various pieces.
I ended up with a much glossier finish than I originally wanted. The finish was started with many coats of wet-sanded shellac sealer. Once the wood finally stopped soaking up the shellac, I did one or two coats of wipe on polyurethane. Finishing is still a dark art as far as I'm concerned.