Steve Latta is a veteran period furniture maker with decades of experience as a craftsman and a teacher. As someone who teaches traditional woodworking techniques to dozens of students a year, he’s also a fan of something he calls “sequencing.” At its core, sequencing represents a logical approach to building a piece of furniture. Well thought-out strategies allow craftsmen to machine all of their joints (tenons, double-tenons, and even dovetails) at the same time, using the same initial machine set-ups. This ensures accuracy and boost efficiency in the workshop. In the case of this Federal-style side table, a project built by his students every year, most of the joints are executed at the tablesaw. The underlying strategies can be applied to any project, regardless of the joinery or the style.

In this free episode from our Video Workshop series on building a Federal Side Table, Latta demonstrates his efficient approach to cutting and fitting woodworking joinery. To watch the complete series—from start to finish—become a member of FineWoodworking.com. You’ll gain access to our entire lineup of multi-episode video series, 40 years of magazine articles, and a whole lot more.