Boarded Shelving Unit

 

After making several boarded bookcases, Cindy and I downsized the design to make a boarded shelving unit for the den.

This is the unit I put in my office...it is made from the plans of Christopher Schwarz.

The main differences will be that shelves and sides that are 7.5 inches instead of 11.5 inches.

The spacing between shelves will all be ~9 inches.

The unit will be slightly shorter and will have a top.

Design

Wood Selection, Milling Wood

Sanding, Finish Application

Carcase Assembly

Final Touches and End Product

 

Design

A Sketchup model...

 


Wood Selection, Milling

 

The wood in this project will be...

Secured at the local BORG.

1 x 8 x 8s milled, four square


 


Additionally, the four back boards will be...





















Sanding, Finish Application
Prior to assembly all interior surfaces on the sides and the show surfaces on horizontals were sanded with the Rotex 150mm at 120x to 200x with select surfaces at 400x.
Then padded on a couple of coats of shop mixed wiping varnish...


Carcase Assembly

The shelves and the top rail were glued into the dadoes of the left side using hide glue. Then the right side was placed on top...all the joints were aligned and clamped up.

Cindy and I did this with the carcase on saw benches rather than on the assembly table...it was just too tall for us to do the job.

This saw bench height worked nicely.

I marked for the nails holes...using a tick stick
After ripping and squaring a 4 inch kick board...the board was squared to fit with the LN51 shooter board. The piece was then hide glued and clamped.
The nail used for one of the bookcases is a black 4d diamond-head machine forge at Clouterie Rivierre in France.
The nail used for the other second bookcase is a blue version.
The length is determined using the following formula...determine the thickness of wood to be attached...in this case 1/2 inch. Convert that to eighths...thus 4/8...take the top number, in this case four provides you with the penny...I am using a 4d nail.
The pre-drilled hole will be about 2/3 as deep as the nail shaft extends and will be tapered.
I did the verticals first...laid out the holes and drilled with the tapered bit...

...hammered in with a peen hammer.

Then we laid out for the horizontals...using a tick stick...

Nailed up, ready for the back boards...

The rear tongue and groove boards were dry fit into the the back of the carcase. These bookcases are a bit narrower than the original.

 

Seven slats were used...the two end slats were ripped to fit at about 3 7/8 inches...the base of the back board rests on the bottom shelf...

 

Secured them with screws...#6 x 1 1/4 inch square drives up through the bottom shelf into the bottom of the back board...and #6 x 1 inch through the back board into the two shelves... and from the rear of the back boards into the top rail.

All of the screws were located in the center of each back board to allow for expansion side to side.

 

 

 

A wooden strip was attached to the back of the top rail to hide the end grain tops of the back boards.

Construction complete...

 

Final Touches and End Product
The unit was laid horizontally over the saw benches...
All of the front show surfaces were made coplanar with various planes...
Then these show surfaces were sanded by Rotex 90 in grit progression of 100x, 220x, to 400X...
...and then finished with hand sanding at 600x

...and all the edges and the outer faces of the sides received two coats of rubbed on wiping varnish.

 









 

 

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