Pair of Boarded Bookcases

 

After making a bookcase to hold my woodworking library...

I got enthusiastic about making a couple more of these boarded bookcases for my daughter to use in a home schooling classroom and a home office.

This is the unit I put in my office...

This is a picture of the Christopher Schwarz original build...

 

Design

Wood Selection, Milling Wood

Sanding, Finish Application

Carcase Assembly

Final Touches and End Product

 

Design

I will make these bookcases in a similar manner as the first effort...using the same size dimensioned lumber and incorporating a blend of power and hand tools.

 

Wood Selection, Milling

 

The wood in this project will also be pine...but it is white pine with blems and knots...not the same grade as the radiata...less expensive.

I purchased the 4/4 pine stock from Larry at Heartwood in Star, MS.

They surfaced planed both sides of the boards to 7/8 inch thick and jointed an edge.

Boards were ~11+ inches wide and 12 feet long.

Cindy and I cut the boards into 4 foot sections in the garage...and then those 15 boards sat in hot attic for about a month...

 

Additionally, at the orange BORG I bought secondary pine boards...5 inches wide x 3/4 inch thick with vee-tongue and groove.
The seven back boards were crosscut down to 38.5 inches long at the chop saw...
The milling for the 11"+, four foot long pine boards began with the longer boards (the sides) cross cut to get a square end...then they were cut to length of 46 1/8...the length of the board required some weight as ballast, some clamping pressure, and an outrigger...

The boards to be used for the shelves were cleanly cross cut with the sled on the P66...here a 2-4-6 blocks and a clamp are used to hold the long board done for the cut on the crosscut sled.

These boards were all crosscut down to about 35 inches...and effort was made to remove knots and checks from the blank...

All of the blanks were then ripped and chopped to rough sizes ...the blanks for the sides, shelves and rails are shown here.
The boards were surfaced planed to 3/4 inch...
Final length adjustments were made for shelving...all crosscut square to 33 inches.
The sides will have three horizontal through dadoes for the shelves...and one vertical stopped dado for the top rail.
The horizontal shelf dadoes were made in both sides at the same time...this was done at the MFT3 table with 3/4 inch router bit...
The vertical stopped dadoes were made with OF 1400 with 3/4 inch bit...
...then the squared end was put in with chisels.
Sanding, Finish Application
Prior to assembly all interior surfaces on the sides and the show surfaces on horizontals were sande Rotex 150mm at 120x to 200x with select surfaces at 400x.
Then padded on a couple of coats of shop mixed wiping varnish...
After all interior surfaces were coated with varnish, they are ready to assemble.
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.

 

A completed bookcase...
Both bookcases, finished and in the garage, ready for shipping and handling...
The unit in the office...
 
The unit in the classroom...

 

 

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