Past project: The massive bookcase

Getting dark. Photo taken at dusk. The bookcase looks good, I hate
this photo of me (note that I am wearing my Dale, Jr. t-shirt).

As I have pointed out elsewhere on this blog, I have been woodworking for more than 25 years. My first commission came my way a couple of years ago. A friend of a friend found out that I make furniture and asked if I would be interested in building a bookcase. Since I plan to have a full scale cabinet shop by the time I retire, I figured it was high time that I tackled a project for hire and begin the process of understanding woodworking as a business.

The client was a professor at a local university and as such had a ton of books with no place to put them. The goal was to construct a bookcase to reside in her home office. The bookcase should take maximum advantage of the space available in order to store as many books as possible. The home had nine foot ceilings and the space along one wall was large enough for a five foot wide bookcase. We settled on a eight foot tall bookcase. The wood would be knotty pine and would have a medium brown stain. In order to move this bookcase it would be necessary to make it in sections. So, the left and right sides are separate, and the base and crown are removable.

I quickly learned that my shop is extremely inadequate to handle the large size of this project - even though this bookcase is constructed in sections. This meant a lot of round about ways of doing things. I wrote here about cutting the plywood for the back of this project. When test fitting things, I had to assemble the bookcase in my driveway, because my shop has an eight foot ceiling height and therefore not enough room to stand it up with the necessary clearance.

Almost completed. I love a project just before the stain goes on. This was not the most complex project I have completed, but it is the largest in size.

I have sworn off using the pine available at the local home center. This wood is just horrible. Funny thing is that one store calls this wood "Top Choice." This implies that this lumber is of a good quality and it simply is not. Much of this wood is not usable for any furniture project. I spent a lot of time just finding decent material, going to multiple locations to sort through their pine (often called "white wood" which makes me wonder if it is even pine) for straight boards that did not contain terrible defects.

Then staining these boards was a real challenge. It had been a while since I had made anything with this wood. I used a pre-stain blocker to ensure the stain went on as even as possible and even this did not eliminate some poor coloring of the wood. Also, the finish is a satin polyurethane and for my taste this is still too glossy. But, my client was going for the rustic look and she was very pleased with how the project turned out - she even gave me a tip! I could not have asked for a more agreeable client.

Classic lines. I love the look of this bookcase.

Due to a computer crash, I lost the photos from the construction of this project. This job took so much out of me that I didn't tackle another woodworking project for quite some time. I worked before work, after work and through the weekend for weeks on end to complete this. But I learned a lot from it and I have a satisfied client and a handsome project for my portfolio.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. Consider subscribing via email or RSS by clicking here.

Some popular projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Coffee Table. 3. The TV Console project

Past project: family room end table

A lot of my early woodworking projects were made of pine. I have been through different phases of influence for my furniture designs. I have always liked the traditional, antique reproduction look. There was a time when I favored primitive furniture, although I did not make many projects in this style. But I did make a lot of things out of pine, and they served their purpose.

Pine is a soft wood and after many years of use, my end table had a pretty badly scratched top. I could have refinished the top, or even simply replaced the top, but I was in the mood to update the furniture in my family room, so a new end table was the answer.

My new wood of choice is red oak. Oak is a hard wood, is much more stable than pine (the stuff at the local home center - is that really pine?), and is readily available at a number of places. So this table is red oak, but it also has quarter sawn white oak panels and a nice quarter turn pattern table top. The rays commonly found in quarter sawn oak have a nice bookmatched pattern. This table is traditional in design, but I went sort of modern with the stain colors.

Designed to fit
One of the problems we have when shopping for furniture is how large furniture is these days. It seems that someone advised furniture designers that everything needs to be bigger. Bigger is better right? Not in our twenty year old house. We don't have the open floor plan that is common place in new home design. The rooms in our home are smaller and sectioned off. So, we always have a problem making furniture fit our rooms.

This end table is adjacent to our entertainment center. And this area is a major traffic lane for the first floor of our home. We also need as much storage space on our first floor as we can get, so this table needed to be as large as possible, without being a traffic obstruction. It was designed to be deeper than it is wide, however it is close to being square in shape.

The only issue I have had with this table is the veneer. I used a MDF base for this veneer. I sealed the MDF and the veneer is the peel and stick variety, but it is not sticking in a few places. It is very possible that I will replace the top because of this problem. NOTE TO SELF: try a different approach to gluing veneer next time.

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Past project: Beth's bookcase

ur daughter, Beth, likes to read. This means she has a lot of books as well as other things that could be displayed on a bookcase. So, a bookcase for her room has been needed for quite some time. Prior to making this bookcase for her, she would stack her books in her closet. After making the massive bookcase, my wife asked me how difficult would it be to make Beth a smaller version. I replied that it wouldn't be hard at all, especially if it were painted (read on).

This project is mostly made from MDF. It is sized for the room and my daughter is a petite young lady, so the height of the bookcase is appropriate for her. One thing I did in the design to dress it up a bit: I simulated panels on the sides. I also like a sturdy look to the base, so you will note a generous base moulding as well as a large base stile for the sides.

The construction is very basic, I used my brad nailer as much as possible. The face frame is joined with pocket screws. Since it was going to be painted, this meant that I could fill all the holes I wanted to.

Some construction photos:

Low tech drawing. I sketch out the idea on a legal pad, drawn to scale.

Fabricating the sides. With the rabbet for the back, and top and bottom dados cut, I use a template and router to bore holes for shelf pins. Yes, that is a blue Hula Hoop in the background.

Just a big box. This photo shows the basic backbone of this project. Everything else is embellishment.

The last two photos were taken with my old digital camera, so my apology for their quality.

Now about painting being easier...
Remember I told my wife that a painted bookcase would be the easy way to go? Well, it has been quite a while since I did any faux painting. The paint job for this project was one major pain in the...well, pain in the neck (I was going to say pain in the butt, but I figure neck pain is worse). I put on a base of red, followed by a dark brown and then a golden brown. I kept working with all of this for days. I finally wiped the project down with a damp cloth and to my surprise, various layers of paint were revealed.

A not so simple paint job. In this photo, note the various shades of brown and even a little red peaking out. This paint job took a long, long time to create.

What I learned with faux painting is that sometimes you just have to keep working with the paint until you are pleased with it's look. Also, faux painting the outside of a bookcase is a lot easier than faux painting the inside. Then the shelves have to match - this was quite a lot of work. But I am pleased with the results.

I enjoyed this project so much, I wrote a book about it; an e-book, more like a long magazine article really. Called, You Can Build a Painted Bookcase, it is eleven pages in length, includes a cut list, an exploded view of the project along with a variety of photos and illustrations covering the steps for construction. This project has some interesting architectural details, but it is easy to build. If you are interested, click here - the download is free of charge.

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Note to self #1

On this blog, I will from time to time admit that I make mistakes. I wish by now that I did not do silly things, but I guess I will until I can't make furniture any longer. I made one yesterday morning. The top of the coffee table will have five narrow pieces of tiger maple surrounded by a frame of red oak. See below:


The inside opening of the frame is ten inches. I cut the five tiger maple pieces two inches wide each. The only problem is that when inserted inside the frame, there is a little too much movement. Fortunately, I still have the cut off from these pieces of wood and I am gluing one back on the middle slat and will make it oh, maybe 1/16" wider.


NOTE TO SELF: Make the slats a little wider next time and then trim them down until they fit properly.

After the glue sets, I will sand it down and hopefully, no one will know the difference.

To see all the posts on this project, click here.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Being resourceful in the shop

My shop made tenoning jig.

Part of my new effort towards woodworking is improving the process in which I make furniture. While constructing the massive bookcase last summer, I learned the importance of efficiently processing wood. The wrong methods lead to a lot more work and time as well as mistakes. Case in point: I thought I could cut a full size sheet of plywood on my table saw. I learned it is better to move the saw through the plywood. I ended up cutting the plywood to size with my circular saw and a straightedge. Simple enough, but I did not even have a good way to cut such a large sheet of plywood. My sawhorses were too small. So, this one step showed me several things that I need to correct before I attempt a large project again.

This week, I had a difficult step to work through. With my coffee table project, I recently needed to cut a 3/8 inch slot in the end of the boards that will make up the center of the table top. There are a couple of different ways to go about this. I could put a slot cutting bit in my router and make the cut. Or, I could cut the slots on the table saw. I decided to use the table saw mainly because I think this is a safer way to go. But, I didn’t have a tenoning jig for my saw.

So the first thing I did was to look online and see what is available. The jig below was the least expensive at $89.00 (click here for a video of this jig in action).

I may get one of these some day, but not now.

The jig offered by Jet, my table saw manufacturer was as high as $174.00. I really did not need to spend this kind of money right now. But, I tried to justify this purchase in my mind. I even planned to drive to Woodcraft in Pelham to see what they had in stock.

Finally I decided against this purchase. I thought about using my router to cut the slot, but the router is just not the right tool for this. I once saw Norm Abram make a jig for his saw to cut raised panels. I decided to make my own jig, taking the basic idea of Norm’s jig and adapting it for my own use. The completed jig, shown above and below, was made from the scrap oak plywood (shown in this post) and with it, I was able to make the needed cuts and I did not spend a dime on it.

Works great.

This jig uses the bulky rip fence of my saw as a guide. I simply move the fence towards or away from the saw blade to fine tune the cut (top photo). The green jig shown above (middle photo) uses the miter gauge track as a guide, so a different way of doing the same thing. The jig is too long, so I will likely cut away part of it, but it worked very well.

Since very few pieces of wood remain flat and straight, I will likely have to purchase a tenoning jig at some point in the future. I would like to purchase a Jet since my table saw is made by them. I like the idea of keeping the accessories for my saw from the same manufacturer. I was pleased to be able to make this jig from scrap wood at no cost to me - very resourceful.

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Have a question or comment about this post? Comments are encouraged on this blog. Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below.

Coffee table: working on the top

The coffee table project is entering a new phase with the fabrication of the table top. The table top has been designed using frame and panel construction. In this case, the frame will literally be like a picture frame with a wood panel in the place of a picture. The frame of the top will be red oak like the rest of the table, but the center of the top will be made from my favorite figured wood: tiger maple. Lots of pictures:

The parts. These four pieces of wood will form the frame of the table top.

In the groove. I need a slot in the frame for the panel to slide into.

A little stress. I have not yet mastered cutting accurate 45 degree angles, so I am a little nervous as I cut these boards.

Biscuits. The components of the frame are joined with biscuits.

Pretty good 45's. I am pleased with the how the angles turn out.

The frame takes shape. All the parts dry fitted using a band clamp.

Looking good. The top in place without the panel.

The next step is to fabricate the pieces that will form the panel of the table top then to glue everything together.

This is post six in this series. To see the next post, "Coffee Table: fitting the top insert" click here.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Coffee table: the glue up

The new coffee table for our family room continues to make progress, although the progress has slowed for a variety of reasons. Birthday parties, college football games to name a few. One woodworking reason is that there are so many parts to glue up, I do it a little at a time.

One of the enemies of a nicely finished project is glue. When glue dries on wood, stain can't penetrate it and if the glue is not removed, the glue will show as spots on the wood. So, doing a little at a time gives me the ability to remove the glue before it sets up.

Dowel joinery. Glue and more glue. Dowels hold this project together.

Squeeze-out. This water based glue has to be removed with a damp cloth.

Clamping the sides. In the background - one side already glued up. Three pipe clamps are used to glue the other side together.

Almost there. Both sides glued to the back.

Slipping the shelf in place. The lower shelf goes in now before the front is glued in place.

Finally! Everything glued up and square.

Each step in the process takes about 30 minutes. This on and off work takes place over a period of a few days. Next up: work on the top begins.

To see all the next post, "Coffee Table: working on the top" click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Coffee table: fabricating the shelf

The coffee table project continues to take shape. With the long Labor Day weekend, I was able to get another phase of this project completed. That being the fabrication of the shelf. I was sort of dreading this step in the project because the oak plywood is somewhat expensive and there was a total of 16 cuts to be made on this plywood and so the chance of a mistake being made is significant.

Accuracy matters. To accurately cut the plywood to size, I place the coffee table on it and note the best placement based on the grain of the wood, eliminating defects in the plywood.

Making the mark. The shelf has to fit around the legs. Here I mark the location of each leg. These marks help me make cuts without gaps between the shelf and each leg. Note the wild grain in the plywood. This will be cut away as much as possible.

Applying pressure. This photo shows the many clamps necessary to glue strips of wood to each side of the plywood. This hides the unsightly plywood edges. This step is difficult because I have to clean up all of the glue that squeezes out under clamp pressure.

The completed shelf. Note notches for the legs in each corner.

On the edge. A close-up of the edge banding.

Testing the fit. The coffee table with completed shelf in place. All of these parts are dry fitted - nothing is glued together. That's the next step. This is about three hours worth of work.

Gluing all these parts together is the next step and I will do this in sections. For instance, I will glue the front together, then the back, then join the two together by gluing the sides.

This is post five in this series. To see the next post, "Coffee Table: the glue up" click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Coffee table: a quick update

Work continues on the coffee table project. Yesterday I spent an hour shopping for the red oak plywood for the lower shelf. You would think that this process would not take so long, but I had to go to three different stores: Home Depot at the Galleria, Lowes on Valleydale Road, and Woodcraft on Cahaba Valley Road. Home Depot had full sheets of this plywood (I don't need a full sheet), Lowes had a 2'x4' "handy panels" which is what I need. And I went to Woodcraft just to see what they had.

It is amazing to me what Lowes had for sale. The 2'x4' handy panels they had were full of terrible defects. Most of these were knots that had come out of the veneer and had been filled with wood putty. For most woodworkers, this material is simply not usable. I sorted through about six of these panels of plywood to find this somewhat acceptable piece:



The grain is wild and I am not sure what has caused those dark stripes. Fortunately for me, the defects are on just one end of the panel (although it also has some scratches in it and footprints where someone had been walking on it). So, I will use it if I can't find something better. That is why I went to Woodcraft - I had hopes that a woodworking store would have better stock, but they have stopped carrying sheet goods.

Fitting the dowels
This morning I worked on the dowels. Because of the length of the dowels, they meet each other inside the legs. Therefore, I need to cut a 45 degree angle on the end of each dowel. I do this on my newest piece of woodworking equipment - my Jet bandsaw. See below:


Here is how the dowels meet up inside each leg:


With this completed, I can actually dry fit all the legs, aprons and stretchers. At present the project looks like this:


During the week, I will work on the lower shelf cutting it to size and adding a oak strip to each edge to hide the unsightly edge of the plywood itself.

I pan to use some kind of figured wood on the top. I saw a beautiful piece of tiger maple at Woodcraft that would be perfect. Hopefully, I will start work on the top next week.

This is post four in this series. To see the next post, "Coffee Table: fabricating the shelf" click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

The coffee table begins to take shape

Finally, I am back to woodworking. After moving Beth to the University of Alabama and all the prep work leading up to the move, I found some time yesterday afternoon to get back in my shop and make some progress on the coffee table.

First, how about a little history of this project. This table will take the place of a old toy chest in our family room that doubles as a coffee table. In my first post on this project, I included a sketch of the table and photos of the legs and their placement. The second post shows how I drill holes in the legs and the aprons for dowels, and begin sanding these parts.

Yesterday, I finished sanding the legs and aprons, cut the aprons to size and dry fit the parts. This is the part of the project where it becomes fun, because the coffee table is beginning to take shape. Another reason that this project slowed down is because I hate sanding. I have not yet found a method for controlling saw dust and even with a heavy duty mask, dust finds its way into my sinuses.

Two aprons from one board. In this photo from my last post, I show a apron board that will be cut into two pieces: an upper and a lower apron.

The cut. I am about to run the apron board through the table saw separating the board into an upper and lower apron (the lower apron would technically be called a "stretcher").

Fitting the dowels. I use 3/8" dowels and a 3/8" drill bit to make the holes. You would think that the dowels will fit, but they don't. They must have swelled due to humidity, so I have to take a slightly larger drill bit and ream out all those dowel holes so the dowels will fit. The photo above shows two dowels joining the leg to the upper apron.

The dry fit. It is time to see how some of these components fit together. In the photo, I have dry fitted (no glue) the parts for the front and back of the coffee table.

The next step is to dry fit the left and right sides and begin working on the lower shelf. The lower shelf will be a piece of red oak plywood edged in solid red oak. I wouldn't normally use oak plywood for this, but my concern is that solid oak boards will expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity and I don't want the expansion to push the legs apart. Plywood is much more stable. Once the lower self is properly cut to size, then I can glue all of these parts together and begin working on the top.

This is post three in this series. See the next post, "A Quick Update" by clicking here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Past project: my entertainment center

This is the second entertainment center (or EC for short) I have built for my home. Some drawbacks from the first one that I wanted to correct with this EC are: First - this entertainment center is located next to a main traffic area of our first floor. The doors of the old EC encroached on this traffic area (the old EC was built prior to the development of sliding pocket doors). The doors were always open - we almost never closed the top of our entertainment center. A goal with the new EC: no doors. Second - I like to see my A/V equipment. I think they look cool. So, again the new EC would not have doors. Third - when we would walk into the room from our foyer, we could see all the wires and cables between the back of the EC and the wall. So, a goal was to conceal these wires as much as possible. Fourth - our old EC had very poor storage for all those tapes, CDs, DVDs and remotes. The new EC would have a lot of drawer space to hide all of these things. Fifth - the design of the new EC should add architectural interest to the room.

This project took a year to complete. The wood is about 80% solid red oak and there is an upper and a lower section. It is extremely heavy. Each section took three people to lift into place. When I need access to the cables in the back, I have to use a car jack to raise the EC and put slides under the feet.

I pulled the design from three sources. I once saw a beautiful flame Birch step back hutch in Fine Woodworking magazine. It had the drawers arranged as you see on the new EC. The bracket feet are an adaptation of bracket feet on a linen press found in the Biltmore house in Ashville, North Carolina. The crown is an adaptation from a large breakfront cupboard from Fine Woodworking.

The lower section is designed so that the drawers are tall enough to accommodate the various tapes and DVDs, the TV remains at eye level when seated and I like the height of the space between the floor and the bottom of the EC. So, there was a lot of adjusting of the design to make this all work.

The upper section is designed to house the TV and three rows of equipment above it. The shelf above the TV is removable. I did a lot of internet research of the size of different TVs in determining the size of the next largest TV. There is a cut-out in the back of the top section to allow our TV to fit into. This minimizes the depth of the EC. Again, a lot of tweaking the design to achieve what I wanted in my next entertainment center.

I like the proportions and the traditional design. The only drawback is that now TVs are sized differently and only a small flat screen TV is going to fit the space. I made the TV area expandable, but based on the square shape of old TVs. New TVs are rectangle and this will limit the size of the next TV we purchase.

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Have a question or comment about this post? Comments are encouraged on this blog. Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below.

Coffee table: using a dowel jig

Here is a photo update of the coffee table I am building for our family room. Click here to see the first post on this project. In the first post, I showed the completed legs and marking them for assembly. This post focuses on drilling the holes for the dowels which will join the legs to the aprons.

Making holes. This jig centers the drill bit and keeps the drill bit straight.

The result. Photo of a leg with dowel holes drilled.

Layout lines. The apron showing the lines on the end of the board where dowels holes will be drilled. The lines on the face of the board show where it will be cut into upper and lower aprons.

Dusty. It is easiest to sand the wood now before assembly. I use my palm sander for this. Note the dowel holes already drilled on the end of the board.

So, that is where I am at right now. The next step will be to do the final sizing on the apron boards and begin assembly.

This is post two in this series. To see the next post, "The Coffee Table Begins to Take Shape", click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com or you can contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Subscribe via email or RSS by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.