Table saw extension and panel cutting sled - Scott Bookcase

One of the things I am working on is upgrading my shop. I recently constructed a new workbench. On my last furniture project, I made a tenoning jig and in preparation for my next project, the Scott bookcase, I am doing a couple of things to make cutting the panel sides more accurately and with safety in mind.

Extension for my tablesaw
The side panels for the top of the Scott bookcase will be about four feet in length. One of the things I want to do is to be able to cut this long length on my table saw using a panel cutting sled. A safety issue would pop up when cutting long lengths of wood with my old panel sled. I would always have to put weight on the end of the wood going through the blade to keep the wood from tipping off the end of the saw table - very dangerous while making a cut. So, today, I made an table extension for my table saw which will eliminate the possibility of this tipping.

The first try. The table extension cut to size with legs test fitted. I think they are too skinny.

Much better. These legs are 2x4 material cut down to 2 1/2 inches.

I will be adding some little shelf like things to the legs so I can store my saw fence and miter gauge when not in use. And, I am already thinking about improving this design. There is too much unused space under that table, so I am thinking about a small cabinet or something along those lines. Yet another woodworking project!

Panel cutting sled
My old panel cutting sled was a copy of one that Norm Abram designed. It served me well for for more than twenty years. But over this period it warped a little and was sized for my old Craftsman table saw. Since I upgraded to a Jet table saw a few years ago, the panel cutting sled did not fit my new saw. So, since the Scott bookcase will have a number of panels to cut, a new sled is in order.

Plywood parts. The panel sled will be made from these two left over
pieces of plywood, joined with biscuits.

Glued up. My new workbench is handy for this task.

Already, my new workbench has been very useful. It is extremely stable and the box beams have been handy in drilling holes for screws. With my old workbench, I would always have to hang a board off the side of the table to pre-drill for screws. This was necessary to keep the drill bit from digging into my workbench top as it exited the wood. With the new workbench, I simply move the two box beams slightly apart making this process much easier. Also, in the photo above, I have flipped the box beams over to the melamine side so that any glue that I missed during clean-up will easily come off. Note in the last photo, the long strip of wood in the background. This piece of maple from my first panel cutting sled will be attached to the new sled tomorrow and I will also add the runner for the miter gauge slot on my saw.

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Scott bookcase: buying materials

Hauling wood. My van does double duty by transporting lumber and plywood to my shop.

After some scheduling conflicts, I met with my clients and discussed the design of their new bookcase. My presentation included the SketchUp model I have been working on as well as printouts of several views and my original scale drawing on graph paper. We discussed the materials to be used and the time frame for construction, and everything is a go.

I stopped by The Home Depot on the way home and picked up some initial supplies, namely two sheets of birch plywood which will form the box of the upper and lower bookcases. One of the great things about The Home Depot (and Lowes for that matter) is the panel saw they have in the lumber department. I get some initial cuts made there so it is easy to transport and handle what would otherwise be very heavy material.

HOW DO YOU TRANSPORT MATERIAL?

I have a Chevrolet Venture van which I use for work (I sell for Mohawk Carpet). With everything removed from my van, I can load full sheets of plywood in it and close the tailgate - a nice feature. But I was wondering how do other woodworkers transport lumber and such? Pickup? Panel van? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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

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Turbo charged hand cut dovetails

I have never felt compelled to cut dovetails by hand, especially the half blind variety. After seeing this video, I may begin practicing. If I could only do them so easily... I originally saw this video at the Woodworking Magazine blog. Christopher Schwarz shares some thoughts on Rob Cosman's video and process, and there are some interesting comments. With my blog, I had not planned to post videos from other blogs here, but I thought this was too good not to share.

Scott bookcase: The proposed design

Right now I am sitting at a computer in our guest bedroom. This is the computer to which I downloaded Google SketchUp. The funny thing is there are now various sticks of molding in this room. A visitor to our home might wonder, "What in the world is all this molding doing in here?" The simple answer is I had to draw these molding profiles in SketchUp for my next project which I call the Scott bookcase. See the photo below of the proposed design (all photos are clickable for a larger view).

Classic lines. This is a very traditional design.

I had originally proposed a design in which the upper case was roughly the same width as the lower case. I felt the design looked awkward, so I narrowed the top and like it much better. I beefed up the base moldings a bit and will likely raise the height of the upper cabinet waist molding. This bookcase will be painted, so construction will be pretty simple - birch plywood for the case, MDF here and there, poplar trim for the face frames and pine moldings.

Waist moldings. In this close-up, note the built-up moldings which add shadow lines to the project. I will likely increase the upper case waist molding height from two inches to three.

Impressing myself. I thought that drawing the profile of the crown molding would be difficult and even more difficult to tell SketchUp to wrap it around the perimeter of the top, but it went really well.

Rows of molding. Adding an extra row of base molding is more interesting than one row. Note the panel molding on the side of the cabinet. I had to draw that profile as well.

With some luck, I will actually start construction this weekend. As with my other projects, I plan a full photo history of making the bookcase.

Now, about my progress with SketchUp: I am becoming more comfortable with this program. There is still a ton to learn about it, but with some help from Dave Richards and Tim Killen who write Fine Woodworking's blog on SketchUp called "Design. Click. Build." as well as some simple Google searches on, for instance, "how do I move an object on the green axis in SkecthUp", along with my new book, "SketchUp for Dummies", I have a good, basic working knowledge of this program. But a big thank you to Dave and Tim - I am sure there are a lot more questions coming their way.

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

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Making progress with SketchUp

I am determined to learn SketchUp. Since I like to blog about my woodworking projects, I think SketchUp will be a good way to communicate design and construction ideas. So, over the past few days, I have been stealing an hour or three working on SketchUp. I am starting to get the hang of it, but I am still impressed by the complexity of this program. It almost gives me a headache to use it. I have to really concentrate on what I am doing.

Shown above is the finished SketchUp drawing of the lower cabinet of the proposed Scott bookcase. I will work on the upper section this week, but I will be out of town for three nights and it will likely be next Saturday before I can spend any time with it.

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Using architecture in furniture design

U.S. Custom House, New York, Bowling Green Elevation, ca. 1900.

I am a big fan of using architecture as design inspiration for furniture. I am working on the design of the Scott bookcase and have been wrestling with how to take a simple design and add visual interest to it. The wrestling part comes in when I try to balance the desire to add elements with my need to keep the project somewhat simple. See the photo below for a view of how the project currently looks:

One of two designs submitted to my client. About the only architectural
inspiration are the panel sides of the bookcase.

My current thinking to implement an improved redesign of the bookcase. I spent much of the day Sunday working on a design that went really overboard with parts. And that is where the struggle lies. A lot of parts means extended construction time, and I don't want to get into something that becomes a monster.

To help keep construction simple, yet add some style to this bookcase, I plan to include two rows of base molding, instead of one. Also, to help break up the width, I am going to add a center vertical piece. I am toying with the idea of making the top section either more narrow or the same width as the base. And, I am going to add some width to the face frames of both the top and bottom cases.

I plan to work on this new design beginning tonight, so hopefully, I'll have something to post soon.

A DESIGN EXAMPLE

My entertainment center is an example of how I use architecture in furniture design. See the photo below...


Note the base is slightly elevated off the floor. I made the bracket feet taller than I would normally make them. Also see the thin horizontal band that wraps the base section just below the top row of drawers.

On the upper section, the front edge of the left and right side are designed to mimic columns complete with a heavy base, similarly to the columns of the old U.S. Customs House shown in the photo at the top of this post. And I deliberately added a heavy crown at the top.

All of this adds classic design elements to what might otherwise be a boxy design.

GETTING THAT SPARK

I recently drew a SketchUp illustration of a design idea that borrowed heavily from traditional architecture. I had seen a beautifully executed column as part of a built-in bookcase. See the photo below...

The column is easily seen in the left of this photo (click to enlarge). Photo taken from Southern Accents magazine, September/October 2002.

Here is the bookcase I designed using the column as inspiration...

This bookcase is heavily influenced by classic architectural elements. Note the columns that extend from a strong base and becomes more slender towards the crown molding cap.

How has architecture influenced your selection of furniture? If you are a woodworker, do you purposefully look for ways to incorporate architectural elements or rules of order into your furniture designs?

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My top three projects:

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