2009-02-11
First thing I completed was the
seats. I was glad I had enough plywood left that I didn't have to buy
more lumber. I had enough scrap pieces to make 3 seats that fit
across the top. I also ripped a 1 X 4 and nailed it on as a rail
for the hinges.
Those are scrap pieces I used as placeholders for the uprights.
Those are scrap pieces I used as placeholders for the uprights.
I found some cabinet hinges I liked.
I took the 1 X 10s outside and marked them to cut the dados for the
shelves. After I spaced the distance between the shelves I uses a
scrap end of a 1 X 10 to mark the width for the dado cut. The
first shelf will be 12 1/2 inches high for the tallest books.
After that I have one 12-inch tall shelf, three 10-inch, and two 8
inch. Actually the last 8 inch shelf will also have access to the
space under the decorative cap so it ought to be nearly 13 inches tall
if I need the space.
I had to make several cuts and I needed some sort of fence for my
router. I thought I was pretty clever making this wooden
fence. It wobbled so I nailed these finishing nails in place to
tighten it up. Not so clever. The finishing nails made
indentation marks on both sides of my uprights. Bummer.
My router's guide was exactly 1 1/2 inches from the 3/4-inch straight
bit so I used this scrap piece of 2 X 4 to help me set the distance
from the fence. Perfect.
I clamped the fence in place with spring clamps.
A light tap with the hammer served for "micro" adjustments.
I quickly learned the router's straight bit knocked a chunk of wood
from the end of every straight cut so I pre-cut both sides of the end
of each channel with a coping saw. No more chunks of wood knocked
out. Cool!
One problem I stewed over for a while. I asked several people for
advice. No one came up with an easy solution. I had a
straight bit for my router that made a dado cut exactly 3/4 inch
wide. Unfortunately every piece of shelving lumber was about 1/32
inch wider than that. People suggested precutting each dado with
a saw. One person even suggested ordering a special bit just for
this lumber. They also suggested paying a cabinet shop to plane
every one of the 28 shelves. Not very practical.
I finally solved the problem by tapping my fence slightly after each cut then making a second cut which widened the slot. It wasn't rocket science but it worked most of the time. Some slots were slightly loose. The tighter slots had to be adjusted after the the uprights were in place.
I finally solved the problem by tapping my fence slightly after each cut then making a second cut which widened the slot. It wasn't rocket science but it worked most of the time. Some slots were slightly loose. The tighter slots had to be adjusted after the the uprights were in place.
