Bookcase Number 4

[Eowyn]

I did my first woodwork making a bookcase to this same design, back in 1995 at a Tafe short course. Since then, my book collection has grown, as has the number of bookcases.

This is my bookcase number 4.

Tassie Oak finished with Danish Oil. some sort of generic hardwood ply on the back.

edited to add: four bookcases to the same design, but i'm a lot faster at makin' 'em these days.

[BobR]

Looks good. Did you make the boxes on the shelf.

[Old farmer]

Thanks for showing us, Eowyn. This time last year, we moved off the farm to Sydney and, when I have the tiny workshop up, book cases are first on the agenda.

May I ask if the sides, top, bottom are butted, please, and if the shelves are adjustable for height?

[Eowyn]

Bobr: yep, made the boxes that are sitting on the shelf.

Old Farmer: The side are 190mm wide, with an extra 90mm piece (with the curved end) biscuit joined for the bottom section.

The shelves are fixed, in rebates. These bookcases are designed for paperback books, so I never wanted to have adjustable shelves in the top section.

Actually, I made a mistake with this one. I was intending to have the shelf in the bottom section further back, so I could put doors on it, but when it came to routing the rebates for the shelf, I forgot, and so I took the rebate close to the front edge.

[masoth]

I'm soon to start a set of book-shelves for my G/daughter, so your post is particularly timely. There appears to be no sagging assocciated with the shelves - has there been any problem with earlier builds?
GD has many books and I have two sets of encyclopedia to give her, and on top of that she is about to start school so a desk is also on the list.
Would you mind posting the demensions of the unit in your post, with any suggestions of what to avoid in construction?

Many thanks in advance.

soth

[Eowyn]

It's all 19mm tassie oak.
Overall width is 900mm.

Shelves rebated and are spaced at 210 apart in the top section. There's absolutely no problem with sagging. The bottom section (sides and shelves) are 280mm wide. Shelf spacing on the bottom is 270mm.

Actually, the 190mm depth to the shelves is more than I needed for paperbacks, but I thought it would look really odd if it was any skinnier. Since I like having the books at the front of the shelf (it looks tidier, and prevents me storing stuff in front of the books), I made spacers that sit at the back of the shelf, keeping the books at the front.



I was bored the other day, and so drew it up in Sketch-up. I'll try and attach the sketchup file, but i'm not sure which file you actually need. ( I forgot to draw the kickboard in the sketch-up model.)


As you can see in the photo of the three earlier bookcases, the collection was starting to overflow - hence number 4.

[masoth]

Thanks Eowyn,
" I made spacers that sit at the back of the shelf, keeping the books at the front." thats a nifty idea, and tha cases side by side do look good.
Although I have .skp I can't get your link to open - it keeps trying to open in Adobi reader.

Thanks Mate, soth

[Old farmer]

Thanks for all the information, Eowyn, much valued.

With my eyes, I cannot see the rebates for the sides. Did you step them back 25mm or so, please? If so, is that for appearance?

[Eowyn]

Yes, for appearances sake, the rebates are stepped back about 10mm from the front., and are about 5-6mm into the sides.

So if any visitors are overenthusiastic in their praise, I point out the shoddy workmanship where i've cut the front corners of the shelves back.:D

[AlexS]

Very nice job Eowyn. How about some close-ups of the boxes on the boxmaking thread please.

[Eowyn]

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=80471

and
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=81882

[Old farmer]

Thanks for the links, Eowyn. I assume you used your new SCMS for these boxes. How are you finding it and what were you using before, please?