Thread: Chippendale Hanging Shelves

No sitting for me - I want to lean over the bench and see it all - maybe I'll sit up in the lemon tree?

Originally Posted by waveink

No sitting for me - I want to lean over the bench and see it all - maybe I'll sit up in the lemon tree?

You'll need your harness today!

To prevent the simple structure falling apart, the shelves are dovetailed into the sides and likewise, the drawer divider is dovetailed into the lower shelf and the base board.

With the stock all prepared, I sawed the stopped dovetail housings and carefully removed the waste.

Cleaning out one of the stopped dovetail housings.

Next I laid out the 'Chinese fence' and scroll patterns on both of the sides. I would normally saw this sort of work on a conventional V-table mounted in the vice using a fretsaw, but because the shelf sides are so long and ungainly, I simply clamped them vertically in the vice and cut out the patterns with a coping saw.

The final cut!

The rain and high winds eased today, so I glued the shelves and sides together and left them aside to dry while I get on with making the two drawers.

The assembled shelves.

"Munificence" - what a wonderful word.

Looks better than the original .
This is a smaller item . Does that mean that you haven't had to work in the lemon studio?

WW, I am always impressed by your skills with hand tools!!

I know you have had years of practice but I know if I attempted that with afretsaw it would look decidedly moth-eaten.

Great work!! I really like the overal simplicity of this piece.

Thanks for the WIP!!

Originally Posted by Peter36

Looks better than the original .
This is a smaller item . Does that mean that you haven't had to work in the lemon studio?

The fretwork, as you can see, was done at the bench, as were the stopped dovetails, but there simply isn't the space in a 3m x 3m shed for much else with the bench, bandsaw, lathe, thicknesser, drill press and storage in there. Hence I had to wait until the weather cleared up before I could bung the shelves together outdoors.

Originally Posted by artme

WW, I am always impressed by your skills with hand tools!!

I know you have had years of practice but I know if I attempted that with afretsaw it would look decidedly moth-eaten.

You know what I'm going to say, don't you? PMP!

Actually that's the first time I've used a coping saw in earnest (sawing the waste out of dovetails doesn't count!) since I retired in 2001. The coping saw I have now isn't a bad one, but having sawn out the sides of these shelves with it, it's apparent I'll have to turn a larger, more comfortable handle for it before I next use it in earnest.

Originally Posted by chrisb691

Did you bring the peanuts?

He just brought the one nut himself

Ok Lemon slice an hot cuppa its ruddy cold down here in Iceland

Like the choices WW

Originally Posted by Pat

I'll bring some of Mum's Caramel Slice . . .

Nice swap ya for some Lemon slice

Brought my own seat ...........WW can I borrow the gout stool please? No not for me Nathan Iwannashed will be needing it

Damnn that was quick I skipped in causing a commotion turned round and its finished

Looks great WW

I'm with you on the need for bigger handles on fret saws in particular - there seems to be an idea amongst the mass production tool makers that a tool for fine work needs to be smaller when a larger handle in particular often offers much finer control. Sounds like a good reason to get a small lathe.

Can I just check, is that fretwork first cut, or did you tidy it up with files, rasps, etc?

Originally Posted by rhancock

I'm with you on the need for bigger handles on fret saws in particular - there seems to be an idea amongst the mass production tool makers that a tool for fine work needs to be smaller when a larger handle in particular often offers much finer control. Sounds like a good reason to get a small lathe.

The handles I make for my Stanley chisels are comfortable, so I'll likely make one for the coping saw and another for my veneer saw which is similarly crippled.

Originally Posted by rhancock

Can I just check, is that fretwork first cut, or did you tidy it up with files, rasps, etc?

That was literally the last saw cut (in the second image). In the last picture however, I have sanded off the tear-out caused by the coping saw which makes it look a bit sharper.

Thanks, WW. Looking forward to seeing more progress.

The two small drawers are made entirely of mahogany and constructed in keeping with period practices with the exception of the drawer bottoms whose grain runs side to side rather than front to back. It wasn't unusual for drawers of this diminutive size and width-to-depth ratio to flaunt the grain direction rule.

I glued the drawer stops in place, cleaned the shelves up, polished them and attached the Dutch drop handles to the drawers.

The finished shelves.

The proportions of the 'Chinese fence' shelves I have seen have varied considerably, but from the outset, I wanted to copy precisely Chippendale's dimensions as notated in the Director, Plate 112. When preparing the components for these shelves, my initial impression – and one that perturbed me during the construction – was that the shelves would be disproportionate and maladroit (the proportions and perspective of some of Chippendale's drawings are notoriously cockeyed). However, now that the shelves are completed and suspended on a wall, I am perfectly content with them.

An unexpected bounty this morning was when the curtains were drawn back and, for the first time, the daylight passing through the shelves described fascinating geometric shadows across the walls.