Thread: Overhead bookcase help

My thought is that as long as it's a cabinet and not just a shelf you probably won't have too many issues, as long as you don't have too long an unsupported span, as the cabinet box sides would handle supporting the bottom shelf for you. Probably don't make the cabinet boxes too big so that there isn't too much unsupported span of shelf. If you need a bottom rail to support the shelf fronts that could be done as a decorative feature.

Well, I'll turn this into a WIP.

I have a problem (wife and three young children and a full time job) which prevents me from doing large projects in a timely manner using lots of hand tools and dovetails etc. The chest of drawers I made for the bedroom took over 5 years...

So I am going to use slightly dirtier techniques on this one and trim it up to match the piano and organ a little. The decision was made not to use Jarrah, but to use some beams that are of a lighter colour. I am not sure what they are - they were exposed beams in a rich persons house before he pulled them all out and gave them to me for free. They are all about 3600 long but all have a notch in the middle. Unfortunately. Beggars can't be choosers...

So I am going to make two similar units, about 1600 long by 400 deep and about 480 high plus a little trim top and bottom.

Thankfully I am in quarantine at the moment (was on the Alice Springs to Adelaide flight a few weeks ago so am a 'close contact'). I'm supposed to be working but there is only so much of my actual job I can do in quazza so plenty of time in the shed.

Anyway. I broke a bunch of the beams into 1700mm lengths and then split them in halves to make 18x120 planks, and glued them up to make two large panels and 2 smaller ones for the ends and centre divider.

All glued up over a few days and then thicknessed to about 16mm final. I often rue having such a large bit of machinery in the shop but occasionally it is just fantastic. Although I had to move it out a few inches from the wall to get the bigger boards through as the drill press was blocking a few inches on the outfeed end. No easy task at 400 odd kgs.

With the boards dressed, I trimmed them to width and length. Unfortunately I don't have the shed space to do the ends on the saw so I trimmed them with a hand saw then routed to the line. Stupidly, I checked the squareness of the cut after the very last trim and realised the framing square I was using was a mickey whisker out so now I am going to have to trim all the end square again. Bugger. Fortunately size is not critical.

So that is it for today. I shall trim them square again tomorrow and then see where I am at.

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MODS- can yo uplease change the title to a WIP? Cheers

A fair bit more work today. Trimmed up the panels and sanded the planer marks out.
Not all dirty work - managed to utilise the old girl to cut rebates in the side panels for the back.
Decided to make up and glue onto the top and bottom panel a long wide strip to allow fixing to the wall. I am hoping that these will provide enough strength to support..
The panel saw makes a great sticking bench.
Glued and screwed box. I have used a double central panel to allow room for a centre trim. I am going to put trim around all sides so not too fussed about screws etc as they will be covered.
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Another day and some good progress. Made up and glued in the other piece for the back panel to secure to the wall.

Next job was to make up some mouldings. I thicknessed some 2400 lengths down to 26mm and ran the router over them a few times to make a moulding for the top and bottom edges. Cut them up and glued on the majority of it. A few more bits to glue on in the morning, then I need to make up some more mouldings.

The lower one (RHS in last image) is flush as it will butt up against another case (same as this one - yet to be made) The next one will sit lower to mimic the piano.

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So Friday was spent making a little piece of trim for the centre column. I used two boards in the centre to make it 32mm thick so cut out a 32mm block and did some design styling off the organ. I cut out the fiddly bit on the scroll saw and the rest on the band saw.
Clean up with chisel and bull nose and sandpaper then glued on.
I realised afterwards that it was slightly wider on one side at the bottom so I cleaned it up with a chisel and made it pretty.

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Sunday I had to make up the trim on the top RHS return. Unfortunately the piece I made for the top was a little short…it was a bit of a bastard ton match it again but got there eventually.

Next was the trim for the left and right edges vertical front edges.

My original plan was to make a turned column, square at the top and bottom, a curved section in the middle.
The problem is, there will be a second bookshelf exactly the same butted up against this one to the left, but 156mm lower to match the heights of the piano to organ.
I couldn’t come up with a design where the two columns would meet nicely and match (they will be cut into each other)
After a fair bit of contemplation I decided on a straight fluted column as then they will match seamlessly…. Like a lot of things in this build, I haven’t done these before so I am making it up as I go.

First up I cut out some 32mm2 square blanks.
Next I chucked them in the lathe and built up a jig so I could run the router along to make a nice straight rod. My hand turning skills are definitely not up to making 4 perfect rods of uniform diameter.

A quick sand and all done.

That’s where I stopped for the day as I then realised I don’t currently have an appropriate router bit.

I have since purchased an appropriate bit and will hopefully have a crack at it soon.

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Looking pretty spiffy. I love the lathe jig; I think I'll have to try that myself!

Next step was to flute the columns. I used the same jig with a smaller router. I used the indexing head of the lathe to put twelve flutes on them.
I then used the larger router with a straight bit to take out a 90 degree segment. I used a shoulder plane to trim it to match up nicely. The one on the right was glued on, and the one on the left I only nailed on as I will remove it later once I make the second bookcase. I’ll then add a single one to cover the join.
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Well I finished this one a while ago, but forgot to put up the images.

came up a treat. Have now started the second one to go above the piano.

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Looks Great !

They never change the thread name for you .
Ive been skipping past this since looking at post 1 thinking its all about how to do it and I take a look and you've done all this !
Nice action shot from the workshop . What did you finish the piece with ?

Originally Posted by auscab

Looks Great !
What did you finish the piece with ?

Cheers mate, I used Cabots gloss cedar stain and varnish. 2 coats, and then a coat of clear. Probably a little too glossy to be honest. I was trying to match the piano.

Well I have finished and installed the second bookcase and I think it looks pretty good.

I still have to make up a bit of trim to join the two cases together, as I was waiting to install to get the measurements correct. There is a temporary one nailed on in the interim.