Thread: WIP - Blackwood Bookcase

Hey All,

Been able to get some time in the workshop recently. I love reading through the BIG STUFF threads so thought I would share this project.

The bookcase will be installed into a 70's built kit home on the Mornington Peninsular that still has that straight lined minimalist style. The case will be L shaped with the long side around 2.2m W x 2m H and the short side 1.1m W x 2m H. Its around 320mm deep.

You can see from the sketchup model that the case butts up against the door frames at each end which should give it that built in look.. There will be one fixed shelf running the full width across the middle (not as in the sketchup) and 4 movable shelves in each section. The L shaped shelves will be mitered with a notch in the back corner to allow for a vertical upright to support the top and bottom. The plinth is solid timber at 80mm above the floor level. The client/wife/father-in-law are thinking painted back panels to match the wall colour but I'm not completely sold on that yet.

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The shots below show the first part of the build. It took some time but I have all the vertical and horizontal sections glued up and machined as well as filling any knots with epoxy. You can also see the racks that I built for this project, it would have been impossible to manage so many large sections without them.


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As the deign is very simple (not planning on any face frames or embellishments) I decided to add a half blind dove tail to each exposed corner of the plinth to zaz (say it with a lisp) it up a bit. I like to cut the tails on the table saw and then hand fit the pins. Each dove tail is offset upwards to allow for the carpet that runs along the front edge. The rest of the joinery has been done with the domino.

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Next steps are to rough sand the epoxy and then off to another work shop that has a wide belt sander. Sanding the whole thing with the orbital would take way to long and the finish is much better (I don't much care for ROS scratches...even with the Festool). Once that's done then I'll finish dimension everything and continue with the domino for the carcass joinery.

Still need to figure out how im going to glue this thing up. Maybe time for some new clamps!