# A bookcase for Bonnie (SWMBO)



## barkwindjammer (31 May 2011)

I hope this will inspire other noobs, like me,
before last year I found wood to be a completely mysterious and difficult material, then I found this forum :wink: 
and a whole new world of possibility opened up, helped along by the many inspiring posts and projects that is held in this encyclopedia of knowledge.
A hearty thanks to all who make this forum what it is  , and to Chems for allowing me to pick his brains with those annoying noob type questions  

Sorry there's no WIP pics, as I became so consumed in what I was doing.

This bookcase was made of 'fixboard' a pine laminated board,
the back is 6mm ply which sits in a groove (dado, groove, rabbet) which I cut with my cheapo biscuit jointer (makes a blerdy good job) 
and the finish (this was the bit I had the sleepless nights over) was 'Sadolin-earth balance- stain and varnish























There is a tiny routered detail that I added to the sides with my cheapo router, its kinda hard to see, but its there










I started with a very simple 'Sketchup' drawing (thanks DaveR) just to determine scale and for 'setting out' .
The 500x18x2400 boards were ripped down with my Bahco Ergo handsaw £12, squared on a homemade shooting-board with a modern 'Faithfull' £28 plane, the cut-outs in the shelves and small detail to the inner sides of the bookcase sides were done with a Lidl (or Aldi) router £22 I think? .

Sure, you get what you pay for when it comes to tools, but to fellow 'noobs' out there-its what you do, with what you have. What I have learned is patience, and that timeless saying "keep wood as long as you can, as long as you can".

Jeez, I wish I had found this hobby 20 years ago :wink:


----------



## houtslager (31 May 2011)

well done, just remember to think about the finished look when you design the next piece.
As to my eye, the back board looks a bit treacly, but as it will be filled with books and stuff, that will soon 
dissappear.

Hope swimbo likes it too, 

K


----------



## barkwindjammer (31 May 2011)

Yep, totally agree Houtslager the last pic looks 'Radio pants FM', but in my excitement and haste that pic was taken with only 1 coat of stain/varnish, the other 2 coats now make it look deeper and more lustrious (a word I learned on here  ), the flash on the digi camera doesn't help either, yep SWMBO said I'm 'on a promise'- 
probably a blanket chest or bedside cabinets or summat


----------



## Hudson Carpentry (31 May 2011)

I love the colour and im not one for dark stains. Some good work there!


----------



## Chems (31 May 2011)

Great work, even more so with the hand ripping! 

What would improve it no end for next time is a tongue and groove back. I used to make my own but you can buy a pack of 2m lengths of T+G with about 5 planks in for £5 in focus. So the last few projects I've done I've just bought that, worth looking into for the next project. 

Look into wood dyes as well for your next project. A wood dye and a nice clear coat lacquer comes up well on these pine boards. I've had good results with the hannants range designed for pine: 

http://www.hannants.com/pine-wood-stain


----------



## Orcamesh (31 May 2011)

Looks great BWJ! The execution appears to be very good. My only design issue is with the plinth, but obviously the customer (SWMBO) is always right! I prefer to see pine if making pine furniture rather than staining, but again just personal preference. Otherwise an excellent job.
cheers
Steve


----------



## worsley947 (1 Jun 2011)

Looks good for a newbie, I like the shape and form but not my colour, but as long as SWMBO loves it thats all that matters 
Dave


----------



## Anonymous (1 Jun 2011)

looks great, I am not a fan of staining timber as i prefer au natural................there is nothing wrong with buying tools on a small budget, its when you use them day in day out that they become a nuisance.


----------



## woodbloke (1 Jun 2011)

mark270981":4dppuukn said:


> I am not a fan of staining timber as i prefer au natural.........


Likewise - Rob


----------



## Shultzy (1 Jun 2011)

I think it's a great project, well done. My only "nit-pick" is I would have preferred the shelves to be in stopped housings so that the chamfer detail ran unhindered.


----------



## xy mosian (1 Jun 2011)

Oh you've done it now! Made a great job, shown swimbo just what you can do and all that. Trouble is that may well lead to a list.

Well done keep up the good work =D> 

xy


----------



## pjm699 (2 Jun 2011)

Nicely done Barkwindjammer, if the lady (customer) likes it, then it's perfect - just to echo previous warnings however, make sure you put a cloth over it when folks come round or you will be inundated with "I wonder if you could"s and "I was looking for exactly that"s, looking forward to the next escapade! P


----------



## barkwindjammer (2 Jun 2011)

Thank you for all the replies, and the critique its all beneficial

cant get the hang of replying to individual posts, with quotes, so

Chems: thanks for the help and the link to that site (bookmarked), and the tongue and grooved idea-next time !

Orcamesh: the plinth ? I did toy with the idea of bull-nosing the edge, and also contouring it to match the shelve profile?

Shultzy: good point, I see it now 

mark270981, and Woodenbloke: I agree completely, I thought it would be wasted with the stain/varnish, I like pine with to show, aged or antique colouring.

all comments are very much appreciated-its given me more to think about, and great encouragement, like Rob (Woodenbloke mentions in the 'tips and wrinkles' post-"For me there's only one thing to remember...producing quality work is as much about thinking your way through as the application of the tools. It's just that I wish I could think a bit more"-this should be a mantra for anyone new to this woodwork malarky)

Will post a pic of it in situ, without the help and knowledge gleaned from this forum I wouldn't have thought this to be acheivable to this standard a year ago, in the flesh it really does look a lot better than the last pic I took, I think I've surprised myself more than anyone else, Noobs take heed-'a slope approacheth' :shock:


----------



## devonwoody (4 Jun 2011)

Very neat and looks well made, make the next one in Ash or Maple?


----------



## OPJ (4 Jun 2011)

A nice job. I like the details you have used on the front edges of the shelves. I agree with Chems' comment on the potential use of tongue and groove boards for the back and also, some of the other comments on use of stopped grooves at the front (so it looks as though the shelf ends butt up against the sides, at the front of the unit). It sounds like you've had fun and have learned a lot, though.


----------



## Orcamesh (4 Jun 2011)

Sorry, I didn't give enough detail about my comment on the plinth. What I meant was that it seems a bit wide (at the sides), perhaps? It just seems a bit wide to me, but like I say, it's really a design thing [& only a nit-pick!] rather than execution, you have done a great job!


----------



## barkwindjammer (4 Jun 2011)

Thanks for your comments guys, Orcamesh-yeah the plinth was made to match the width at the top shelf, I've got to admit that something doesn't look right about the plinth-just cant put my finger on it ? it does seem a bit 'chunky', not bad for a first project (unless you count my Nikki-esque can carousel as the first, yep its been a lot of fun doing this and a lot of learning in the process-
I'm sure Bonnie thinks I've been looking at ' Internet un-mentionables' :shock: for a while now-as every time she comes into the room I switch the screen to something else-too many great projects on here to allow her to even get a glimpse (homer) .
The finish has turned out great -Sadolin-Earth balance- Jacobean walnut (the plan was for the case to look old), think its an acrylic cos the brushes were cleaned with water, absolutely no smell or fumes,

So if your a Noob like me-get cracking-this time last year I couldn't hang a picture straight :? , and as you can see from the pic below-I still cant  

final pic-in situ


----------



## flying haggis (4 Jun 2011)

[/quote]you can buy a pack of 2m lengths of T+G with about 5 planks in for £5 in focus.


> you could!!!


----------



## Chems (5 Jun 2011)

I was in there yesterday, one of the things they weren't short of was timber. A lot of the other shelves were all empty. Still focus prices, with 30% off it about brings them into line with other peoples prices. Knock 50% off an you might be near a bargain!


----------



## Flossie (12 Aug 2011)

Excuse my ignorance, but

1) Why is planking on the back of the bookcase preferred to a ply panel? Is there some aesthetic value in being able to see the discrete planking elements?
2) I am not sure I fully understand the comments about 
"I would have preferred the shelves to be in stopped housings so that the chamfer detail ran unhindered." Is this saying that the shelves are held in "through housings" and instead "stopped housings" would have been preferable?


----------



## barkwindjammer (12 Aug 2011)

Tongue and groove panel would have been an aesthetic preference, 
The comment about stopped housings refers to the tiny chamfer detail on the front, the shelves are set into housing joints which run from front to back.


----------



## Flossie (12 Aug 2011)

Aahhhhhhhh, I didn't fully understand what a chamfer was and I hadn't seen it, and I can see now that the wrap around shelves cover it. I rather like the chamfer aesthetic and I have just read that the ends of a chamfer is called a lark's tongue, which makes it even more appealing.

And as for the planking thing, then there is some sort of aesthetic consensus that a bare featureless panel is inferior to planking.


----------



## barkwindjammer (12 Aug 2011)

I didn't know it was called a larks tongue, you learn something new every day !


----------



## Flossie (12 Aug 2011)

The final rich and deep colour of the bookcase is excellent considering it is made of a not very appealing pine wood.


----------



## barkwindjammer (12 Aug 2011)

Flossie":21err1a3 said:


> And as for the planking thing, then there is some sort of aesthetic consensus that a bare featureless panel is inferior to planking.


not a consensus as such-different eyes like different looks, the ply panel set into the groove/rebate all around the case made it very strong, I had it dry assembled and I swear I could have loaded it with books without it falling apart.


----------



## barkwindjammer (12 Aug 2011)

The case in your pic is stunning, I wish I had seen that before I made mine. Pine laminate board is cheap and versatile, I was told if I could work with pine it would serve well when moving onto hard woods, you just have to go easy with it and sharp tools are a must.

The saw board I and Mark Aspin mention is like a bigger version of that dado jig in the video-they work really well.


----------



## Benchwayze (13 Aug 2011)

Nice job.. 

I am another who would have stopped the shelves short of the side moulding. 
I don't know about leaving the wood 'au naturale', but staining doesn't work well on this sort of pine. This laminated board does turn slightly darker with age, so I might have sealed in that aged colour in with rubbing varnish. 

But yes a nice bookcase. Good stuff BWJ

John 

PS. I wouldn't call this laminated pine cheap. I just spent £54.00 on the stuff to make four DVD storage boxes. I could have bought them from Ikea, made from the same stuff for half that. But then, the design such as it is, will be mine-own! 
J


----------



## davic (26 Sep 2014)

I have just stumbled on this. I read like the plinth


----------

