How to build a built-in bookcase?

[DTR]

Good morning everyone!

Very soon I will have to build a pair of built-in bookcases for our dining room. These will fit in alcoves on either side of the chimney breast. The alcoves are roughly 46" wide and 13" deep. The skirting board around the room will be continued across the front of the plinth, and likewise for the coving around the ceiling. The bookcases will be painted.

I know there are plenty of threads on bookcases here, but they all seem to centre around veneered MDF, pocket screws, biscuits etc. The problem with that is that I'm a hand tool woodworker.

Can anyone offer any advice on how I should go about this? Especially how to fit the face frame?

Thanks

 

[petermillard]

Lots of ways you can go on this; I can describe how I'd do it, but it's not a definitive ’one true way’ - as I'm sure many folks will be along to tell you, lol!

I think my first consideration would be that 46" is a pretty wide span - I'd think hard about putting a central divider in there for support, whilst at the planning stage. Second consideration would be that if the skirting board is to continue along the base of the bookcases, you’ll either need to have the carcasses flush with the front of the alcove, in which case your face-frames will stand proud, or the face-frames sit flush with the front of the alcove, in which case you'll have an awkward little ’jink’ in the skirting around the base of the carcass - unless you let the base of the face frame run all the way down to the floor, and fix the skirting to that, of course...

Either way, I’d make the carcass slightly narrower than the alcove to allow for out-of-true walls - how much narrower depends on your walls, but in the mostly Victorian houses I fit stuff into, I allow around 30mm each side. If the face-frames are to sit flush with the front of the alcoves, you can make them oversized, and scribe them to fit to the walls, covering up the gap. Ditto the cornice at the top.

Actual construction can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it - any fixed shelves could be simply glued and screwed through the sides of the carcass, or set into housings if you think they'll bear considerable weight. Not sure if being a ’hand tool woodworker’ prevents you from using labour-saving niceties like routers, but the housings could be made by lining the inner sides of the carcass with e.g. 6mm stock, as appropriate for the shelf positions.

If the shelves are to be adjustable, these can be done with either rows of holes, kitchen cabinet-style, or with bookcase strips (’Tonk’ strips) and clips - either raised or recessed; recessed ones look nicer IMHO, but again, a router is really required.

As for fixing the face-frames - if the units are to be painted, why not pin them on, and fill over the heads??

HTH Pete

 

[No skills]

All good stuff there. What do you want to make them from and where do you draw the line at hand tool/power tool use?

I don't know how face frames were made in the old school way, M&T I'd guess - a through dovetail might be a neat look, but plenty of work.

 

[rafezetter]

Sorry if this sounds a bit like granny and eggs but, just my thoughts:

To work out "out of true" tolerance I'd take a sliding bevel and something you know is a true straight & deep enough to reach the back and use it to essentially extend the sliding bevel angle to average out all the way to the back, to take into account wavy walls.

draw a baseline, then draw that angle out to full depth on something, then another 90 deg to full depth with the same straight base line - measure the intervene - voila!

30mm seems like a lot, but I've met alcove walls with larger out of true.

I'd agree with making the base face-frame deep enough to accommodate the skirting - if it's really deep like 8" you might even want to consider a sneaky drawer or drop flap or something - you could use that space to put a lighting power unit in and run lights to the top 2 shelves for display, because of the span if you wanted to hide any wiring, you could make the central partition out of a 6mm ply hollow sandwich with thin blocks inside to allow a wire to be threaded between.

Another option you may have already thought of is deep shelf faces - thicker than the actual shelf stock, to give a lot of extra stability and strength if you don't go for the central partition option.

As for spacing, if you don't go the adjustable route, just as reference idea's - when I made my 2 bookcases (set space because of included design parts) I measured what I thought would go where, so the bottom shelves are 12" for the tall books and couple of nick-nak boxes I made, middle few are hardback size, then paperback size and top few are DVD then CD size. The very top one however is 14 inches for statuettes.

So, measure up whatever precious plates, statuettes, mp3 dock player and such you think will go into those spaces and set shelving accordingly.

 

[DTR]

Thanks for the replies

I think my first consideration would be that 46" is a pretty wide span - I'd think hard about putting a central divider in there for support, whilst at the planning stage.
.....
unless you let the base of the face frame run all the way down to the floor, and fix the skirting to that, of course...
.....
Not sure if being a ’hand tool woodworker’ prevents you from using labour-saving niceties like routers, but the housings could be made by lining the inner sides of the carcass with e.g. 6mm stock, as appropriate for the shelf positions.
.....
As for fixing the face-frames - if the units are to be painted, why not pin them on, and fill over the heads??

I agree that it's a wide span and I think a central divider is a good idea. I guess that rules out any kind of adjustable shelves.

That was the general idea with the face frame; run it to the floor, flush with the front of the alcove, and fix the skirting to that.

Not having a router prevents me from using a router! I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression by saying I'm a hand tool woodworker. It's not a "lifestyle choice" or anything like that, it's just the way I like working. I certainly don't have the room in my shop (shed) for things like a table saw, router table, etc, and my close neighbours wouldn't appreciate the noise. Anyhow, I don't find housings particularly difficult or time consuming by hand, if that's what it takes.

All good stuff there. What do you want to make them from and where do you draw the line at hand tool/power tool use?

I don't know how face frames were made in the old school way, M&T I'd guess - a through dovetail might be a neat look, but plenty of work.

Not sure what material to use yet. Redwood would be cheap and easy to work, and it's going to end up painted anyway. However I'd probably have to edge joint lengths together to get shelf-sized stock. If I have to I could use ply, but I'm not keen on ply and I'd have to get it cut at the yard. Again, any advice on this is welcome.

I'm happy M&T'ing a frame together, but how do I gauge the length of the top and bottom rails, being as the stiles will be getting scribed?

Sorry if this sounds a bit like granny and eggs but, just my thoughts:
.....
30mm seems like a lot, but I've met alcove walls with larger out of true.
.....
I'd agree with making the base face-frame deep enough to accommodate the skirting - if it's really deep like 8" you might even want to consider a sneaky drawer or drop flap or something - you could use that space to put a lighting power unit in and run lights to the top 2 shelves for display, because of the span if you wanted to hide any wiring, you could make the central partition out of a 6mm ply hollow sandwich with thin blocks inside to allow a wire to be threaded between.
.....
Another option you may have already thought of is deep shelf faces - thicker than the actual shelf stock, to give a lot of extra stability and strength if you don't go for the central partition option.

Any egg-sucking advice is gratefully received

Our house was built in 1957 but in places it is shockingly out of truth...

Interesting idea on the lighting, I'll see what Doris thinks of that.

I was mulling over the idea of deep shelf facings, a bit like aprons on a bench. How deep would they have to be in order to do away with a divider?

 

[DTR]

Here's an artist's impression, courtesy of Doris:

 

[No skills]

If your looking at plywood then it needs to be a reasonable birch face type or you will spend days and days trying to get a good finished surface. Not sure how it costs out compared to building from pine/redwood (can any of the real woodworkers help there?), and it would need edge banding with solid timber on visible edges. It is very stable though, pros and cons.

One thing that sprang to mind when I saw your post was a 'shelf' unit chris Schwarz built for his house, it was basicly rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other, more work in total than a regular carcase build but easier in the way that your only making a small(er) piece at one time.

As for face frame rails, I'd build the carcase first - get it in place and see what looks best and then make to suit. Or you could do what some of the cabinet folk here do - make the unit and face frame, but slightly smaller than the alcove and then make a separate scribing piece to go down each side of the unit. Its a method that had been described on here a couple of times before.

HTH

 

[Reggie]

Dtr, I noticed that you mentioned not having/not wanting to use a router, I'm presuming it's just the powered versions you're not really interested in? If that's the case, are you aware of router planes? They don't spin and don't use that there 'lectric stuff but it might help getting grooves into your shelves. Cheapish on ebay or if you have chisels you can diy one together with a scrap block of wood, a drill and an appropriate chisel.

 

[DTR]

If your looking at plywood then it needs to be a reasonable birch face type or you will spend days and days trying to get a good finished surface. Not sure how it costs out compared to building from pine/redwood (can any of the real woodworkers help there?), and it would need edge banding with solid timber on visible edges. It is very stable though, pros and cons.

One thing that sprang to mind when I saw your post was a 'shelf' unit chris Schwarz built for his house, it was basicly rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other, more work in total than a regular carcase build but easier in the way that your only making a small(er) piece at one time.

As for face frame rails, I'd build the carcase first - get it in place and see what looks best and then make to suit. Or you could do what some of the cabinet folk here do - make the unit and face frame, but slightly smaller than the alcove and then make a separate scribing piece to go down each side of the unit. Its a method that had been described on here a couple of times before.

HTH

Thanks again for the ideas. In my very early woodworking days I did build a small bookcase using ply with solid wood banding. Unfortunately my go-to supplier for sheet goods went up in flames about a year ago. They have reopened at a new site but I'm not sure if they are still offering a cutting service. I should look into that.

Have you got a link to Schwarz's stacking boxes please? I'm not sure that's a route I'd take but I'll certainly take a look.

Dtr, I noticed that you mentioned not having/not wanting to use a router, I'm presuming it's just the powered versions you're not really interested in? If that's the case, are you aware of router planes? They don't spin and don't use that there 'lectric stuff but it might help getting grooves into your shelves. Cheapish on ebay or if you have chisels you can diy one together with a scrap block of wood, a drill and an appropriate chisel.

Sorry, bad terminology on my part. Yes, I have a router plane in the form of a Record 071. My go-to tool for finishing housings

 

[No skills]

Grays wood?

If its them they had a site saw over the road in the garden they use. Went past a week or so ago.

 

[No skills]

I'll have a look for the stacking boxes when I'm home.

 

[DTR]

Grays wood?

If its them they had a site saw over the road in the garden they use. Went past a week or so ago.

I forgot you're local!

 

[No skills]

Yes, west Thurrock.

I can only find a (small) picture of the 'boxcase' I'm afraid, but its enough to give you the idea.

http://blog.lostartpress.com/2012/11/30 ... y-i-think/

 

[Halo Jones]

It's only mitred dovetails. How difficult can that be?!

On the other hand I now know where his interest in his stackable campaign furniture came from!

H.