OPJ
Established Member
As with the Library/Ladder Chair I posted a while back, I actually completed this project back in the long, hot summer of 2005.
Again, it's based on a project I discovered in one of my many, many woodworking books; The World's Best Storage and Shelving projects (Best of Popular Woodworking Magazine - yes, it's American).
In America, this would be referred to as a "Craftsman Wall Shelf" I believe. You can find hundreds for sale if you search it on Google in fact... The original (in this book) was made from cherry, which is a bit to steep for a beginner like myself I feel, so I decided to get some trusty old redwood and go from there. Plus, I don't know of anywhere in the Bristol area that sells Cherry and such. Perhaps Robbins or Clarks - maybe someone can enlighten me for future reference?
I made quite a few changes from the given design to suit my needs. This was simply gonna be to store my ever-growing DVD collection - that would be the main attraction to others, whatever. And it does that very well. I was extremely pleased with how parallel and square everything was. The spacings for the DVDs was spot on also. Not too tight; nice clearence.
One thing I don't like is the off-centre 'dip' in the very top rail. It was meant to be convex but, er, I got a bit too close to the line with my jigsaw and... well, I'm sure you've all done it once before anyway!! :lol:
To meet my requirements also, I had to enlarge the shelf to suit the size of a standard DVD; I think it's 48 across and they're 190mm high. Looking back at it now, I reckon I should've increased the width of each rail top and bottom to suit.
Here you can see the shelves simply slide into a groove run across each side piece - something Norm would call a dado. :roll:
I thought it was fine at first, but I now wish I'd have instead stopped the groove back 30-40mm earlierto hide the joint.
Still, I think I did a pretty good job considering I don't own a mitre/chop saw of any kind and cut all the 20mm grooves freehand with a router and 16mm cutter (by which, I mean without the aid of a straightedge guide! :wink: )
Why I used dowels here, I'm still not quite sure! I guess I thought it would look quite attractive in contrast with the knotty redwood...
In the book they used through mortice and tenons, with the exposed end grain chamfered slightly. Had I been using a hardwood, I'd have probably done the same. But they then pinned each tenon with the tiniest of dowels through the centre of the sides' thickness - I don't think I have any dowels small enough for that.
The rails top and botton and mortice and tenoned as per normal, only I haven't shown this in a photograph. And to hang it, a simple keyhole cutter did the job round the back before applying I think three coats of Liberon Tung oil.
It was simple, it does it's job effectively and it didn't take much time at all. And the finished-size timber still decided it was time to cup only one day before I was intending to start! But I made it work.
Thanks for reading this, I can only apologise for the quality of some/all of these photos as, well, I basically don't quite know how the to get the very best from my cheap digital camera. But I should be getting a full-size tripod fairly soon, that can of Fosters last night probably didn't help!! :lol:
Thanks again, I think this kind of project is ideal for someone only just getting started. It can equally be as much fun to someone a little wiser, with the chance to remould it with their own ideas, it's so simple.
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One of my future projects this year will be to create a rather traditional interior panelled timber door to replace the horrible, cheap thing I have now (the previous owners took all the good stuff with 'em! :x ).
If anyone can tell me where I might find some plans and any suggestions of timber to use (pine) please let me know, I'd be very grateful.
Again, it's based on a project I discovered in one of my many, many woodworking books; The World's Best Storage and Shelving projects (Best of Popular Woodworking Magazine - yes, it's American).
In America, this would be referred to as a "Craftsman Wall Shelf" I believe. You can find hundreds for sale if you search it on Google in fact... The original (in this book) was made from cherry, which is a bit to steep for a beginner like myself I feel, so I decided to get some trusty old redwood and go from there. Plus, I don't know of anywhere in the Bristol area that sells Cherry and such. Perhaps Robbins or Clarks - maybe someone can enlighten me for future reference?
I made quite a few changes from the given design to suit my needs. This was simply gonna be to store my ever-growing DVD collection - that would be the main attraction to others, whatever. And it does that very well. I was extremely pleased with how parallel and square everything was. The spacings for the DVDs was spot on also. Not too tight; nice clearence.
One thing I don't like is the off-centre 'dip' in the very top rail. It was meant to be convex but, er, I got a bit too close to the line with my jigsaw and... well, I'm sure you've all done it once before anyway!! :lol:
To meet my requirements also, I had to enlarge the shelf to suit the size of a standard DVD; I think it's 48 across and they're 190mm high. Looking back at it now, I reckon I should've increased the width of each rail top and bottom to suit.
Here you can see the shelves simply slide into a groove run across each side piece - something Norm would call a dado. :roll:
I thought it was fine at first, but I now wish I'd have instead stopped the groove back 30-40mm earlierto hide the joint.
Still, I think I did a pretty good job considering I don't own a mitre/chop saw of any kind and cut all the 20mm grooves freehand with a router and 16mm cutter (by which, I mean without the aid of a straightedge guide! :wink: )
Why I used dowels here, I'm still not quite sure! I guess I thought it would look quite attractive in contrast with the knotty redwood...
In the book they used through mortice and tenons, with the exposed end grain chamfered slightly. Had I been using a hardwood, I'd have probably done the same. But they then pinned each tenon with the tiniest of dowels through the centre of the sides' thickness - I don't think I have any dowels small enough for that.
The rails top and botton and mortice and tenoned as per normal, only I haven't shown this in a photograph. And to hang it, a simple keyhole cutter did the job round the back before applying I think three coats of Liberon Tung oil.
It was simple, it does it's job effectively and it didn't take much time at all. And the finished-size timber still decided it was time to cup only one day before I was intending to start! But I made it work.
Thanks for reading this, I can only apologise for the quality of some/all of these photos as, well, I basically don't quite know how the to get the very best from my cheap digital camera. But I should be getting a full-size tripod fairly soon, that can of Fosters last night probably didn't help!! :lol:
Thanks again, I think this kind of project is ideal for someone only just getting started. It can equally be as much fun to someone a little wiser, with the chance to remould it with their own ideas, it's so simple.
-----
One of my future projects this year will be to create a rather traditional interior panelled timber door to replace the horrible, cheap thing I have now (the previous owners took all the good stuff with 'em! :x ).
If anyone can tell me where I might find some plans and any suggestions of timber to use (pine) please let me know, I'd be very grateful.
