A very presentable catalogue of errors...

[Jelly]

So about two months ago, I took on a request from my friend who'd just moved house to build a bookcase... It's almost complete, but has been a real learning experience.

From the beginning, I saw it as big and loadbearing, and from that moment on in approached it much too much like a piece of exterior joinery rather than furniture.

Mistake one, ringing in a cutting list to collect specifying "unsorted redwood"... ok so it's not awful, but I didn't have a chance to select boards for specific parts, so I've had to fight knots and work against the grain unneccearily which has slowed me up enormously, and l've still not got the finish i wanted in places. Moreover the cutting list should have allowed for less than pin point accuracy, as a couple of mm difference here and there is actually quite noticable.

Mistake two, deciding to use through-tennon construction... strong, functional and easy, but not exactly pretty.

Mistake three, making the rear as a single massive panel; after working so many doors, it seemed so simple, but jointing, gluing, raising and smoothing single 3ft by 6ft 8" panel by hand has proved nightmarishly time consuming.



There's more to come yet, and I'll try to get some WIP pictures to illustrate this...

I'm convinced that the finished product will.be presentable enough, and will outlast my friends other furniture but it's looking more and more like I'll be painting and not staining it... those tennons are ugly!

 

[Benjamin]

Everyone makes mistakes, you can never stop learning. Just don't make the same mistake twice.

 

[Anima]

Have you thought about planing the through tenons flush? Do a quick google image search to see what I mean.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We've just decided to move house, so I've just ripped out book shelves about 12' x 4' high. I built them for ME and though they were practical , they were bl00dy ugly. I tried my best when I designed them, but if you are a bibliophile your shelves are going to be ugly. Nice neat pretty shelves and 100's of different shaped books are not compatible.

 

[Jelly]

Have you thought about planing the through tenons flush? Do a quick google image search to see what I mean.

I was going to tidy it up with a flush cut saw and a paring chisel, but it doesn't solve the end grain peeping out the front, or the tenon thats set back a couple of mm because it was cut too short (though i put that one facing backwards

 

[marcros]

can you not make a router template, skim a token amount out and inset a feature inlay of a veneer? if you cant hide it, make a feature of it!

 

[WandrinAndy]

if you cant hide it, make a feature of it!

=D> I really like that thinking!

 

[AndyT]

Come on Jelly, your post seems to have no pictures in ...

 

[Jelly]

Be patient andy, you'll have to wait until its light outside, and I remember... at the same time.

I like the inlay idea; I think that the shelves need numbering, with inlay, just over the front tennons, stylistic decision you understand... Nothing to do with hiding my clear lack of thought in initially designing the piece.

Mistake 4, not using a rod... I painstakingly cut and planed every last side panel exactly one inch (±⅛") too tall, because I was tired and distracted when I transfered the measurements from the stiles/legs (Leiles? Stegs?) to the boards I'd glued up; in the preceeding 5 years or so of seriously doing woodwork I've never had a problem measuring straight onto the workpiece, but having to cut off one of the finished edges of each panel and start over is sufficiently irritating that i'd rather like this to be the only time this happens*.


*It's aspirational... I know.

We've just decided to move house, so I've just ripped out book shelves about 12' x 4' high. I built them for ME and though they were practical , they were bl00dy ugly. I tried my best when I designed them, but if you are a bibliophile your shelves are going to be ugly. Nice neat pretty shelves and 100's of different shaped books are not compatible.

Very True, one needs to amass a great many books before you can justify putting them onto seperate shelves of one size only; I wouldn't mind trying though

He's a chemist, like me and this is to hold all of his reference books, so the bottom two shelves are bigger than the rest to fit the really large ungainly books and the frame is made out of 1⅝" (nominal) material, which is about as small as I dared go, knowing how heavy my reference collection is.

 

[Jelly]

Mistake number 5, going onto Ebay looking for a more interesting veneer cheaply... I now have some nice veneer coming, but I also have *a lot* of purpleheart boards coming!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Jelly, mine were 3 laminations of 18mm wbp - saved all the housings, and certainly didn't bend.