[Q] Getting shelves exactly the same width

[Fromey]

I'm making a set of shelves for my wife. Basic design is, two upright planks with horizontal dados that will house a series of shelves. It's effectively a very deep bookcase. I've cut the shelves (5 of them, each 18 mm thick) to width and depth. Now I want to make sure all the shelves are exactly the same width so they all fit into the uprights in the same way.

I only have hand tools available.

What I'm thinking of doing is ganging the shelves together on a flat surface with one end grain edge as the reference. I'll clamp them together with some jorgensen clamps and then plane the upright end grain all together until they are flat and square to both front and sides and with no twist (I'm hoping there will be minimum planing needed as they should be cut very close to identical already).

Dumb question: Is this a typical way of doing it? Is this the most effective way to ensure all the shelves are exactly the same width or is there some other "old-timer" technique that's better.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MMUK]

That's what I'd do. Clamp them together and plane down to finished width. I'd maybe clamp them vertically in a workmate though so I can plane horizontally.

 

[paulm]

Makes sense to me, that's how I would do it.

Does assume that the dados are all exactly the same depth of course, in which case it should work fine, unless the side panels are bowed inwards or outwards !

An alternative might be to prepare the top and bottom shelves as you describe and assemble the sides with those in place, then fit the other shelves individually afterwards ?

Just my thoughts on it though rather than practical experience of the same situation

Cheers, Paul

 

[AndyT]

I'd concentrate on getting one edge straight on each board. Do this with a straight edge, or by comparing one board with another. That will be your face edge. Then use a marking gauge to mark the same width on each.

I find it easier to deal with single boards rather than doubling or tripling the thickness to be planed.

However, some of this will depend on the scale. I'm imagining something about a metre wide and a bit taller.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The same length, surely?

 

[Racers]

I would get one cut to the exact width then use it an a template to mark the rest with a knife, then plane down to the knife line.


Pete

 

[Mar_mite]

Why don't you leave them long, then clamp them together and cut all of them at once.

 

[Chrispy]

Measure twice cut once, is how the saying goes, so why not just cut them the right size in the first place!

 

[AndyT]

The same length, surely?

Ah yes! The width of the bookcase but the length of the shelves.

I'd clamp them together, square across the edges at each end with a knife then unclamp and knife lines across the width of each one. Notch up to those knife lines and saw square across.

 

[tobytools]

+1 for Pete

TT

 

[bugbear]

Multiple solutions are possible.

The fastest, and least effort is to clamp them together, knife your line all the way round (and be very sure your lines meet), then saw to this line with quite a fine saw. Job done. This solution relies on your sawing skills.

The other solutions both involve planing to a line after sawing a little over size.

if the boards are less than (say) 4 feet long, clamp (as above) saw outside the line, stand the clamped bundle upright in a vice, and plane the large end grain surface to the marked lines. Sharp plane, finely etc, is essential here,

If the board are over 4 foot, planing them while vertical is a bit of a stretch. I would mark them in a bundle (as above), then undo the clamps, and knife the marks all around each board, Then use a shooting board to shoot each board square and to length, using the marks.

Both the planing solutions leave a nicer surface than the first solution.

BugBear

 

[Fromey]

Thanks all for your feedback. The shelves have already been cut out from longer lengths. I used a panel gauge and cut them just outside the knife line with a Japanese saw. So very close to width already and fairly clean cut. Never the less, there is some irregularity and that's what I want to touch up. There's not enough meat left on the boards to knife and then plane down to, so I'll go with planing the ganged collection of them. However, for the future, I'll try cutting them significantly oversized, ganging them and then cutting through the lot. Good tip.

 

[Jacob]

I'd mark the length on a "rod" (any old bit of board - piece of white mfc shelving ideal), lay each board on the rod and pick up the marks on the best edge, then square them across and saw each one. Then tidy up to the line planing across the grain with the board held vertically in a vice (or canted if too long).
Or square one end of each board first and mark the other end with a tape and then as above.
I wouldn't use a knife (pencil only) a jap saw, a shooting board, or attempt to saw/plane in a gang, or with one arm behind my back, as all these would make it more difficult.

PS praps use a knife for any part of the cut (across the grain) which would be visible in the finished object but not essential especially if you are planing the edges anyway.

 

[David C]

No one has mentioned spelch.

I wonder which of the available methods people prefer ?

David

 

[AndyT]

No one has mentioned spelch.

I wonder which of the available methods people prefer ?

David

The question is about shelves to go into housings, so I see no need for any planing, and no danger of spelch, by which I assume you mean accidentally splitting bits off when planing end grain. Just accurate sawing, guided by a knife cut and a chiselled place for the saw to run.

 

[J_SAMa]

Planing 5*18=90 mm end grain at once sounds like hard work to me... I'd just get the shortest shelf (or "narrowest" one... whatever you call it) and gauge the other ones to it.

Actually, since they are already so close "there isn't enough meat left on them to knife", might as well just fine-tune the depth of dadoes. I find cross grain work so much easier than endgrain (fed up of breakouts/splits...), especially if you have a good router plane.
Sam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

To be tidy, the housings need to be stopped. As long as the shelves meet the cabinet at the front, the gaps (within reason) between the bottoms of the housings and the ends of the shelves are immaterial. No one will ever see them. Much ado about nothing.

 

[bugbear]

No one has mentioned spelch.

I wonder which of the available methods people prefer ?

David

I sort of took it for granted, on a longish item like shelf-end, you'd just plane in from both ends.

(in truth, I didn't describe the planing technique to be used at all...)

BugBear

 

[Fromey]

I ganged the shelves together and found it was quite easy to plane the end grain with my No. 7 (in from both ends plus some diagonals). Did a really nice job, nice and square without me having to actually try to get them that way and no spelching. I turned the stack over and planed the other end. Then checked that I hadn't gotten the boards out of parallel with a marking gauge. While ganged together, it was apparent there was some slight misalignment on the long grain sides so it was easy to even those up as well. I now have a set of perfectly uniform shelves. The only difficult part of the exercise was simply lugging the mass of shelves around, but a pair of jorgensen clamps and my new pseudo-moxon vice made that tractable.