Bookshelf

[Woodbloke]

For the last couple of weeks or so, I've been mostly making a bookshelf out of a plank of kiln dried American Ash, left over from my bar stools project last year.



Big, BIG mistake :evil: This kiln dried Ash had all the life sucked out of it and whilst it was reasonable to plane, the 'late' wood had been cooked to the point where it was like trying to chisel through cast iron. No siree, not recommended under any circumstances :twisted: :twisted:

This happens to be a Jim Krenov design and as I'm a big fan of JK, I make no apologies for the 'lift'; you can actually see the original in juniper wood on p37 of 'A Cabinetmaker's Notebook'. I've added one or three 'blokeish' refinements which I thought would be in keeping.

Jim's design incorporates 'cut away' ends with 'scollops' carved into the curvy bit:



With the best will in the world and brand new Pfeil gouges, these were a nightmare to carve!

The through dovetails have equal sized pins but the tails gradually get wider towards the centre. They're also left 3mm proud (as have the wedged through tenons) so that they can be sculpted later on. As this was a comparatively complex glue up, I used 'old skool' standard Araldite which gave me hours and hours to faff around and get it spot on. I do recommend this stuff for difficult jobs as it gives you oodles of time: clean up with meths afterwards.



The drawer was fairly straight forward being a Rob Ingham jobbie with centre muntin; 6mm quarter sawn oak sides, drawer slips and a planted front screwed in place. The drawer pull is in Rosewood and is a copy of the one on the original piece;







You'll note also the two little rosewood infills. This was the second BIG mistake as the routed grooves broke through on the front edge but were fixed in the very best traditions of the late, great Alan Peters who said that if you make a ghastly error, turn it into a feature...which is what I dun :lol:

The other end...



...and the final job:



SWIMBO decided to take a pic of it being installed:



If you're very observant, you'll notice the Korean chest of drawers made a couple of years ago as well as Ninja-Zig which we all had a few laughs over last summer! Also in the pic is a model of an absolutely lethal Roman ballista :shock: of which more later. I'm just awaiting some synthetic sinew instead of that fairly 'iffy' white string stuff, which will then provide some proper torsion.

Once on the wall, it was loaded up with a few tomes...



...including all of JK's book and the latest biography, 'James Krenov; Leave Fingerprints' - Rob

 

[Mike G]

Love the wood, love the workmanship, love the dovetails, love the proud through wedged tenons, love the handle. It just looks a little odd to me with only one drawer.

 

[Woodbloke]

Love the wood, love the workmanship, love the dovetails, love the proud through wedged tenons, love the handle. It just looks a little odd to me with only one drawer.

As I said Mike, it's a direct 'lift'. Check out the original:



One drawer - Rob

 

[NickM]

Very nice indeed.

 

[DaveL]

Love the wood, love the workmanship, love the dovetails, love the proud through wedged tenons, love the handle. It just looks a little odd to me with only one drawer.

I am with Mike on this. [emoji3]

 

[jimmy s]

Lovely Job

 

[Mike G]

.....As I said Mike, it's a direct 'lift'. Check out the original:



One drawer - Rob

OK, well that looks a little odd there too.Those old woodworkers weren't any more perfect than we are.

 

[Malc2098]

Nice.

 

[Blackswanwood]

I very much like that. Do you mind me asking what finish you have used Rob?

 

[Woodbloke]

I very much like that. Do you mind me asking what finish you have used Rob?

Thanks. I used a couple of thin, brush applied coats of Polyvine dead matt varnish. I like this stuff 'cos it dries really quickly which meant that I could do different surfaces pretty rapidly. As it's water based, it raised the grain, so each coat was cut back after an hour with 0000 grade wire wool. When everything had a couple of coats, it was de-nibbed with the wire wool and then given a good slathering of Swedish beeswax from CHT, then polished with a soft duster - Rob

 

[AndyT]

Beautifully executed Rob, as we've all learned to expect!

Can I ask a bit more about those carved curves? Did you practise on a spare bit first? Just one gouge all the way or more than one size? Any clever jigs? Did you need a mallet or could you just push? And did you do those bits first, in case it all went horribly wrong? (I would have done )

 

[Woodbloke]

Beautifully executed Rob, as we've all learned to expect!

Can I ask a bit more about those carved curves? Did you practise on a spare bit first? Just one gouge all the way or more than one size? Any clever jigs? Did you need a mallet or could you just push? And did you do those bits first, in case it all went horribly wrong? (I would have done )

I definitely needed to practice on a bit of spare ash! I used a bevel edge chisel, bevel side down (if that makes sense) to carve a 'flat' and then it was turned into a hollow with a Pfeil fishtail gouge and once that was done, I made a shaped scraper (from a old bit of bs blade) using the disc sander and removed most of the gouge marks. There were no fancy jigs involved as it was all done freehand. Holding each end was a puzzle but I solved it by putting a sash cramp in the vice and holding the wood at about 45deg; this meant the carved section was about horizontal. The 'late' wood was really horrible :evil: to cut through and I might have used a small brass mallet once or twice to give a little more 'oomph' - Rob

 

[Mike G]

Did you try a scratch stock, Rob?

 

[AndyT]

Thanks Rob. It's a great looking detail, well worth the stress, I reckon.

 

[Woodbloke]

Did you try a scratch stock, Rob?

I didn't Mike because the curve was graduated; it started at zero at each end and was at the max depth and width somewhere around the middle, so it would have been really very hard to do with a scratch - Rob

 

[MattS]

Lovely job! Id have been nervous rounding those through tenons and dovetails that I’d damage the end panels!

 

[Woodbloke]

Lovely job! Id have been nervous rounding those through tenons and dovetails that I’d damage the end panels!

It requires a very sharp chisel and very steady hand, but if you make a few precision sanders (rectangular offcuts with 240g stuck to the edge with ds tape and trimmed off with a scalpel) any light scratches can be sanded out. This was how I did the sanding on the ends once all the shaping had been done and they're surprisingly effective but they don't last very long so I needed to make a few - Rob

 

[Nico Adie]

I really, really like that. Well done, it looks impeccably built.

 

[Pinch]

Beautiful Rob!

Another reet stunner ole chap!

Bravo!

bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Woodbloke]

Beautiful Rob!

Another reet stunner ole chap!

Bravo!

bscene-drinkingcheers:

Thanks Paul :eusa-dance: - Rob

 

[Mike G]

Did you try a scratch stock, Rob?

I didn't Mike because the curve was graduated; it started at zero at each end and was at the max depth and width somewhere around the middle, so it would have been really very hard to do with a scratch - Rob

I've thought of a simple way....but dinner is on the table. Later, if I remember.

 

[Woodbloke]

Did you try a scratch stock, Rob?

I didn't Mike because the curve was graduated; it started at zero at each end and was at the max depth and width somewhere around the middle, so it would have been really very hard to do with a scratch - Rob

I've thought of a simple way....but dinner is on the table. Later, if I remember.

Too late; I've made it now and I ain't doing it again! :lol: :lol: - Rob

 

[Mike G]

If you initially cut out not the primary curve, but instead a curve parallel to the edge of the scallop, you'd then have a guide for the scratchstock. Scratch the design, then alter the curve to its final shape.

Too late; I've made it now and I ain't doing it again! :lol: :lol: - Rob

:lol: :lol: Academic exercise, rather than physical one.

 

[Woodbloke]

If you initially cut out not the primary curve, but instead a curve parallel to the edge of the scallop, you'd then have a guide for the scratchstock. Scratch the design, then alter the curve to its final shape.

Too late; I've made it now and I ain't doing it again! :lol: :lol: - Rob

:lol: :lol: Academic exercise, rather than physical one.

Yeabut Mike, it wouldn't work 'cos the cross section of the curve varies; it's zero at each end and max somewhere the middle so your 'guide' would have to be three dimensional to do the entire thing with a scratch. It would be easier to paint the Forth Road Bridge single handed :lol: - Rob

 

[Mike G]

When I've got a vice.........