Making bookcases

My other half has always said that the function of a wife is to hold the wood. Which is why I have an irrational hatred of G-clamps. I was seriously unamused when these little floosies showed up last week, but he assures me that it's OK as these are F-clamps, not G-clamps, and they are only here to help make my bookcases. I suppose I'll let him off. Just this once.



The boys get busy cutting the wood.



There's a nice big expanse of wall just asking to be filled with shelving.



Ah, *that's* what the clamps are for...





More installments to follow...

Here's a close-up of the shelf supports. They were made in two types, lefts and rights, with the screw holes staggered so that if we end up with any pairs opposite each other and attached to the same upright, then the nails won't fight. Then we use a bit of glue to help hold the shelf in place.



Now the two end units are assembled, we know exactly where they will fit, so it's time to get the wiring in place.



Then a coat of the least-noxious varnish we could find. I'd have rather used linseed and beeswax, but my other half wanted to use varnish so we compromised on a water based varnish with virtually no smell.



He's left a strip un-varnished where the middle shelves are going to be glued in place.



This will be the final position for the end units.



So we can measure for the middle shelves.



More to follow!

Your generously proportioned book case makes me go all dreamy
Is it just for books, or will there be other stuff on there?
What wood are they made from?

Well I was *hoping* it would all be for books, but he seems to have made the section nearest his computer corner so that they just fit his little fish tanks. So I think I'm going to be restricted to the other two sections.

Finding decent wood isn't easy around here, and salvaged wood is impossible as far as I can make out, so the best we could do was to get packs of floor-boarding made from a local pine. It's certainly sturdy, but it's not well seasoned and if we dare open a pack before we are ready to saw it and put it together, it warps like crazy. We've learned to cope with it though, and so long as the finished result is strong and sturdy I'm not going to worry if it's not quite perfectly symmetrical. There's also going to be a shelf along the top with a rail around it, like on my plate rack, for pretty pots and ornaments, or maybe pumpkins. There are rumours of a computer desk that actually fits the nook under the window, and maybe a couple of bedside cabinets, too.

If you buy any for future projects, unpack it and then sticker it for drying just like is done with freshly sawn stuff or you could puncture the plastic wrapping in many spots and let it slowly acclimatise.

If wood is too moist when used, it can be quickly built into good looking stuff that cracks later. Cupping can also be an issue. Often, nails stay in place while wood shrinks and cracks are the result. A tight dado trench can help with cupping. I'll bet Ken Peavy can give more hints on how to achieve best results.

Puncturing the plastic wrapping sounds a good idea - thanks Dale!

Part of the problem was that when we started making these, it was still super hot and dry weather and he would buy the wood and unwrap it outside ready for sawing. The strong sun meant that the wood would warp within hours. The rains have come now and the sun has lost its strength, so the issue isn't as huge as it was a few weeks ago. Plus he's learned to bring the wood indoors. Buying the stuff in advance probably won't work with him now - he's of an age when he won't wait. He'll buy stuff as he thinks of it and then uses it immediately. If he was younger he might have more patience, but he's waited a looooong time to get his own place to play with and trying to persuade him to slow down now isn't going to work. Fortunately his memory isn't quite what it was, either, which means I can now pass on tips and by morning he'll have forgotten that I'd already told him something and come up with an identical idea of his own.

Oh, and the wood is "Pino Gallego", aka Pinus pinaster or Maritime Pine

Burra, I was going to say "looks like good old pine" but envisioned you saying "actually, it's the rare and precious Portuguese mumblemumble tree"

Leila Rich wrote:Burra, I was going to say "looks like good old pine" but envisioned you saying "actually, it's the rare and precious Portuguese mumblemumble tree"

It's good old local, fire-resistant, perfectly-suited-to-the-climate and tends-towards-invasive pine. It's what takes over as the first tree species when land is abandoned, after the cistus and before the oak. It's far from rare!

And all trees get given mumblemumbe names. It's inevitable. Pino Gallego basically translates to 'local pine'. Local being south-west Europe.

This is one of the trees that covered a large part of Southern Europe after the Romans cleared most oak for metal smelting and ship building. Then, it was off to Britain, to chop down those forests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_during_the_Roman_period The use of early succession species is very permie.

I see that Burra is practicing animal husbandry and husband hasbandry. When he's in shelf building mode, let him do it. Trying to get a stone wall built or some other action from a man determined to butcher wood, would be about as productive as trying to herd cats. When left to his own devices, everybody wins.

Dale Hodgins wrote:This is one of the trees that covered a large part of Southern Europe after the Romans cleared most oak for metal smelting and ship building. Then, it was off to Britain, to chop down those forests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_during_the_Roman_period The use of early succession species is very permie.

I think I'll have to go out for a walk tomorrow and take some photos of the succession in practice. I'm 99% sure that the pine here is Pinus pinaster, but the succession is quite interesting anyway.

At least, *I* think it is...

Burra Maluca wrote:succession is quite interesting anyway. At least, *I* think it is...

Me too!
Imagine the bumper stickers: 'nothing succeeds like succession'...

OK, I've ended up confined to quarters for a few days, so no photos of the succession yet, though it does get mentioned briefly in this post, complete with photo.

Here's the info leaflet from the packs of wood - bilingual Spanish and Portuguese, in case it's of any interest to anyone.



And a few more progress shots of the bookcases.

Here's the boys sanding one end section down.



And they let me into their shed to take photos of the screw-holes being drilled. The holes are drilled at an angle so that the screw will go diagonally into the end boards. Also it makes it easier to wield the screwdriver without hitting your knuckles on the shelf. The two bits of wood bolted onto the base of the drill act as a guage to get all the holes correctly positioned and the angles correct. Or at least consistent.



Then the holes are countersunk so that the screw-heads will lie as flush as possible.



They also sanded all the shelves ready for varnishing, which might happen this afternoon. Watch this space!

The shelves are made of two full width pieces of tongue-and-groove floor-boarding, but rather than file off the tongues and grooves on the edges, we sawed one length down the middle and put one narrow bit on each side of the shelf so all the tongues and grooves were within the shelf, not sticking out on the edges.

I didn't notice that wedge of wood on the shelf support when I took this photo. I'm gonna pretend I haven't seen it...



The second piece of the shelf is going into place.



And a little floosie clamp to hold the thing together until the glue sets. I must not mention that wedge. It's not there really, honest.



Then the shelf is screwed into place, hopefully with the screws going into the support at an appropriate angle.



Oooh. They look like I could start heaping books on them. I have two enormous piles by my bed that I have to climb past every night. I wonder if I could sneak them on there yet?