[219] WEEKEND WALL SHELF
Posted: viernes, 24 de junio de 2011 by Superhero!! inNote:
I'm a spanish speaker with no problem reading and understanding English. But writing in English is another story. I have no teacher, just me (and google translator ha ha ha). I don't feel confident to write in English but I'm going to give me a chance. May be this test will become a total disaster, or a very embarrasing attempt... anyway, I think it will be fun.
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Weekend Wall Shelf
This is a copy from a project I saw in The Wood Whisperer website. It's from the podcast #138. Marc Spagnoulo makes things look so easy. He has a great attitude.
I scaled down this project so I can use some left over lumber I had lying around. And I had to make some cuts in a different way because I don't have a bandsaw, don't have a jointer, and my handplaning skills are to low. At the end, I believe I did a good job.
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This is the way I did it...
I had this left over wood, it had cracks, the color was suspect, it was twisted, with deep chainsaw marks, it looked ugly and nasty, but I hate throwing away wood. It's a very low grade mahogany lumber. The challenge here is to rescue it, I need to avoid the cracked area, choose the better faces and try to build something nice.
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I used a planer sleed for milling lumber (I don't have a jointer). The sleed pass through the planer and supports the uneven side of the board. Its heavy and it's an awkward method but (in some extreme cases like this) its the fastest way I can flatten my boards. The lumber starts to look much better now. I had some saw marks on the edge, but that doesn't matter because those edges will be tappered or chamfered on a latter step, so I only needed straight.
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Marc Spagoulo uses a jig to cut exact width dados. I feel me lazy to build that jig by now, so I cut dados the way I have always done it. A simple ruler as a guide for my plunge router and a 3/4 in. router bit. Yes, I had to be extra careful to mill the shelfs to match the dados. My bench top power planer can easily handle that job.
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I have tearout at the end of some dados because I wasn't carefully enough, but it doesn't matter. I will cut a taper on those edges and every thing will be fine. In fact I was more cencerned about that knot and a remaining crack at the left end.
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In the podcast I see the endgrain chamfers be cut with a hand plane, that's a lot of strokes. I don't have that kind of patience (or skills). Instead, it ocurred to me clamp the upright to a wooden fence (from my router table) and pass the whole thing through the table saw. It looks dangerous and I was a little fearful at first but once I start I found the heavy weight helps to stabilize things. An extra bonus here: the chamfer helped to cut away most of the remaing crack.
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I don't have a taper jig because I don't cut tapers so often. I wanted this project be done in a weekend so I don't bother on build a new jig. I nailed a straight guide at the exact angle and pass it through the table saw. Any nail mark will be in the back side, so nobody will see it.
.I don't have a taper jig because I don't cut tapers so often. I wanted this project be done in a weekend so I don't bother on build a new jig. I nailed a straight guide at the exact angle and pass it through the table saw. Any nail mark will be in the back side, so nobody will see it.
After the tapers are done, I cut the remaining chamfers on the upright but I forget to take that picture, oops. I also cut smaller chamfers on the shelfs. Do some hand planing to clear saw marks, a very light sanding and every thing are ready to assembly and glue up
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Masking tape prevents the typical mess whith glue squeeze. It also helps to align the shelfs centered on the upright. That way only put attention on install each shelf face up, I don't want a shelf upside down...
I didn't like that pinky color, it's seems uncolored to me. And I know that mahogany is much nicer with a tan. Therefore I spent the next morning waiting for sunrise, and keeping my project aligned with the sun to take an uniform sun shower.
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Marc Spagnoulo sunk screws to reinforce the shelfs from the back, so I did it too. But he leave the top shelf held only by friction, no screws, no glue because he install the mounting hardware hidden inside that top dado. He didn't want a screw head on the show face. In my case, I'm using very low grade mahogany, so a tiny black screw head sunk in the wood for mounting doesn't matter at all. I prefer to reinforce all three shelfs with screws and glue.
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I use oil-based polyurethane varnish to finish this kind of projects. It's tedious but worth the effort. I was tempted to use stain but always prefer the natural looking of wood grain. This big double knot became an interesting element. I feel it says: Ey, this is wood from a living tree!!.
I usually use #320 or #340 grit sandpaper between each coat of varnish, but this time I found that a card scraper does a better and faster job.
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Ta-daaa!!!
Four pieces of junk wood became into a nice wall shelf. I'm happy with this project. So simple, so nice, so fast, and really cost me next to nothing.
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Don't forget to visit The Wood Whisperer...
And let me know where are my mistakes in my English, I'll apreciate it.
Nos vemos luego!!!
juay de rito