Bart Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 I haven't posted anything in ages, but lurk regularly! Received a commission from a client who wanted a diagonal bookcase, wall to ceiling high. Below some pictures of the process: Starting with a stack of walnut A lot of planing, glueing and domino-ing (is that a word?) This sucker made life a LOT easier. One of my best investments ever. Starting the dry fit Progress More progress, and lot's and lot's of domino's Progressing more This is where I made a mistake... The client wanted 30 cm deep, and there was no way I could get my hands on walnut that wide in these parts. So I decided to double up 15 cm deep boards and join them. I should have pre-made the final width required prior to putting it all together, as a 1 mm error gets compounded very quickly. Another challenge was the height required - the door was no where near high enough to move the bookcase though, so had to make the main body and the top layer of "boxes" separately. Of course I ran out of suitable domino's pretty quickly. Shipping them in from Europe of the US would be rather costly, so made my own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bart Posted October 4, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Taking the dry fit apart and starting the glue-up. A lot of clamping to pull it all into place properly. The end is near. Considering it was 48 deg C (118 of your Fahrenheits) and 75% plus humidity, a lot of sweat went into this project - literally. It stands, it stands! Because the two layers are cross lapped against each other, there was minimal sag. 4 mm over 3.4 meters. Now with top layer also attached. I had a hand span left between the top and the ceiling. The client wanted a border, I thought it looked better without one. He still insisted, so went with it. Experimenting with finish. This is plain mineral oil which gets a coating of polycrylic when completely dry. I'm pretty sure that's not the proper way to do it, but it works for me. The polycrylic leaves the wood more brown, whereas I find the polyurethane gets a yellowy tinge. Finished project, apologies for the hairy guy. Taking the top layer off again, and preparing for transport. Installed! Some small loose pieces were requested to allow for certain items to be upright. Thanks for looking 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 I have a habit of making things that are way to big for me to handle... Thanks @Lester Burnham Also realized I should have posted this in Project Journals. I can't figure out how I can move it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Amazingly massive! That's a very cool design, and the results are impressive! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisc Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Very impressive. I enjoy seeing creative uses of tools and this is one of them. How long/tall is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 2 hours ago, Bart said: I have a habit of making things that are way to big for me to handle... Thanks @Lester Burnham Also realized I should have posted this in Project Journals. I can't figure out how I can move it? I moved it for you.. Nice job! Looks like the domino paid for itself in one job! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxerjoe04 Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 That's awesome, just curious, what are prices like for lumber over that way? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Very nice, absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 This is wonderful, I've never thought about diagonal book shelves before. I think i agree with you and like it better with out the border. Though with the border you can use the top corners for storage. Dang that's a lot of dominoes. I kinda wish the client had put some of the books alternating in direction. Having them all the same way would make me start to tip over ... . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted October 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 1 hour ago, lewisc said: Very impressive. I enjoy seeing creative uses of tools and this is one of them. How long/tall is it? Thank you @lewisc! It came to 341 cm x 245 cm, so just over 11 ft x 8.3 ft 49 minutes ago, Gixxerjoe04 said: That's awesome, just curious, what are prices like for lumber over that way? AED 320 per cubic ft, about USD 87. 6 minutes ago, Chestnut said: This is wonderful, I've never thought about diagonal book shelves before. I think i agree with you and like it better with out the border. Though with the border you can use the top corners for storage. Dang that's a lot of dominoes. I kinda wish the client had put some of the books alternating in direction. Having them all the same way would make me start to tip over ... . Ha, exactly what I thought, alternating, bottles of wine here and there. But each to their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Really cool piece, Bart. Looks like you did a fantastic job. It must have been brutal working in that heat ! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Very awesome. Nice work. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Looks Amazing...glad you did the glue up LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Really nice project! A question about your finish. I was under the impression that mineral oil doesn't cure. Does the poly have any issues on top of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Outrageously awesome! What a blast. That is one classy custom . . . I almost said built-in. With that scale it gives the same feeling of permanence that a built-in does. Very nice work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted October 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 6 hours ago, Pug said: Really nice project! A question about your finish. I was under the impression that mineral oil doesn't cure. Does the poly have any issues on top of it? Thanks @Pug! I've applied this finish a couple of times now, and have had 0 issues. I wipe on the mineral oil sparingly but really thorough, making sure there is no residue or puddles. Wait a few hours until it dries and nothing comes off anymore. This obviously really brings out the grain and colour. Then on the bookcase a single coat of polycrylic, smells better than polyurethane too. For a table I would add more coats of poly to resist the rings left behind by glasses. Worked so far! I've done just poly too, but find the colour isn't as rich. May experiment more if I can get my hands on some of the finishes available in the Americas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 14 hours ago, Bart said: Thanks @Pug! I've applied this finish a couple of times now, and have had 0 issues. I wipe on the mineral oil sparingly but really thorough, making sure there is no residue or puddles. Wait a few hours until it dries and nothing comes off anymore. This obviously really brings out the grain and colour. Then on the bookcase a single coat of polycrylic, smells better than polyurethane too. For a table I would add more coats of poly to resist the rings left behind by glasses. Worked so far! I've done just poly too, but find the colour isn't as rich. May experiment more if I can get my hands on some of the finishes available in the Americas. Are you sure that's mineral oil your using? Mineral oil never dries, ever. If it works, then it must be getting absorbed into the wood sufficiently. I'ts not a gamble I'd take though. There are oil finishes that cure & polymerize that will give the same effect as the mineral oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Very cool piece man, turned out great. I bet that project was a total pain in the ass. Well done, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 All I can say is I am impressed. Very well done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 So essentially you built two identical pieces and domijointed them together? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-MattK- Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 awesome work, Bart! What do those temps do to the open time on your glue? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 2 hours ago, Brendon_t said: So essentially you built two identical pieces and domijointed them together? Yes, but they are mirrored. One one side the long pieces run from right to left, with short pieces left to right, and on the other side it's the opposite. It's the only way I could think of to keep the rigidity without having to resort to adding hardware, aircraft cable etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 6 minutes ago, Bart said: Yes, but they are mirrored. One one side the long pieces run from right to left, with short pieces left to right, and on the other side it's the opposite. It's the only way I could think of to keep the rigidity without having to resort to adding hardware, aircraft cable etc. Excellent sir! Excellent! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 1 hour ago, -MattK- said: awesome work, Bart! What do those temps do to the open time on your glue? Thanks Matt. I do notice that the glue goes off quicker in summer obviously, but not by much. Our temperatures move through the year from hot to damn hot, so I don't have much experience in cold weather. In my ignorance, and because the prices here are almost the same across the TItebond range, I've been using TB3 for everything. On this project there was an insane amount of sanding, mainly due to my shortcomings as a woodworker! After many hours getting the worst of it with a chisel and sander, especially all the 90 deg areas where glue likes to slide to, I finally learned that TB1 is MUCH easier to sand. So if it doesn't have to be food safe or insanely tight, that's what I'll use next time for a similar project. Thinking about making a smaller one (5 cubbies high, 3 wide) as a wine rack for personal use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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