Daughter's bookshelf with drawers

[SawDustB]

I'm about to go buy a dovetail bit for the sliding dovetails, since the only one I have is only 1/2". Would a 3/4" bit at 14 degrees be the right one to get? My stock is just around 7/8". I'm getting it at Lee valley, so there's also a 5/8" bit as well as 7 degree versions. Thanks!

[bushwacked]

very cool project! I have been thinking of building one for my daughter .. probably poplar and then have her paint it whatever crazy style she wants to and it can be her one of a kind bookshelf .... She is 3 so the paint job would be amazing  haha 

[SawDustB]

50 minutes ago, bushwacked said:

very cool project! I have been thinking of building one for my daughter .. probably poplar and then have her paint it whatever crazy style she wants to and it can be her one of a kind bookshelf .... She is 3 so the paint job would be amazing  haha 

Yep, we've done that with a few projects too . It works well when they're essentially a random paint generator. This one's commissioned by my wife to be nice for when she's older, so we're trying to stay classy. I'm hoping to get back into it, since the bathroom renovation supplies should soon leave my shop.

[SawDustB]

The bookshelf is no longer on hold, now that I've reclaimed my shop from the bathroom renovation. I decided on sliding dovetails for all of the remaining shelves. I cut them all to length with a stop block, and got to work on the dovetail sockets.

I made a small t square jig from plywood and clamped it on. I cut one side so it would line up with my layout mark and put the dado in the right place. Here it is:

I used a spiral 1/2" bit to plow out most of the waste. I'm going to come back with the dovetail bit and cut them to final size. After this evening I had all my dados, so you can see the shelf and divider layout.

I then sliced my thumb on the new dovetail bit when taking it out of the packaging, so I quit for the night. I'm happy to be making sawdust again, though.

[Coop]

Thank goodness the bit wasn’t in the router when it came in contact with your thumb. Did you decide on the tapered or straight dt’s, straight, I hope? 

[wdwerker]

Well now you know that new bit is razor sharp ! Sharp bits and blades are dangerous but dull tools can actually cause accidents too.

[Wood Basher]

6 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Did you decide on the tapered or straight dt’s, straight, I hope? 

Why do you prefer straight?

[SawDustB]

8 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Thank goodness the bit wasn’t in the router when it came in contact with your thumb. Did you decide on the tapered or straight dt’s, straight, I hope? 

I went with straight, on @wdwerker's recommendation. The layout for this is tricky enough without introducing the taper to think about too. The other factor is that with the 3/4" dovetail bit, there isn't really enough material to mess around with a taper. You may notice that a couple of the shelves are going to be inset, so they're getting stopped dovetails and are a different length. Just too many variables - I know I'd end up with the wrong taper on one of them.

[SawDustB]

8 hours ago, wdwerker said:

Well now you know that new bit is razor sharp ! Sharp bits and blades are dangerous but dull tools can actually cause accidents too.

Yes, I was glad to know it's sharp. I was peeling off that plastic goop from the cutting edge when it all decided to pop off at once. Nothing serious, but enough to tell me I was done.

[SawDustB]

So I screwed up a little... It turns out I used the wrong spacer when I set the stop block and cut my shelves to length. As a consequence, they're only long enough for a 1/4" dovetail on each end. That by itself would be OK, except I cut all the dados to 5/16" deep.

As I see it, there are two options. Option 1 is to glue in a 1/16" or thicker piece with the right grain orientation in the grooves, then cut the 1/4" dovetail. This only really has to be done in a couple of places, since many of the grooves are stopped and invisible from the front.

Option two is to cut the dovetails off one end of the top, and make the whole bookshelf 1" narrower. This means I have to cut one new set of tails, but it gives me the chance to recut everything to length, fixing my mistake. I think I'll do this as a last resort, since I'd prefer not to make it smaller, and the dovetails are exactly how I want them right now. I'm concerned that trying to recut the tails from the pins won't go well.

Either way, I'm kicking myself. I hate it when this happens in a project.

[SawDustB]

I should mention, I'd welcome any suggested fixes. Going and getting more wood to replace the shelves isn't in the cards, though, at least not until next week.

[wdwerker]

Cut the case narrower !  We all make mistakes, but learning how to recover is a step down the road to mastering the skills.

Mark a scrap from the pins and practice on scrap before you start cutting on the actual case. You could fit all the dovetailed shelves and dry fit them before you measure for recutting the top & bottom. Don't forget to allow for that bit extra so they can be cut flush afterwards.

Remember very few people will see tiny flaws you find to be glaring.

[Chestnut]

+1 for an inch narrower.

[pkinneb]

+2.

If you work with wood mistakes happen and usually we are the only ones who would ever know if we just kept quiet...although that's easier said then done for me

[SawDustB]

Thanks guys. It wouldn't be the first time I'd ended up with my project being an inch smaller . For now, I've glued in a 1/8" thick strip in all the dados that has the correct grain direction. I figure if it looks bad after I flush them up, I can still cut the case narrower, but I'll try this first. I suspect it'll be fine. I had to fix one of them up with a chisel and use a wider piece, but the rest were very consistent. The glue is drying and I'm walking away from it for today.

[SawDustB]

After flushing up the patches, I think they'll be ok. Only 1/16" will be left after routing, and they'll be covered by the drawer fronts anyway. A little CA and sanding should cover up any remaining gaps.

[SawDustB]

I routed my dovetail sockets and I'm happy with the result. Here's one with the patch:

It will be almost invisible after I'm done. I then tried to get the perfect fit for the dovetail. Wow, what a fiddly process. I ended up rigging up a micro adjust for my fence, by bolting a dial indicator to the magnetic feather board.

I finally had a reasonable fit after many tries. The width wasn't too bad, but getting the router height exact with the fixed base was awful. I wish I had a lift. Anyway, I had a really good fit at the end of the night. It went together with a light mallet tap, so maybe a bit snug. I'll keep trying tomorrow night.

[SawDustB]

I've now routed the tails on all the shelves and supports. I did a test fit in one side:

It seems pretty good, except the side is a tiny bit bowed, which gets flattened when I put in the lowest full shelf. This is probably good, except that shelf is hard to get in. It requires a mallet even without glue, so I'll have to consider what to do. If I use a slippery glue on the glue up, it would be fine.

I had to cut off a bit of some of the tails so they'd fit in the stopped sockets, so that was the only other progress tonight. Next is feet, sanding, and edge treatments, then the glue up. I still haven't completely figured out how I'm building the drawers yet, although I'm thinking 1/2" BB boxes with applied fronts.

[SawDustB]

I put a couple of hours in last night. I was having a hard time deciding what to do for feet on the bookshelf sides, but this is what I ended up with. I made a small template and cut it out with my jigsaw and a trim router with flush trim bit.

Other than that, I spent some quality time with my random orbit sander. I've sanded about half the parts up to 220 now, and I'll try to do the rest before trying to do the glue up. For the sliding dovetails, I want to use something slippery since they're fairly tight. Would liquid hide glue work for this? I have a bottle of Old Brown Glue I bought during the Roubo build to glue my leather. If not, then I think I may head towards gluing it either with epoxy or polyurethane glue. I suspect that trying to glue these with PVA glue would be a disaster, and I'd like to glue most of the length since I had to make the dovetails shallower.

[SawDustB]

I went out to the garage last night to work on the project, and I got distracted away from the sanding. I blame Cremona. After watching the waterfall table videos, I wanted to add a couple of butterfly keys across the bark inclusions. I cut the keys on the table saw following the video from @MMWood. They turned out well, after a little cleanup. I used a trim router to cut the recesses.

I had two to put in on this one shelf. I inlaid and glued them last night, then quickly ran a plane over them this morning. I still need to do finish sanding on the shelf, but I think they look pretty good. I was too lazy to make different sizes, so they're identical. I still have one more to inlay into the side of the bookshelf. My wife wanted no contrasting woods on this project, so it's all just out of the birch.

[SawDustB]

I got a couple of hours tonight to work in the shelf. I got the last two butterfly keys inlaid into the side. I'm also finished my sanding for now, so I think I just have to break the edges of some pieces that will be a pain later, then the big scary glue up. I think I'll break that into a couple of stages.

[Chet]

25 minutes ago, SawDustB said:

then the big scary glue up

Yea been there.  Some times you just have to do a dry run or two t get the right sequence.

[SawDustB]

I'm going to grab wood thus morning for the drawers. I'm second guessing myself on the thickness to get. The lower drawer is about 12" deep, 12" front to back, and 29.5" wide. The upper drawer is the same dimensions except only 6" deep. There will be overlaid fronts on the drawer boxes of solid birch.

I was originally going to get 1/2" Baltic birch plywood for the sides/front/back and 1/4" for the bottoms. Is that strong enough, or should I be using 3/4"? I was also thinking about going up to 1/2" for the bottom of the big drawer, in case someone stood in it. I expect most of the time these will have toys in them. If it matters, I got 100 lb full extension slides to install them.

[wdwerker]

1/2" is plenty for drawers depending on the joinery you use on the corners. 1/4 ply bottoms in a 1/4" deep dado with 1/2 of the side left below the bottom to support it. I use 5/8 Baltic with 5 mm dominos in the corners. Scraps of 1/4" or 1/2 glued to the bottom of the drawers is plenty of reinforcing. A 4" to 5" wide strip running in the longest direction is plenty but wider won't hurt.

Finger joints , dovetails, drawer lock joints are also effective ways to put drawers together. Biscuits don't work that well, the front can rip out when the drawer is slammed. And drawers will get slammed ! Don't be too stingy with the glue.  

Dont forget to check opposite corner to corner measurements when gluing & clamping to ensure squareness. This drawer stock can Flex under clamp pressure but equal diagonal measurements work when using a square isn't reliable.

[Alan G]

It’s overkill 99% of the time but I have using 3/8” baltic for my drawer bottoms. 

Not really needed for strength except in large drawers with heavy items but it just sounds less tinny.