Jefferson Bookcases – Interlude and Medium Bookcases
Originally written Sep 20, 2020
Having finished the three extra-large cases, plus the twelve large cases, it was time for a break. If nothing else, the two block planes and smoothing plane I use to clean up the boxes all needed a sharpening. The smoother has almost a half-dozen divots in the edge of the blade, and was leaving tracks. The last few cases I ended up finishing off with a card scraper.
With the sharpening behind me, and having knocked out another picture frame, plus some other shop maintenance (I need to get a cleat on the north wall of the shop, plus I've been sketching a design for a set of drawers to hold hardware I need in the shop), it was time for the next size of cases. These are the medium cases for hardcovers.
According to my notes, these need to hold books 9½ x 6½ inches in size. And there are a few that are ever-so-slightly oversized, so I decided to build the boxes roughly 10×7. They'll actually be about a quarter inch larger than that, as my 1×8s are 7¼ wide. And I'll figure out the exact size of the back once I get the first box built, so here's the preliminary cut list.
Rather than make 12 of these, I'm going to start with eight. And I only have four 1×12s left, so I'll need to either go buy more or piece them together out of a pair of 1×6s. I'll figure it out when I get there. It still takes me about a day per box to knock these out (minus interruptions that happen, like taking a day off to plant flowers), so I don't need to make a decision for a couple more days.
After putting together the first box, I now know I need to cut a ½ inch strip off the edge of a 1×12 to make a properly sized back-board, so the final cut-list is:
2 – 1×8x30¼ 2 – 1×8x11½ 1 – 1×12 (minus a half) x29⅝
I'm probably going to need to build a total of 12 or 16 of these, but I'll get the first four built and a few more books unpacked and then decide if I need to make a trip to the lumber yard for more lumber.
A sharp-eyed reader noticed the Lava Lamp (which I've had since 1978) sitting on the shelves and asked for an action shot of that.
There's also a picture of the first “medium” case completed and added to the stacks.
Jefferson Bookcases Contents #woodworking #bookcases #cutList #lavaLamp
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