Help - Bookcase guidance (paid)

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#1

Hi all!

Maybe a slightly different request to normal. I have a week off work 28th Oct - 1st November. I was hoping to spend this time in the woodshop making this bookcase

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. The problem is I am still pretty much a newbie and I am feeling a little lost about how to do everything.

I was hoping someone who is knowledgeable would be around that week to guide/teach/supervise so that I can get the most out of my week off! I am expecting to pay, I don’t know a good amount really depends how much time people have to offer but looking at other courses it seems like they are ~ £300-£500.

As a backup plan, if anyone has any courses they recommend that would be good as well. Everyone is very helpful in the makerspace I would just like some more help.

Thanks,
George

#2

I’m definitely not knowledgeable enough to run a course, but I’m (maybe naively) confident enough that I’d give that bookcase a go for myself! I won’t be around during the days but will be in a few evenings that week to help. Also happy to meet in advance to help explain how I would go about building the above.

Are you inducted in the woodshop?

Do you know what materials you want to use?

#3

Hi George. Looks like you’ll be using the Festool Domino or a dowelling jig. Either or will give a nice strong joint together with wood glue.

I have used the Festool Domino before and bought a nice dowelling jig that I call the Domino buster. Last night I taught James how to best use my dowelling jig.

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When I used the Domino machine, there’s was confusing moments of alignment because it doesn’t have an 18mm board setting. I strongly urge you to follow the principles of beginner carpentry by having some spare materials to experiment with, to boost your confidence. The panels are straight forward enough on a table saw, best is to get inducted.

My guess is whichever you use, you’ll build one tier and feel confident to build the rest.

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#4

Thank you both!

@Janoche, do you know which evenings and times in the evening you would be around? That would be helpful, I am inducted in the woodshop and I have been inducted on the table saw as well but I don’t have inductions in the planar/thicknesser or the festool. I’m not sure on material yet that was going to be another question along with where do most people actually get their wood from

@Riggerz thank you I appreciate the advice!

#5

where do most people actually get their wood from

The common ones I’m aware of:

  • Surrey timbers: you can order online for delivery or go and visit. It’s near godalming and is open saturday mornings. I’ve found the folks there pretty helpful in picking stuff out and they’re happy to work with hobbyists

  • Fallen and felled: this is in walthamstow. I’ve never been myself but I know lots of people have. Nice thing is its locally sourced timber that would have otherwise rotted / be used as fire wood

  • SL Hardwoods in croydon: again visit or order online. I think we might get an SLMS discount (which is good as they’re quite expensive!). They also do things like veneered MDF which you might consider for this project. You’d then edge band it with veneers or solid wood on the visible edges

  • English woodlands timber further south east: range looks amazing. They’re only really open weekdays but deliver. I’ve been struggling to get them to engage with me on picking out slabs but their prices and range seem great

You’ll want to get on ordering wood ASAP as there will be a bit of lead time, and it’s best to let it acclimatise a bit before you get going to avoid unwanted wood movement

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#6

Thank you that is super helpful! I like the look of the American Walnut from Surrey Timbers until I looked at the price so I am interested in the veneered MDF. I would guess I would have to use solid wood on the edges as the shelves are quite curved right? In which case would it be quite obvious where the veneered MDF finishes and where the solid wood starts?

I will come up with some measurements tomorrow so I know how much I need, I see that surrey timbers says 3-7 working days delivery period so you are definitely right on ordering ASAP thanks for pointing that out!

#7

Yep American walnut is very nice and very expensive indeed. Edge banding with solid wood is a well trodden path so you should be fine as long as it’s the same species, but it’s probably more forgiving using solid wood (you can plane more, sand more, fix mistakes etc.

Ash tends to be the cheapest hardwood and I personally like it. Stains are an option if you’re shooting for a particular tone

#8

Thinking a bit more… The other thing you’ll have to contend with if you do solid wood is wood movement. The design has you joining against the grain. When doing this, you need to account for it with your joinery and I can’t think how to obviously achieve a happy joint in this case without getting very fancy (I’m sure somebody here will have ideas!)

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#9

Best to get inducted on the tools you’ll need and do some practice with the scraps that appear in woodshop before you commit to cutting expensive materials.

#10

I think I have come around to edge banding with solid wood. My current plan is to go with Oak veneered MDF (which is what the original bookcase is made of).

What I am a bit confused by is if I went with this for the veneered MDF


Then do I just have to find a very similar solid wood product from the same place, e.g. would this work?

The first one doesn’t say the specific type of oak whereas the second one specifies ‘American white’. Do they match?

My final question is how to round the edges of the solid wood banding. Do you know which tool this would be best to do on?

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#11

Just watched a video where someone used a router to curve the edges so I assume that is the correct way to do that

#12

Router/router table would definitely be the way to do that

#13

Rounding over: The process here would likely be something like: glue on a wide-ish edge band (enough to be able to radius the corner, probably mitred at the corners), trim it flush being careful not to ruin the veneer, use a template and a pattern bit to radius the corners (I’m pretty sure I’ve seen an acrylic guide at the space with different curve radiuses), user a roundover bit all around to soften the edges.

For the vertical pieces which arent rounded/curved, I’d be pretty tempted to find out from SL how much they charge for edge banding. It looks like you’d just need a couple of different widths so you’d get them to rip down your veneered MDF, and then edge band the long edges. You can then crosscut to length (or get them to) and all of your vertical pieces are made. You can then concentrate on the shelves and joinery. If that’s pricey, you could also probably just use iron on for the verticals instead of solid to save some effort.

If the space doesn’t have the roundover bit you need, I’ve bought all the router bits I have from Wealden who are generally regarded as having a good quality:price ratio.

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#14

Yes, Matt, the corner radius templates are in one of the drawers besides the mitre saw.

#15

Thanks again both! I’ve been trying to get quotes from SL Hardwood but they are moving a bit slow. A lot of it so far they said may take a few weeks so I am going to take a bit more time to decide. Considering some of their other woods at the moment (like douglas fir perhaps?). Part of this is cost because the Oak is really expensive, and then part of it would make it easier to just work with solid wood for the project and not have to mix and match. It got me thinking it would be great if there were some samples in the space so people could take a look through when selecting for their project. Does that exist already?

If not I think that might be a small project for my week off work, I can order some online and then create a box to store them in.

#16

We have a box with different wood samples in! It’s in the storage area underneath the wood workshop bench closest to the big gorilla and arch door :slight_smile:

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#17

Great thank you I will take a look on Monday then!

#18

@petermakesprints the only thing I could find which wasn’t quite where you described was this. Is this what you were referring to?

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#19

Nope, there’s another box with all the wood types written on. Sorry if it’s not their any more, I found it a few weeks ago while storing my bag in the workbench I was referring to. I’ll have a look next time I’m in to try and locate it and leave it in a convenient spot for you but my apologies it’s AWOL at the mo!

#20

It should be there, I will have a look later today