Woodworking

[levon]

Anybody likes woodworking? I just got into it and it's a very relaxing hobby. Needed a bookcase and decided to have a go at it.

It's a pretty simple design. I used pine boards for construction, wood toner for the color and clear Shellac for finish. Not counting the tools, about $75 in materials and 8 hours of labor.

The finished product



and a closeup

[Mos]

Re: Woodworking

looks very nice - I myself never been good at such construction, but hey 75 dollars for such a shelf should be much cheaper than from a store with such quality.

[Ethnography]

Re: Woodworking

Wow Great work.

When my grandfather was much younger and his hands and legs didn't hurt him so much as they do now, he used to make a lot of wood pieces. I still have the chair and table he made for me. Its such a treasure to me. So simply, yet so beautiful, and the most sturdy thing I've had all of my life.

[retro]

Re: Woodworking

Carpentry is a useful skill and a nice hobbie and if your creative you can quite a lot with just a jigsaw, drill and sander.

I would of stained the bookcase a darker colour and layed Danish oil and wax to finish it. I also would of used dowel plugs to pin the bookcases joins together.

I highly recommend using google sketchup to model your projects designs to scale.

http://sketchup.google.com/

[levon]

Re: Woodworking

I would of stained the bookcase a darker colour and layed Danish oil and wax to finish it. I also would of used dowel plugs to pin the bookcases joins together.

I wanted the color to match the rest of my bedroom furniture (you can get glimpse of it in the closeup) and so I chose the lighter color. Danish oil and wax is a good idea. At the time, I had a half-gallon of shellac so went with it. It probably would have been easier to apply. I spent quit some time on each board polishing it with shellac. I did think of using dowel plugs for the joins, even bought a bag full, but they snug together pretty firmly so decided to leave it as is.

I starting another one, with a different design. I'm thinking of using dado joins for it. I assume you got quit a bit of experience in carpentry?

I highly recommend using google sketchup to model your projects designs to scale.
http://sketchup.google.com/

Thanks, I'll look into it. I've used sketchup briefly some years back when I was playing around with 3D stuff, don't know if it's changed much since then.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Woodworking

Great job but the perfectionist in me is wondering why the bookends on the top shelf are uneven...

I love construction... building decks, fences, basements, etc.... give me a hammer, saw, wood and nails and l'm happier than a pig in sh!t.

[hipeter924]

Re: Woodworking

Great job but the perfectionist in me is wondering why the bookends on the top shelf are uneven...

I love construction... building decks, fences, basements, etc.... give me a hammer, saw, wood and nails and l'm happier than a pig in sh!t.

My father is pretty hands on that way, we landscaped and renovated houses and sold them. Then my parents moved to the US and apartment living.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Woodworking

My father is pretty hands on that way, we landscaped and renovated houses and sold them. Then my parents moved to the US and apartment living.

Can't do that in North America without getting slapped with capital gain taxes and other governmental B.S. Hey, but it's a "free" country.

[levon]

Re: Woodworking

Great job but the perfectionist in me is wondering why the bookends on the top shelf are uneven...

Thanks. It was due to design. If looked at head on the ends go from small to large on the left side, and large to small on the right side. The angle of the photo makes it look like only the top is uneven.

I love construction... building decks, fences, basements, etc.... give me a hammer, saw, wood and nails and l'm happier than a pig in sh!t.

I'm the same way. And each project is an excuse to buy another power tool.