Mondaugen's Miscellany

Basement Bookcase, part 1

My house suffers from a basic problem: too much stuff and nowhere to put it. The problem largely stems from a double infestation of teenage children that we have been unable to manage for several years. To drive them away, my wife and I try to feed them nutritious and healthy food, require them to do the dishes and even insist that they be polite to guests and family. I even set out a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, but none of this has worked, and they remain--eating in the house, sleeping in the house, even lounging about in the house, but most especially leaving their stuff everywhere it shouldn’t be around the house.

The messes have mounted in size over the years in both scale and complexity, involving not just their art projects, model rockets, homework, library books, Call of Duty Black Ops disc, broken pencils, forgotten lego and Playmobil, Chia pets, and comic books, but also my receipts, glasses, thumb drive and can of bag balm, all of which I can never find when needed in a hurry.

“Clean up your messes Especially the one in the basement!” I shout with authority, “Put your stuff away!”

“But dad, it IS cleaned up. The stuff in the basement we put in the corner as there’s nowhere else to put it!” comes the too-rapid, and sadly all-too accurate reply.

"Well, couldn't you stack it more neatly?"

"With the chia pet on top? I don't think so."

And indeed, the mess is cleaned up, sort of, so I can't lay blame on the kids. 

The siren song of the Shakers calls out to me when I look at such piles: “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

More organized storage is the obvious solution and this is a problem only a woodworker can solve.

It is time to don my bionic shop apron and get to work.

The tactic of a lesser mortal would be a trip to Ikea. But This Is The House Of A Proud Woodworker. We will MAKE a bookshelf, and it will be beautiful, useful and enduring. It will be such an amazing bookcase, all our guests will stop and stare at it, their jaws dropped in awe and say “WOW, what an awesome bookcase! Did you get it at Ikea?” And I will say, “No, I made it myself.” And then they’ll want me to make one for them at the price they would pay at Ikea and by the time I get done lecturing them about the Value of the Hand of the Craftsman, they’re no longer such good friends. So it’s probably better to say you didn’t make it, that you found it at a tag sale for $5. It will produce the equivalent amount of envy and admiration.

1.The first step to making an awesome bookcase in your house is to find space in the mess to put a bookcase. Generally walls with bookcases or cabinets are not good places to put new bookcases, but I have thought of it (the outer bookcase just needs casters so you can move it to one side to get at the bookcase behind). This plan, however, has been consistently vetoed by family vote. So I recommend you also find a wall without a bookcase.

I happen to have such a wall in my basement, right above one of the smaller piles. It also looks pretty horrible, after yeasrs of abuse. There are holes from pictures and scribblings from kids, a popped drywall seam, as well as a good stain from a coke float that was dropped while someone (who shall remain nameless) was coming down the stairs. This wall will benefit greatll by being hidden from view with a lovely bookcase.

2. Measure the area you have to work with. It’s mistake number one to make something that won’t fit where you want to put it, though I've only ever heard of people making this mistake and have absolutely no personal experience. In my basement, I have a protruding thingy 72 and 1/4 in. from the floor, where I think there are some pipes. My goal here is to make a bookcase that is not taller than the protruding thingy. And the protruding thingy sticks out about 7 3/4 in. so that’s a good depth to work with for a bookcase. Also, never make a bookcase so big that it won’t fit through a door. I know someone who did just that, a big 9 ft. tall bookcase that was 8 ft. wide. Guess how many 3 ft. by 7 ft. doorways that can fit through? it might take you a few minutes to double check for yourself, but the answer is none.

You see, there’s a lot to think about as a woodworker. Making things is an endless process of problemsolving, even before you start making them. Measure twice and then double check you're measuring the right thing.

Also measure the width of the wall AND the baseboard details. It is a constant problem, to make a bookshelf that fits around a baseboard. You'll see what a nuisance they create later on in the process.

 

3. Now, sit down with pencil and paper and write down all these measurements. It's no use taking them if you forget them. Do little drawings to keep your bearings. I don't label mine, but that's a bad idea. All too often I come back to a drawing a few weeks later and wonder what on earth it shows.

 

4. Figure out what you’re going to build. The more you precisely you draw it, the better. I know a fair number of Google Sketchup Jockeys—CAD programs big and small can be very useful and enjoyable. But they’re not crucial. There is no crucial tool in woodworking. This is one of the key joys and frustrations in woodworking. For every job there are at least ten ways you can do it, none better or worse than any other, just some are faster, easier and more expensive.

I prefer the old note pad, with distracting lines. As this is a basic bookcase, and I really need to get this project done, I've kept the details to a minimum. Rectangular sides, though, are depressing. Yes, they have their place in high-end modernist design, but in my basement they'll just look depressing. So a little curve along the edge of the sides. One to the floor will look better than a triangle, but one ends before the floor will look better. Or at least I think so.

Beautiful furniture is both in the eye of the beholder and also learned. No matter what you say, I cannot be convinced that a polluted river, dark brown with garbage floating in it is beautiful. It just isn't. But if you find great beauty in the artwork of Damien Hirst, well, I won't contradict you, just agree to disagree with you. But to avoid a huge digression into aesthetics, just make your bookcase the way you like, and I'll do the same with mine.

Spend some time thinking through other possibilities. I considered for a few minutes making a bookshelf that went around the corner towards the stairs. The trouble is that it greatly complicates the construction, and you end up with dead space in the corner that’s hard to manage without further complication.

 

So I bagged that idea.

 

5. Figure out how you're going to build it. At this point, I decide how big the bookcase will be, what dimensions, construction techniques (what type of joinery), the length of the shelves, what wood to use and maybe even the finish. Or I try to. Some decisions get put off until later.

More than a 3 ft. span for a bookshelf is too much, and the shelves will end up sagging. I may make them shorter, but not longer. As I've got over 8 ft. of wall space, I could make three shelves, but that's too much effort. So I'll make two shelves 3 ft wide. At least that's the plan. You'll see how other factors will influence those decisions.

Dados and screws are the simplest construction for a bookcase and perfectly strong when attached to the wall. I'll also make the shelves adjustable.

 

It's also a good idea to sketch out the bookcase best you can to see what it will look like. This is a great time to realize a problem not eaily imagined. And I can't imagine an example.

The baseboard will be a problem, but I'll figure out a solution. Maybe the baseboard just goes away. I have a friend with a sawzall.

So we're off and running. The next step is to find wood. I'll take you to a lumber yard in the next post and show you what to look for when buying lumber in general: "caveat emptor," to coin a phase.

If you’re looking for more specific directions on how to build a bookcase, I recommend Niall Barrett’s book Bookcases. It’s a good project book written by a good friend who had a good editor (me). It’s readily available through the Taunton Press and internet book retailers of every stripe.

 

Welcome to my Shop

To the unaccustomed eye, this room looks like the terminal phase of a highly destructive addiction. Somewhere in the background, Gollum-like, I should be crouched over a new tool, or a particularly beautiful piece of wood muttering “I likes it, my precious, oh yes I likes it.” But no, I assure you I am a normal human being and this is a normal woodshop.

But so much stuff! So much clutter! Woodworking looks like an overwhelming hobby!

This is the trouble with woodworking—to make furniture from soup to nuts, you need a lot of tools and a lot of space to put them.  You’ll hear many woodworkers assure beginners that you don’t need much space to make furniture, nor do you need many tools. This is perfectly true--at first. The trouble begins when you fall in love with making things. That’s when you need more tools, more space, more wood, then better tools, better space and better wood. And after a lifetime of untreated addiction, the above is what your shop will look like.

Currently, I’m working on a kitchen cabinet in white oak.  This one has a cookie sheet slot on the left, a shallow drawer on the top and a slide out trash bin. Maybe in another post I’ll pull it apart and show you the details, or perhaps build a companion, as plywood carcase construction is a core woodworking skill.

 

Another project I’ve been pecking at is a cutting board with my high school’s motto incised around the edge. It’s for a fundraiser.

Incised letters are great fun to create, but I find them a whole lot harder to cut now than I did twenty years ago. I think my eyesight is the issue. I’ve tried spot lighting, but somehow I always need to see where there’s a shadow. I think I might look into one of those laser printers, or larger breadboards with bigger letters.

 

About a week ago, a friend asked me to fix a chair for him. I insisted no, but he insisted back and eventually won. So it sits in my shop. If I could make an honest business fixing chairs, I’d be a millionaire by now. Everyone has a squeaky chair they’d like to fix permanently. The trouble is, once a chair begins to squeak, there’s not too much you can do that’s simple, easy and cheap. Cheap fixes work just fine until someone sits in the chair. All the miracle cures for loose chair joints remain subject to doubt until the Pope beatifies the inventor. Better fixes exist, but putting ten hours of shop time into a $70 chair just doesn’t make sense unless it’s a family treasure. But I digress into one of those rants of frustration. I’ll clean up the finish and hopefully make him happy.

 

Then there’s this pile of spalted maple, behind the firewood.  I began to make something with it a few years back, but got sidetracked. I’m not even sure what I was making any more. It’s lovely wood and I should deal with it soon. In every woodworker’s shop are half-completed projects. They give one purpose in life. You have to get out of bed in the morning, if just to tie up those loose ends.

 

Next week, I’ll begin making a bookcase for my basement. I really need one (the clutter around the house needs a place to go), and there are few project as simple and useful as bookshelves. Next post, I’ll show you a simple sketch of the case and some thoughts on how I’ll make it and why.

Then next post after that I’ll take you on a tour of a local lumber yard or two where I’ll show you how to buy wood. First, I may have to discuss matters with the manager, to make sure it’s all right to take pictures. But if there’s a blackout at one lumberyard, we’ll go somewhere else.

Eventually, I hope to move to a mix of still pics and video, depending on what works best for each topic.

And as always, please visit my professional website at www.strotherpurdy.com

A Transition, of Sorts

It's about time.

I formally apologize for all the crummy mumblings for the last little while, perhaps years now. I've gotten rid of the worst offending blogs and will comb through the rest. Hopefully what's left is a pleasand archive of travel adventures and assorted interesting mumblings.

The trouble is I haven't been anywhere that has captured my imagination, or rather my imagination has been dull to the places I've been, or responded dully to dull places. We all go through flat spots in life, in which the landscape neither inspires us, nor can we inspire the landscape to be more than it deserves.

So from now on, I'll apply Mondaugen's Law to the woodworking I do, and the time I spend in my shop. This is certainly my now, though what kind of bandwidth I've attained I can't rightly say.

Whether you're just curious to see how furniture gets put together, or if you're thinking of learning the craft, I hope you'll find something in each post. If not, complain and I promise to be gracious about it. 

So, for an interim image, here's a plywood kayak I made a while back--the woodworking that travels.