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Beautiful Painted Bookcase

White bookshelf filled with various books

Louise Biggs continues her series by building a decorative and intricate bookcase

Having completed the oak (Quercus robur) screen (issue 17) and several antique restoration projects, two of my special customers returned with their next project. With their two- storey porch extension completed on their cottage, a seating area was formed giving beautiful views over their extensive garden and a narrow return in the wall structure with oak beam structures above. With an extensive collection of books they had designed a narrow bookcase, which would make use of the area.

As with the oak screen, the carved details echo historical architectural features with the apotropaic marks – daisy wheels, arcading and circle decoration lifted from a guilloche decoration. The bookcase was to be made using blockboard, plywood for the carcase and American tulipwood (Liriodendron tulipifera) for the timber frame and mouldings, all of which give a good base for hand painting. There were some different features used in the construction of the bookcase; I will concentrate on these and only give basic construction methods.

Bookcase PlanDownload

Tool List

  • Panel saw
  • Tablesaw
  • Planer/thicknesser
  • Router and router table
  • Squares – various sizes
  • Marking gauges
  • Sliding bevel
  • Planes
  • Drill and drill bits
  • Screwdriver
  • Dovetail saw
  • Chisels – various sizes
  • Shoulder-rebate plane
  • Wooden moulding plane
  • PPE suitable for ears, eyes and breathing
  • Router cutters:
  • Core box 12.7 and 9.5mm
  • Point round 4mm
  • Panel bead 9.5 and 3.2mm
  • V-groove 90°
  • Ovolo round 16mm
  • Flat ovolo 18mm
  • Waterfall ogee
    All router cutters from Wealdens Tool Company – www.wealdentool.com

Architectural Features

Apotropaic marks were used above windows and doors, but also fireplaces. All deemed vulnerable entry points to protect the buildings from witches and evil spirits during the 17th century. They are ritual marks, which are also referred to as ‘witch marks’ and the term apotropaic literally means ‘evil-averting’. The arcading and guilloche decorations also date from the 17th century with the variations in design changing through the counties.

White decorative cornices with star and floral motifs.
Blueprints on desk and wooden plank setup.
1. As always my customer provided detailed drawings and sizes of what he required. The design was drawn up on a CAD programme to iron out any ‘hiccups’ before drawing up a full size workshop rod. With the small cupboard return on the right hand side this aided clarification of the details for positioning many of the joints and angles. This enabled the bookcase to initially go together in my workshop while allowing for my customer’s specialist builders to later fit it on site
Measuring wooden joints with pencil and clamp tool.
2. Firstly the main bookcase was constructed first. A groove was cut in the bottom edge of the sides to receive the bottom panel. As the top was formed of thinner boards I cut a series of through dovetails on each end to secure it to the side panels. The back panel was fitted into rebates on all edges with a central supporting strip glued and screwed into position to take the central bookcase strip
Person using a router on wood board
3. With the main carcase formed, but before gluing together the bookcase strips were cut into the sides and back panels. A specialist cutter is available to cut the required double grooves, but I still make two passes with the router to gain the required depth
Measuring wood thickness with a metal ruler.
4. Using a test piece, rebates were cut using a router on the edge of the architrave blocks so they finished level with the inside edge of the carcase. With the blocks held in position the architraves were then routed in the same way, but measured, so when in position they left 10mm of the carcase edge showing and created a 10mm step to the architrave block
Drilling hole in wooden cabinet corner
5. As the architraves and blocks were to clip over the wall on the left and the side cupboard, on the right it only left the rebated edge to join them to the carcase. A series of holes were drilled for a wooden plug before being drilled for a screw at an angle so the screw pulled the architraves onto the corner of the carcase
Person measuring wooden structure with square tool.
6. I was requested to leave the architrave blocks loose so they could be adjusted to fit if required
once the bookcase was fitted on site. I decided the best way to join them to the architrave was to cut in a dovetail key. Using two pieces of 6mm birch (Betula pendula) ply I cut out the dovetail keys and trued them up with a chisel. With the architraves and blocks fixed in position the dovetail keys were positioned and marked on each side
Wooden joint with dovetail detail in frame construction.
7. The bulk of the waste was then cut away using a router with the fence before trimming the remainder using the router freehand. The edges were trimmed using a chisel until the dovetail key fitted tightly, glued and screwed into the architrave and a slightly looser fit in the architrave block to be glued on site
Woodwork project with clamps in workshop
8. The bottom edge of the top rail was to finish flush with the bottom edge of the oak beams while leaving the 10mm edge of the top showing. There was a step between the architrave and the top rail due to the oak beam so I used a half dovetail key. The bottom half of the key was a tenon, which fitted into the architrave and was cut using a router with support blocks clamped to the architrave. The dovetail half of the key was cut into the top rail and the rail was then secured along its length to the top using thin ‘L’ shaped brackets
Unfinished wooden wardrobe in a workshop setting.
9. The side return cupboard was formed using rebates to join the carcase panels. The bottom and middle shelf were fitted into grooves and the top fitted with a tongue and groove. The top was kept lower than the beam to allow for clearance. The front edge would sit behind the right architrave
Wooden cabinet assembly with screw detail
10. The frame stiles had to fit around the side cupboard, to meet at the left hand edge with the back of the architrave and allow a scribe piece on the right hand side using test pieces to establish the correct angles and rebates
Person using router table on wood panel
11. The stiles were then marked out using a gauge, a sliding bevel and the angles planed before being supported with wedges fixed to the router table to have the rebates cut. These were carefully cut out in several steps as this was safer and allowed more control to keep the stiles firmly against the support pieces
Wooden shelving unit under construction in workshop.
12. The front frame was made using mortise and tenon joints with the top rail sitting on top of the stiles. This top rail would then be cut on a bandsaw to form an arch and was jointed in this way as it was better for the end result. This was left dry at the moment as carving and beading decoration still needed to be cut
Wood routing on table with guide fence.
13. The architrave moulding was cut to the client’s design having drawn the shape up full size and gained cutters with suitable profiles. The outer curves were cut first forming the small rebate. Next, the central shape was cut followed by the inner curves that blended the outer and centre shape together
Craftsman smoothing wood with hand plane tool.
14. The shape was blended in using a shoulder rebate plane and a wooden moulding plane with the final stage being abrasives, which were wrapped around dowels for the concave shapes and shaped by my fingers for convexed shape
Wood router on marked wood surface.
15. The roundel in the top rail, which would be carved with the circular guilloche pattern was cut using a router set up on a circle jig. The jig comprises of a piece of Perspex with the centre cutter hole and fixing points cut, drilled and then a series of pivot points drilled in a line, which is fitted over a tight fitting nail. Cutter sizes and positions were adjusted to get as close to the required size as possible
Person using router for woodworking.
16. The roundel was cut first working down through the material depth in steps to get a clean cut. Firmly hold the timber with a waste board behind and carefully turn the router on the pivot point
Using electric router on wood panel
17. The top rail was then routed out having marked the position of the roundel. The waste was then removed in depth steps, holding the router firmly. Any remaining levelling between cuts was done with a wide chisel
Woodworking jig construction with tools on workshop bench.
18. For the arcading to be cut a jig had to be made that would move the top rail along in uniform steps. The exact depth of the cutter had to be established in order to get the correct width measurement of each detail and the gap that was left in between so that the end flat and the centre ones against the roundel were the same. Two blocks were cut to the exact width required and these were stepped back against each other to move the top rail through the jig in steps
Router cutting wood on jig setup
19. The router moved on the surface of the top rail and side blocks and was stopped either side by stop blocks positioned for the correct length of the detail
Person cutting wood with a table saw jigsaw.
20. The bead around the side cupboard frame was cut on the router table using the fence and stopping at the point of the middle shelf. With the arch cut, a guide arm cutter protector was used to guide the arch round. The final junction between straight and arched sections was finished with carving chisels
Carved wooden blocks on workbench, workshop background.
21. The roundel, side top rail and architrave blocks were then sent away for carving. On their return the frames were glued and cleaned up before being fitted to the carcases
Large white wooden bookshelf in workshop
22. The final stage was to fit the panel to the lower side cabinet with its moulded detail. The side shelves were fixed in position and screwed through from behind. The five shelves for the bookcase were made from 30mm thick tulipwood, with a rounded front edge, to prevent the shelves from bowing under the weight of the books. With a coat of undercoat the bookcase was delivered ready for fixing on site
Custom-built white hallway bookshelf storage unit.
23. All that remains is for me to thank Rob and Barry for their craftsmanship to complete the project, which is now fitted, painted and awaiting the books

Further Reading

Carving a Rosette

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