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by
Art Mulder
photos: Roger Yip
illustration: Len Churchill |
CURIOUS BOOK CASE (part 2) |
Painting: Round One
It’s a good idea to stop construction now and do some
painting. Starting to paint now, while parts are separate, is
a lot easier than waiting until the whole bookcase is assembled.
Sand all the pieces with a belt or random-orbit sander, then
apply primer. Don’t paint the edges or the dados. Water-based
primers raise the woodgrain, so once the primer is dry, use
220-grit paper to sand the surface lightly to a nice smooth
state. Follow any painting pattern you like—I used primary
colours for each house, then white for the top and bottom of
the shelves, and grey for the roof, outer edges of the shelves
and the skirt. You don’t need to make a clean edge where
the different house colours meet. This seam will be covered
later, either by the dividers or by a grey stripe that you’ll
paint on afterward. You can leave the rear-facing side of the
back white if your bookcase will always be against a wall, or
paint it the three colours of the three houses.
Take the time now to mark the positions of the hinges that will
hold the front skirt over the hidden bottom shelf. Predrill
the screw holes now, while the area is still easily accessible;
you can even go as far as installing the hinge mounts.
Assembly: Round One
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| Child’s
Play: The project was designed not only for storage
but as a playhouse for kids. Lid hinges turn the
simple roofline into a hidden compartment. |
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Once the
paint has dried, assemble the carcass again. The coats of paint
you’ve applied will probably have tightened the fit of
some of the dados. Sand along the joint edges to re-establish
a good fit.
Glue the shelves into the sides, then glue the dividers into
the shelves. Since the bookcase is prepainted, any glue squeeze-out
will wipe off easily with a damp rag. Lay the bookcase face-down
on a flat surface and check for square by measuring diagonally
from corner to corner. Make any necessary adjustments, then
clamp and let dry.
Run a bead of glue along the back of the shelves and dividers,
and in the rabbets at the backs of the two sides. Secure the
back panel with nails or #4 x 3/4" screws.
Sand the front edges of the bookcase, as well as the insides
of the window openings, taking care to remove any paint drips.
Apply iron-on wood banding to cover the front edges of the plywood,
the inside edges of the window openings and also along the top
of the sides. The banding offers a much smoother surface for
painting than the edges of raw plywood. Use a flush-trim straight
bit in a router to trim the banding flush where you can. A block
plane would work as well, but you will need to use a chisel
to get into the corners.
From the Rooftop
With the basic carcass complete, you’re ready to tackle
the roof. It’s really composed of three separate sub-assemblies.
Build the two side sections first, and then tackle the peaked
middle portion of the roof.
Pattern routing is a good way to make the four identical gable
end pieces. First cut out a 10" x 10" piece of plywood
and draw the pattern for a gable end. (See the plans for details.)
Carefully cut out the shape with a bandsaw and sand it smooth.
Take extra care with this piece, as the other pieces will reflect
every bump or flaw you leave behind. Now, trace out three more
gable end pieces, and cut them slightly oversize. Don’t
bother being neat, just cut 1/16" to 1/8" beyond the
pencil lines. Finally, affix the master pattern to one of the
pieces with double-sided tape and lay it down on your router
table. Chuck a flush-trimming bit into your router, adjust the
height of the bit so the bearing rides only on the pattern,
then switch on the router and rout the remaining waste from
around the master pattern. Repeat the process with the other
gable end pieces.
Next, cut the two inside roof base pieces, ripping two edges
at 17º from square to match the angle of the gable ends.
Glue and nail the bases to the gable ends.
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1. Frame it up | 2.
Painting and assembly |
3. Finishing up |
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