Woodworker's Journal fall-2010, страница 64

Glue-Up Tip

Gluing and clamping the long, narrow blanks from which the shelves and uprights are cut is time-consuming. The author applied his glue with a water-moistened paint applicator (above) and allowed at least four hours (but preferred overnight) for the glue to cure.

found out the hard way, a moment's lapse in concentration can necessitate a complete "do-over" on an individual component.

Ripping the Stock

ApplePly has two major advantages for this project: first, its regular voidless veneer construction creates an attractive edge for the shelves. Second, it is sold slightly oversized (48x 96H"). That way, you can trim the factory edges off completely.

I started the project by ripping 3/4" by 12JP' panels, the full length of the sheet. Then I glued and clamped pairs of the long panels into l¹^¹'-thick shelving blanks.

These are really large pieces to handle during a glue-up, so here's how I did it. I borrowed a paint pad and dampened it with water. Using the painting pad, I spread the glue into a thin, smooth layer on each piece of plywood (see photo, upper left). Assembling the glue-blank sandwich, I clamped them together and to my work table using squarehead clamps with additional Jorgensen woodscrew clamps on either end. Clamping to the work table ensured that the glue-up would remain flat (see middle photo, left). I allowed a minimum of four hours for the glue to cure. Most of the blanks I left in clamps overnight.

Square and True

When the glue cured, I returned to my table saw and squared up the edges of the long blanks. With the second slice of the

Careful fitting of the bookcases' exposed joints is the key to building this project. It is a good idea to continue to test your machining as you proceed through the building process.

process, I ripped them to their final width. Then I used my power miter saw to crosscut the shelves and uprights (pieces 1 and 2) and even the TV shelf (pieces 3 and 4) to length. I cannot overemphasize how much trouble you will save yourself if these cuts are exactly square and true, so double-check your saw settings for each new cut.

With the components prepared, it was time to start machining the joints. These are straightforward

Machine Accurately

Cut the shelves and uprights to length. They must be dead-square and exact in length.

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The author used a plunge router guided by a shop-made jig to cut the dadoes and rabbets into the shelves. A plunge router makes it easy to take multiple passes on the 3/4" by 3/4" cuts.

Modular Bookcases