Rhodes Ave. Woodsmith

                                  Handcrafted Wood Furniture and Custom Cabinets

Barrister Bookcase Construction

The parts are cut out of solid oak and Oak Plywood... 

Now I need to machine the plywood sides to slip the Rail & Stiles over.  This is done with the Tablesaw and making a Rabbet.  (All four edges are different size rabbets.)  Then there's a jig installed on the Tablesaw with a regular Combo Blade to form the 1/4" grooves inside the Rabbets with two passes.  

Now that the Rails & Stiles are grooved, they slip over this dado on the plywood to form the field.  (The center rails are just false rails attached with glue and brads.)

Inside of Side Panels

Now for the doors.  There's three of them made from Oak and it was my first time using a Rail & Stile Router Bit set.  Add to that the bits were modified to relieve a rabbet for the glass, and there was a pretty good learning curve in place.  However, it did work well.  

Now that the panels are sanded smooth and the dados formed for the shelves, we're ready for assembly.

The assembled carcass, and the Bookcase is starting to take shape.  Trim pieces of Oak trim up the plywood edges.

The Top and Base Trim are added, and at this point it's assembled.  Some touch-ups and sanding and we can start staining the bookcase.

First step to even the color, the piece gets a coat of De-waxed Shellac.  (1lb cut.)  

Then it's an Oil Based Brown Mahogany stain, and then an Oil Based Urethane.  

Now the doors have the glass fitted as well as the hardware, and the doors are mounted to the case with special hinges.  

This will be given to our Church for the School Auction.

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