Help with a Project

[Cubsfan]

Ok, I've never actually done a good, 'real' woodworking project, so I'm starting small. Thought I'd seek advice on this one.

My girlfriend would like a shelf like this one:

The dimensions for that one are 33" x 8" x 8"h.

A couple of questions for this:
- I have the Delta JT160 6" jointer. It really only does 6", however, this is 8" wide. What's the best way to solve that little problem? Should I do 2 4" wide pieces and join them, or just tell her to deal with a 6" shelf?

- Any suggestions for the wood? She likes the dark one, so I'm not sure what wood I should use. I'd prefer something semi-cheap (not mahogany or anything), and probably a hardwood so I get some experience with that.

- Suggestions on how to join the sides to the shelf? Of course, with my construction projects, screws always worked, but that might look a tad tacky here

How do you like that! My first real woodworking project and I'm not even going to use my BT3100 on it! Oh well, next time I'll tackle something a bit more difficult.

Thanks for the help!

[LCHIEN]

Ok, I've never actually done a good, 'real' woodworking project, so I'm starting small. Thought I'd seek advice on this one.

My girlfriend would like a shelf like this one:

The dimensions for that one are 33" x 8" x 8"h.

A couple of questions for this:
- I have the Delta JT160 6" jointer. It really only does 6", however, this is 8" wide. What's the best way to solve that little problem? Should I do 2 4" wide pieces and join them, or just tell her to deal with a 6" shelf?

- Any suggestions for the wood? She likes the dark one, so I'm not sure what wood I should use. I'd prefer something semi-cheap (not mahogany or anything), and probably a hardwood so I get some experience with that.

- Suggestions on how to join the sides to the shelf? Of course, with my construction projects, screws always worked, but that might look a tad tacky here

How do you like that! My first real woodworking project and I'm not even going to use my BT3100 on it! Oh well, next time I'll tackle something a bit more difficult.

Thanks for the help!

In my book, plans are made to be modified. These are very simple plans.

If 6" is OK with her, then do it. Otherwise you will need to join 4" pieces after planing.
For the knicknacks shown, 6" would be good enough.

As for joining the end, a simple butt joint with glue and brads should be sufficient, you can sink the brads with a nailset with putty to cover.

As for finish, you can stain or paint. If you paint, poplar or pine will suffice, you can paint dark or light to your GF's choice.

Won't you need the BT3100 to cut those triangle pieces?

[sacherjj]

What equipment other than the BT3100 do you have? Router, etc. This will determine the best way you should attach the shelf together.

You can try some poplar. This is a decent wood that is the cheapest hardwood around here. To get a dark color, you just need the right stain and finish. If you go for poplar and paint it dark, instead of stain, then you can glue and screw it together and just fille the screws. This might be an easy and fairly cheap way to start and you can remake it with better joinery as you get more experience.

It looks like the edges extend over the ends of the shelf. That makes sense if you plan to mount it like the darker one. If you plan on mounting it like the lighter one, it will be stronger to let the shelf rest above the triangle piece and screw or brad it into the piece from the top.

[Cubsfan]

What equipment other than the BT3100 do you have? Router, etc. This will determine the best way you should attach the shelf together.

Current inventory of tools: BT3100, Router, Delta 6" jointer, Delta 13" Planer, Dewalt 12" Miter Saw, drills (no drill press though), and a circular saw. (yes, and odd collection of tools)

[Pappy]

If you have a good hardwood supply in the area, try Sycamore. Straight grain, clear wood, light weight but fairly hard. Easy to work with and cheap!

I would join the ends with a locked rabbet joint. It gives you more glue surface and, if you decide to stain, looks good. A pair of mirrored keyhole slots in back of the ends will let them hang either way.

[Tom Hintz]

I would show the GF how far an 8" shelf sticks out from the wall first. that is a little wider than most but not out of the question, especially if she has a use in mind that needs that width.
I would go ahead and glue up the stock to get the width. Making glue ups is a very common woodworking task that is easy and strong, esepcially since you have the jointer.
For joinery, you might consider a rabbet in the end pieces that will both conceal the end grain and give you a very tough joint without a lot of fooling around.
I like oak for projects like that as it take stain very well and you can make it as dark as you like.

Have fun!

[scorrpio]

I'd go ash or poplar.

8" makes a rather wide shelf. You should check what she is planning to keep on it. A few fmall pieces of art - 6" shelf is enough. But if she wants to stack books there, there is a whole new batch of things to consider.

For best grain match, rip a 10" wide board, joint the halves and do the glueup. Reinforce with biscuits if you think the shelf will be loaded heavily. You can cut the slots for them with a router.

Especially if the shelf will be 8", pay great care to how you cut the sides. Their grain should be aligned in sam direction as the main shelf so they move togeather - otherwise you'll have to do floating joints. Might be a good idea to joint and glue up your entire board, and cut the sides from it as well as the top.

If the shelf will be heavily loaded, give extra care to length. If exact place for shelf is not known, at least make distance between mounting points a multiple of 16" - this gives you a good chance of aligning them to studs. If she knows where the shelf will go, try locating actual studs to be sure the shelf will mount properly. I shelf is to span more than 5', you might also give thought to adding a mounting point near its centerpoint to prevent sagging.

Joinery has a wide array of options. Don't give up on screws. You can counterbore the screw holes, cut some plugs from same stock as shelf, and glue them in to conceal the screws. You can rout blind dadoes in sides and rabbets in shelf. You could make them stronger by making a sliding dovetail instead. You could cut slots with router and do biscuits. Without a DP, properly drilling and aligning the dowel holes would be hard.

Far as finish, if she like the black look, search internet for 'wood ebonizing'. That is the process for making wood black while preserving the grain.

[sacherjj]

I don't think screws are a bad choice, because it will probably give you an easier "win". A good finished project that works well. It is easy, without much experience, to try other types of joinery and make a big mess of it. I know that one from experience.

[atthelastminute]

I am confused

Why would you need to run the 8" dimension of your wood through the jointer? Finding a piece of wood 32" long that is not bowed should be easy enough, and if you have a 13" planer you could use that if you need it thinner for some reason.

No offense intended as I am new to this too, but my brain can't find the logic in needing to use the jointer for the project as you mentioned. I can see using it where the supports meet the shelf, and the 6" size shouldn't be a limitation.

[LCHIEN]

I just noticed in your "arsenal" is a 13" thickness planer.
If the board is reasonably flat, then you can just thickness the whole 8" width to get a planed surface. You only need to use the 6" jointer/planer if the board is warped, twisted or cupped significantly. (which you can sort of avoid by careful selection).

[LarryG]

atthelastminute and Loring are correct. You don't have to do any jointing for this project, although you certainly could if you want to. Within reason, it matters not whether a simple shelf project like this is dead flat, or has dead straight edges. Pick a nice board, allow it to acclimate to its intended environment to make sure it stays nice, make a light pass on both sides with the planer, and slap it together.

Further, with those triangular knee braces at each end, the width question is moot structurally. You do need to be careful about the unsupported length, obviously, and not make it too long for the weight the shelf will be carrying.

[Boomer_01]

I would make the shelf out of a good quality birch plywood with a matching iron on edge tape. You can buy the materials at any lumberyard and have them cut the plywood to any width you want.

For the triangular pieces I would use a select hardwood such as cherry if you are going to stain the piece. You only need a couple of board feet of 3/4 stock as far as I can tell so it wouldn’t be really costly..

If you are going to paint the piece use Poplar it’s cheap and it paints very well.

I would connect the triangular pieces to the shelf with glue and brads shot up through the bottom of the shelf. As was suggested in an earlier post a keyhole cut in the back of the triangular pieces will make hanging the shelves a breeze.

Anyway, that’s my two cents worth….


Boomer

[Cubsfan]

Thanks for all the help!

So, as I'm sure many of you have figured out, part of this is just an excuse to learn to use some tools better, so that's part of the reason that I might be using a little overkill for some of these things.

One last question: Any suggestions on how thick I should make the pieces? It'll pretty much just hold the normal shelf-stuff (nothing too heavy), so I'm not worried about weight.

Thanks again for the help!