# inset Bookcase



## Shadrac (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi all...

OK, this is my first experiment in routing, and since the previous owners of the house left a huge hole in the wall that had an old dingy green painted door mounted in it to serve as a sort of dry-bar...it was time to fix things up a bit.

A built-in bookcase seemed like a good idea compared to just drywalling over the hole..and it would provide a good way to break in my first new router(nothing fancy, a Craftsman 17542...but it worked very well on the project).  

The wood was just your standard s4s pine from the local home improvement center, and for the back I used a half-sheet of lauan.

I measured various books around the house to get the height dimensions for the different sized shelves. The top shelf with the rail is for rolled up posters/charts or what have you.

The lower shelf with the rail is dimensioned for the average magazine and underneath that is the space for oversized books.

I routed rabbets for the case frame...and used dadoes and stopped dadoes for the shelves and stiles respectively. I also used dadoes for the adjustable lower shelf...a bit unconventional, but it works well.

I was shocked at how much cleaner the dadoes that I did with the router were than what I was able to get out of the table saw!! Almost no sanding was required! :sold: 

This was the first time I used a bearing bit as well,,,and it was great for making the quarter-round with a 1/16th inch relief on the front of the shelves.

Noah(the beagle) was used to guard the house from neighborhood squirrels.


I did want to say a quick thanks to Mike and bobj3 and DrZook for the tips given in a previous thread. It's amazing to me how versatile a router is, and while I'm not quite ready to throw out the table saw, I do wonder why I waited so long before getting one.


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## chippypah (Dec 24, 2007)

Thats great Shadrac, and for your first attempt at routing it is really great.
Cheers
Pete


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## jerrymayfield (Sep 25, 2004)

Your bookcase looks great. One little tip about pine, its a difficult wood to stain. Some things that help are :don't stain-just top coat;use a gel stain;apply a thin coat of finish(I use shellac) let dry and then stain.

Regards

Jerry


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Shadrac

You'er Welcome for my small part ,, you did a Great job , the more you use the router the more you will like it, it's one of the fun tools in the shop nothing I know of can put a smile on the crown quicker than using the router and saying I did that and then put you hands on what you just made and simle from to to ear   and say ok who next...step right up and I will route you...... FUN STUFF   



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Shadrac said:


> Hi all...
> 
> OK, this is my first experiment in routing, and since the previous owners of the house left a huge hole in the wall that had an old dingy green painted door mounted in it to serve as a sort of dry-bar...it was time to fix things up a bit.
> 
> ...


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## Shadrac (Feb 1, 2008)

jerrymayfield said:


> Your bookcase looks great. One little tip about pine, its a difficult wood to stain. Some things that help are :don't stain-just top coat;use a gel stain;apply a thin coat of finish(I use shellac) let dry and then stain.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Jerry


 I especially had trouble with staining the frame... The case itself is much more evened out. And even on the can of finish is says to use a 'MW brand' sub-coat before applying the stain(which is a 'Natural Cherry' stain/poly mix BTW). 
In any case, it was a good learning experience.


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