So Close...Still Working

Today was both more productive and less productive than I had imagined.

The replacement center divider ended up taking almost an hour to cut and drill. The up side to this is that I've been using some tips that I've read in woodworking magazines and they are working. One such tip is using painters tape over cuts in veneered plywood. The painters tape peels off easily after the cut and it also helps to keep the veneer from splintering out too much.

This was also the first time that I got to get a good look at the full size of this project. I'm always astounded by the size of many of the things that I build. I'm able to crunch the numbers in my head fairly easily, but the perspective is always amazing to me. The first glimpse I got of this was with the dry assembly after I finished the second center divider.

Dry assemblies like this are useful for several reasons. First, they allow the opportunity to check for squareness and find out where clamps will need to be placed. For this bookcase, it made me realize that I'd need to put some supports underneath the bookcase to keep it from bowing. It also gave me a feeling for how big the entire thing really is...huge. I think that this will be doing a far better job of holding all of the books that we have in the office.

After the dry assembly, it was time to sand. Before sanding, I decided to make a "finish test board."

I always threaten to make these, but rarely end up doing so because I know what I want already or am just being a titch lazy. Essentially what this is is a piece of scrap from the project I'm working on that's been finish sanded and then had several finishes applied. I ended up using pure Tung Oil (top right). It buffed out well and I'd only need to do a couple of coats to get it finished the way I wanted.

Next was sanding...lots of sanding. Then trying to apply tung oil with the kiddo running around at my feet.

After letting the oil cure for a few minutes, I added glue and assembled. I did end up using my two pneumatic nail guns to reinforce the dadoes. I used 18 gauge brads for the dadoes on the bottom and 22 gauge micro pins for the sides and top.

After cutting some of the solid oak trim and getting the miters close, I decided to call it a night. I brought in the remainder of the supplies from outside and wrote a to-do list for tomorrow to finish things off. Hefty but doable. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this thing in the morning so that it can be done by the time guests arrive - this seems to be how I'm coming to do things around here...