Edging is commonly available as a roll of thin veneer. It's applied with the heat of a clothes iron melting the adhesive on its back. I don't think it can be durable, so prefer to instead use strips of hardwood cut on the table saw.
For this project, I found a piece of red oak in the workshop from which I cut repeated 1/8" strips.
If you go this route, be aware a lot of pieces of edging will be needed.
Consider that:
each bookcase has 2 sides | |
each side has 4 edges | |
we're building 2 bookcases, so there are 4 side pieces | |
4 side pieces times 4 edges each = 16 strips of edging | |
and each bookcase has 4 shelves | |
with each shelf having 4 edges | |
we're building 2 bookcases, so there are 8 shelves | |
8 shelves times 4 edges = 32 strips of edging |
That's 16 + 32 = 48 strips of edging. Actually less, as some of the strips can provide edging for two short sides, but you can see the need for ensuring you have plenty of edging on hand.
In fact, edging takes as much time as any part of the project. They need to be:
measured and cut to fit perfectly in the corners, | |
trimmed (I used a constantly resharpened chisel), | |
and sanded flush with the plywood they're protecting. |
Note that the top and bottom shelves are fixed in place and might not need to have their short ends edged. I decided to do it anyway, even with most of the edging hidden inside a dado [groove], for two reasons:
small pieces of edging fitted onto the shelf extending past the side piece probably wouldn't hold well, or would have unsightly gaps, | |
and dowels going through the side piece into the shelf will enter a stronger surface if the shelf ends are edged with hardwood. |
After all the pieces are cut, first edge only the side pieces and fixed shelves.
We can't edge the adjustable shelves because we don't know yet how long they'll be. Their exact length doesn't really matter, as long as their lengths are identical.
One beauty of this project is that it contains three sets of identical pieces: sides, fixed shelves, and adjustable shelves.
Identical pieces can be stacked and cut together on a table saw to ensure uniform dimensions. (I was pleased afterwards to find that any of my adjustable shelves fit perfectly in either bookcase.)
The project's big picture goes like this:
cut the side pieces and fixed shelves to final size | |
edge the side pieces and fixed shelves | |
glue the side pieces and fixed shelves to form the case | |
glue the back to the case | |
measure the case to determine the size of the adjustable shelves | |
cut and edge the adjustable shelves |
The next pages will show some of the details and peculiarities of this project.
next: dadoes in side pieces
to: Kohn's Corner