| During the Arts &
Crafts heyday at the turn of the 20th century there were an extraordinary
number of designs for bookcase and magazine stands offered to the public as
completed pieces and construction plans. Most included simple designs and
straightforward construction. A variation of the design shown here appears in
the Dover Publications reprint of the 1906 Roycroft Furniture Catalog from
the Roycroft Shops in East Aurora, N.Y.
Slabs • In keeping with the Arts & Crafts style of stout furniture, the
sides and shelves of this piece are called out as 7/8"-thick material. You
may find the design more economically feasible by changing that to 3/4"
material. Start by milling and matching the grain patterns on the two side
pieces. If possible, try and use only two boards per side for the width. If
this isn't possible, the trapezoidal design will allow you to use two 7"-wide
boards for the center of each side, adding a 2" strip on the front and back
edges of the lower half, keeping the exposed glue lines to a minimum.
With the sides glued, squared up and sanded flat, mark the location of the
shelves as shown on the diagram. The top and bottom shelves will have angled
through-mortises cut into the sides, while the other four shelves are
captured between the sides in 3/8"-deep stopped dadoes. To mark the start and
stop locations of the dadoes, draw the shape of the sides on the side blanks,
then measure in 3/4" from the front and back edges.
Cut the dadoes with a plunge router and a router guide. Even though the sides
of the stand are angled 3 degrees, the dadoes can be cut at a 90-degree angle
to the side leaving only a slight gap on the underside of each shelf. If you
prefer to eliminate the gap, a wood strip can be used to tilt the router at a
3-degree angle. If you opt for the angled dadoes, run a test piece or you may
inadvertently transfer your gap to the top of the shelf.
The through-mortises can also be cut using a router with the base tilted to a
3-degree angle or marked and hand cut. In either case, cut from the outside
surface to keep any tearout to the inside of the case. Use a scrap backing
board to reduce the tearout even further.
Trapezoids & Shelves • With the dadoes and through-mortises complete,
crosscut the top and bottom edges of the sides at a 3-degree angle, then use
a band saw or a jigsaw and a plane to shape the sides. Next, mark and cut the
elongated half-oval at the base of each side to form the legs. Lastly, mark
the back edge of each side for a 1/4" wide x 3/8" groove for the back. The
groove should be set in 1/2" from the back edge and start 6" up on the sides,
running through at the top.
Next cut the shelves to size. The four center shelves can be cut to the sizes
given in the Schedule of Materials, with all four edges cut on a 3-degree
angle. The top and bottom shelves are a little more complicated. Each must
have the through-tenons cut to size and shape. Click HERE to download a drawing of the layout of this joint. And the end of the shelf should be pared with a chisel
on a 3-degree angle to match the inside surface of the sides. Don't cut the
mortises for the wedges at this time. See the wedge diagram on the next page.
Back & Drawer • This next step can be a little awkward,
so if you have a friend handy, give him or her a call. Dry-assemble the stand
by laying one side flat so the through-mortises hang over the edge of the
table. Place the shelves in their respective dadoes and insert the
through-tenons into the mortises. Then place the other side over the tenons
and insert the shelves. To hold everything in place, use soft-jawed clamps
across the width of the stand placed underneath the through-tenons. This
should pull the tenons and the shelves into place. Check the fit and adjust
as necessary.
With the stand still dry-assembled, measure for the trapezoidal back,
allowing as tight a fit in the back grooves as possible. The bottom of the
back will overlay the back edge of the bottom shelf and be tacked in place to
the shelf. The top of the back should be flush to the top of the sides.
With the stand still dry-assembled, mark the location of the sides on the top
and bottom surfaces of the shelf tenons extending through the sides. Then
disassemble the stand and drill out or hand cut through-mortises through each
tenon to accept the wedges. Note that the inside edge of the mortise should
be 1/8" or so inside your marks to allow the wedges to draw the stand up
tight. The diagram at right shows how the joint works. Cut the wedges a little oversized,
reassemble the stand and fit the wedges in place. Make sure you mark the
wedges so you'll be able to reassemble the piece easily.
If you hadn't noticed, this stand includes a little drawer just below the
top. While not of a size to store a great many things, it's a good place for
hiding an extra set of keys. The drawer itself is of simple box construction
using tongue-and-groove joinery with a bottom captured in a groove. The
angled sides of the stand serve as indexing runners to keep the drawer
centered left-to-right. The drawer face is cut to match the shape of the
sides and overlaps the top shelf, which serves as a drawer stop. Screw the
face to the drawer box from the inside.
Topping Things Off • The top is a simple slab of wood that is attached to the
sides by dowels. I carefully drilled dowel locations in the tops of the
assembled sides, I then used dowel centers placed in the holes to locate the
mating locations on the underside of the top piece. With the top fit,
disassemble the stand again and sand all the pieces through 220 grit. As a
finish for the piece I first applied a coat of brown mahogany gel stain. When
the stain was dry, I applied a coat of clear lacquer, sanded and then applied
a coat of warm, brown glaze. After the glaze had dried overnight, I added two
more coats of lacquer. Assemble the stand as you did during the dry fit,
tapping the wedges in place to hold the stand tightly together. If you plan
on ever disassembling the piece, use a couple of screws to attach the back to
the lower shelf and to the two center shelves for support. Then slip the top
into place over the dowels. If you won't be disassembling the piece, use
brads to attach the back and add some glue to the dowels to secure the top.
PW
By David Thiel. PW staff
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MILL THE SIDES • A 1/4"-thick strip of wood is taped in place on the
side slab to give a 3-degree angle to the shelf dadoes and the through
mortises. Using a 1/2" straight router bit required moving the set-up once
for each dado to achieve the 7/8" width necessary.
TAPERS EVERYWHERE • The sides are tapered only after all the necessary
milling in the sides is completed. I used a jigsaw to cut the sides to size,
then smoothed up the edges with a bench plane.
DRAWER • The drawer is made of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood, and it uses
tongue-and-groove construction. A more complex joint could have been used,
but the drawer is unlikely to see any heavy use and could be left out
altogether.
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A Word About Wedges
The wedged through-mortises are the joints that hold the whole stand together. The diagram above gives the details of
how they should look when completed. The mortises are chopped through the
tenons with a chisel, but to make things a little more complicated, they
should be hand cut on a 3-degree angle to follow the angle of the sides. The
details of the joint are in the diagram you can download by clicking HERE. The tusk should be left a little oversized until they can be test fit. In the old days different manufacturers used different styles of wedges. It's one of the
ways collectors can quickly identify a piece. Some made the wedges with a
round top. Others used half an octagon. A few even carved the wedges, which
gives the piece a more medieval look.
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