SWMBO sez baby's room needs a shelf NOW!!!! I go to Borg to get a red oak 1x10. My plan is to cut it in half,, do some minimal finishing for two 4 foot long quick and dirty shelves.
Problem, is, I can't do quick and dirty. At least, not with a $35 board of red oak. I sketch up the design over lunch. Getting the sweeps on the front of the shelves is a little tricky. I take a big french curve and sketch in some starting lines, then cut with a jigsaw and smooth with the OSS I got at Borg w/ the 20% off coupon.
Note to self: OSS works well for inside curves, not so well for outside curves.
After some more fumbling around, I figure that a laminate trimmer in the router also works as a pattern cutter. I clean up one side to where I want it, then use the router to repro this onto the other board, then flip and cut again. I use a similar process for the center shelf.
For the edges, I wanted a simple square chamfer. Problem is, I don't have an edge bit that will do this. Instead, I set up a dado bit in the router table and put a 2x4 over the bit. I raise the bit enough that only ~3/16" sticks out. It takes a couple of passes as I have to hit the bit with the tangent of the curve (or else it's too shallow).
I find some red oak 1x3 stock I reclaimed with the planer recently and although it has some screw holes, I can hide them in the joint with the center shelf. I cut out the corners of the shelves to fit the side supports. My wobbler dado isn't tall enough, so I just take multiple passes with the 32T combo blade, then clean up with chisel. As I test fit the parts, I realize that I can't biscuit this joint. Darn!!! When I sketch things out, I usually spend some time figuring out the joints, 'cept I rushed the design. Well, only thing I can do is dowel the darn thing. Dowels are a royal pain compared to biscuits.
I cut dados into the back of the center shelf and in the fronts of the side supports. Everything fits. Glue time. Bought some Polyurethane glue, this will be my first experience. The water thing is kinda screwy, but what the heck. I glue the four outside pieces. Next morning, I'm very happy with the results. Glue in center shelf, then clean up the joints with a chisel, and fill in the one or two tiny gaps with putty.
Finish sand. Now the dilemna. I want to coordinate with the range of wood finishes in the baby's room and I also need to use a top coat of Poly. Not a big fan of poly, but what else will withstand things like lotion, water, alcohol gel, diaper rash cream, you get the idea.
I'm thinking of a lighter , yellower version of something Minwax has called "Provincial." Provincial is a dark brown stain with a lot of black in it to pop the grain.
I decide to 1) Shellac 2) oil base ebony stain, 3) Sand 4) Golden Oak Oil base stain 5) Poly.
I try a test piece. Seems to give me what I want. However, in hindsight, it's a royal pain in the ass to do all that sanding on the shellac to get the color balanced, and the GO stain didn't stick to the shellac as well as the ebony, so it's a shade lighter than what I wanted.
What I should have done was 1) Golden Oak Stain 2) Ebony stain, wiped off. 3) Poly.
Fasteners are hidden in a slot in the back of the side supports. Turns out I got them a little low, so I had to put a single fastener in the center of the top shelf. That's the only visible attachment to the wall.
Pics are at ABPW, comments or questions welcome....
Yitah