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16K views 15 replies 1 participant last post by  RaggedKerf 
#1 ·
Design

In the spirit of keeping up to date, I've decided to post the blog entires for my recent castle bookcase project.

My daughter, Kylie is two now and long overdue for a bookcase to house not only her growing collection of books but also the books my son no longer reads (he is four now and is starting to learn to read books that have chapters). The pile on the floor is just not cutting it any more. When she was an infant the five or six books we read to her were easy to store on top of her dresser. No longer!

But instead of just a simple bookcase or a stacked set of wooden cubes (which hold books) and soft open boxes that slide in to a few cubes (which hold all kinds of treasures) like my my son has, my creative side took over and I decided to design a castle bookcase. She is quite the princess and every princess needs a castle.

A few months back I came up with this design:



As you can see there will be crenelated turrets and a main tower jutting forward on which Kylie can put pictures, dolls, toys, etc and play on as she grows. Here's a perspective sketch of my idea:



There will be storage for stuffed animals she frequently plays with (lower left corner in the pictures above) and space for the really tall books she has as well (lower right on the pictures above).

I got the approval from the finance department and began procuring supplies in the last few weeks. Tomorrow, construction begins!

I'd like to say this will be my most ambitious project yet, but I think that medal chest I made for Mom is still the best. We'll see. This thing is going to push my limits.
 
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#2 ·
First Cuts

Today, I transferred all my measurements from the plans to the 1/2" ACX plywood (4'x4' sheets) I bought last week. Whipped out the Versacut and sliced and diced till i had the sides, top, bottom shelf, main shelf inner support and toy front cut out.

I also decided to lose the lop shelf and shrink the height from 42" to 36" to better fit the space i have to work with in Kylie's room. Also decided to cut down the large book space (20" is way too big) and add a door for her to have a little secret compartment. Should be fun.

I love changing designs on the fly!

Sketched out the design for little flowers to be cut out on sides of toy storage compartment front to add a little pzazz to the front. Basically, I'm going to drill a hole for the center of the flower, then use the drill and a jig saw to cut out petals and stems and leaves. Should leave a scrollsaw-esque stencil pattern of a flower. I want it to be see through and this wood is way to big to go through the scrollsaw so I'm going to improvise. Also, I will buy cut-out letters at Michael's to spell her name.

Then I took the sides, shelves, top, and bottom and used the Kreg to drill pocket holes.



After clean up time spent in the shop was 1.5 hours.
 
#3 ·
Carcase Assembly

Spent an hour in the shop today assembling the carcase. It was very quick. First I marked on the side where the bottom shelf and top shelf would be, drew layout lines and coated with glue. Then I put the shelf in place, tightened the Kreg screws and bam, shelves installed.

I flipped the side with two shelves attached and repeated the process for the other side and voila, sides and shelves done! Love the pocket screws…perfect method for plywood.



Then I repeated the steps for the top. On the shelves, the pocket holes were on the underside to hide them.



On the top, I put the holes on the sides and screwed into the top. Why? No idea.

It seemed better since any weight on the top would be pushing the top down, helping the glue and screws to bold it in place. Who knows if I'm right or not. I suppose if it falls apart with the first book we'll know!

Here's the progress shot at the end of today's shoptime:



Hours today: 1

Total hours: 2.5
 
#4 ·
Carcase Assembly Part II

Today I installed a block (2 2×4 cut-offs glued and screwed together) to support the bottom shelf, directly under the support brace for the main shelf. Here it is before installation:



It was a perfect fit and will carry any weight from the top shelf down through the bottom shelf nicely, I think.

To install it, I drew lines where the vertical support will go, then countersunk screws in that space to hold the block. A layer of glue and the vertical support was installed with pocket screws and the block is now hidden.



Don't worry, you won't be able to see the ugly support blocks for long. I plan on taking some 1×4 pine and routing a profile (haven't decided on what yet) and making my own molding (I did say this project was going to push my limits!). That will make a fine first project on my homemade router table. More on that later.

Then I cut a piece to fit the top shelf and split the shelf in two so Kylie's books have something to lean against. It was a little too tight though, causing the top to bow upwards by an 1/8th of an inch or so. Time to break out the Nice Ash plane and use the old min-Moxon vise and within a minute or two, I had shaved off just enough material for a perfect fit! I freaking love this little plane!



Four more pocket screws hold this in place. I realized today that this thing will be painted (gray, pink and purple) so I don't have to worry about screw holes. I will putty and sand them all before painting.

Here's a shot of the progress:


I had just enough time left in naptime to cut the back from 1/8" hardboard and install with small finish nails. I created a little nailing jig I remembered reading about in Wood magazine…i think…it may have been Popular Woodworking. Either way, it's a piece of off-cut 1×4 about 6" long. Then I cut a piece of 1/4" square dowel to length and nailed it in place:


I figured out how far from the edge I wanted my nails in the back of the bookcase and cut and chiseled out a "V" notch in the square dowel:


It works like this: lay the 1×4 against the side of the project so the dowel acts a lip on the edge (in my case, the dowel rests on the "top" of the back as the bookcase lays face down on the garage floor). Line a nail up in the slot like this:


And hammer it home. Line up the end of the jig on the previous nail and all your nails will be equally spaced and the same exact distance from the edge. It made attaching the back easy!!

Added a few nails along the shelves and supports to tighten it all up and cleaned up the shop. I am quite pleased with the fact that not a single nail protruded into space where you can see it (either inside or outside the carcase)!!! This little jig is awesome.

Here's today's progress shot, all shelves and the back installed!



It is perfectly square and all shelves are level (the vertical divider ended up being off, by 1/32" of an inch--which I think is within acceptable tolerances), despite the distortion in the cell phone picture above. Definitely my finest attempt at creating something in the square.

Time today: 1 hr, 45 min

Total time: 4 hrs, 15 min
 
#5 ·
Trim

Today was a short day in the shop. I had to split my time between the bookcase and weeding, trimming some bushes and planted a rosebush. The sun finally broke through the clouds and the rain we've been socked with for the past week so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some yardwork done during naptime.

That said, I did accomplish something today: I fired up the new router table for the first trial run and it was an unqualified success! Despite its humble appearance (no fancy router plates or shiny fences or accessories here!), my scrap built table made short work of the 14s and after a couple passes I had 6 feet of trim moulding ready for the bookcase.



Unfortunately, today was not without frustration. The 1
4 I thought, would be too tall to safely cut with the tailed miter saw, so I decided to use the old plastic Stanley hand-powered miter box. Turns out the saw didn't want to play nice and I ended up cutting a new miter i the box. Yellow plastic sawdust does look pretty on the workbench though….

Anyway, I had to scrap the miter box. On closer inspection, it had many such cuts. It's a wonder I hadn't thrown it out long since. I think I'll make my own out of hardwood next, for when the tailed miter saw is overkill.

I set up the tailed saw--heh heh, now the only miter saw in the shop--and got things clamped in place. Turns out the 1×4 standing on edge isn't too tall after all…but not by much! Two quick cuts later and I had a handsome piece of moulding custom made in my own shop! How cool is that!?

Ummmm….well not as cool as I thought. Turns out I made it 1/16" too short. Awesome. The side pieces are great but on one side the corner is…you guessed it, 1/16" off. That just rankled me so I routed another board (thank goodness I habitually buy extra lumber for projects) and this time got the measurement right.

The picture above doesn't do the base moulding justice, so here's another shot of the left side. I think it looks pretty good for my third ever attempt at using the router. Obviously it's not entirely in the spot it's supposed to be--I just slapped it up there so you could see what it looked like on the base of the bookcase.



Sadly, I ran out of time to attach said trim, so that will have to wait for tomorrow. But hey, I impressed my wife and that meant today was a success! Although, I'm not sure if she was impressed because I successfully crafted my own moulding or that I didn't lose any fingers in the process…

Time for today: 1 hr

Total time: 5 hrs, 15 min
 
#6 ·
Trim Part II

I used what time I had today to make the final cuts on the base moulding and attach both sides and front with glue and nails.



Used up quite a bit of time just clearing space in the garage and setting up an assembly table with sawhorses and of course cleaning up and putting things away so my wife could park her car later. That's when it dawned on me: this is the largest project I've attempted since the workbench!

Anyway, after fiddling with the moulding, I decided on placement for another shelf to split the large opening. I used the Kreg jig again for pocket screws and glue, then drilled some pocket holes on the last major piece to be installed, the toy storage front.

That's what I will mess with tomorrow, so I called it quits as the little ones were stirring.

Here it is at the end of today:



Time today: 1 hr, 30 min

Total Time: 6 hr, 45 min
 
#7 ·
Decorations

After discussing it with my wife, we decided it would be better to have another shelf on the bookcase and shorten the toy storage area.

Easy enough. I ripped out a new shelf, trimmed to size a d drilled pocket holes. Some glue and screws and a other shelf is born. Hint: it's the narrow one directly above the large opening, bottom left of the picture below.


Then I cut out the toy storage front piece with the jigsaw:


When it was free, I used the tracing paper outline of a flower I drew the other day and transferred it to the plywood by rubbing a pencil on the back of the design, then tracing on the front:


By flipping it over and tracing again (there was enough graphite already on the front) I got a mirror image on the other side:


To make the flower, i drilled holes with Forstner bits (1" for the centers, 1/2" for the tips of the petals, and 5/8" for the center of the leaves):


Then I elongated the holes with the jigsaw and here it is, roughed out:


All I needed to do was drill a small hole at the base of the stems and the jigsaw cut out the stems quickly. It took another 45 minutes of tweaking and softening edges with files and sandpaper, but I finally got it done.

To close out the day, I glued and screwed it in place (I had drilled pocket holes in it a few days ago). Now it's really looking like the idea in my head! After I get the edge trim on to hide the plywood edging, the fun part (castle turrets!) can begin!


Time today: 3 hours

Total time: 9 hours, 45 minutues
 
#8 ·
First Tower

I spent the time I had today out in the muggy shop sweatin' and sandin'. I took the little palm sander to all the front edges of the plywood shelves and rounded everything over. Lesson learned: next time sand everything BEFORE you assemble….

I had decided over the weekend to forfoe adding trim to the front of each shelf because this thing will be primed and painted anyway…you won't be able to tell what type of wood was used to begin with. Once all the cracks are puttied and sanded the paint will hide everytbing. Time saver!

After an hour of sanding, I turned my attention to using random scraps od pkywood to cut the first tower. It wasnt hadd, did it all free hand with the VersaCut. I loooove that little circular saw! The laser guide is phenomenal. Sanded the edges of the tower (which will extend down halfway behind the case for supplrt and screw into shelves) and got a dry fit shot….



Looking good! Next up I put down lines for the first platform and corbels to support it. Tomorrow will see me cut those out. Then it's off to Home Depot to find me a sonotube for the side towers!

Time today: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Total project time: 11 hours
 
#9 ·
We Got Turrets!

This is a short post but has a picture that shows more than I can write. I cut the sonotube up in two 12" long segments (the sonotube, used for pouring concrete pillars, is 8" in diameter and made of a heavy duty wax lined cardboard--in short the Japanese saw cut through it like butter!). On those two sections (the kids got the 4' of scrap to play with lol) I cut out a semi-circle, leaving half the tube open for 7". That left a 5" tall tube trailed by 7" of half a tube. So when I put it on the bookcase like so:



We have two turrets sticking off the side of the bookcase! I went ahead and measured, then cut (using the scrollsaw) semi-circles to fit the bases of the towers….and then I cut increasingly smaller semi-circles to make a step pattern for the bases of the turrets:



Of course they are upside down right now…but when installed will give the bottom of the turrets a little decorative flair.

Sara came up with an idea to make little toy compartments in the side turrets so that will be accomplished before I connect the turrets properly….

But you can see from this full view shot of the dry fit that its starting to really look like a castle!



Time today: 1 hour

Total Time: 12 hours
 
#10 ·
Modifying the Turrets

I took the opportunity today to cut doorways in the sides of the turrets per Sara's suggestion. With the razor saw and a box cutter it was not difficult. I sketched out two Medieval looking arch doorways and cut them out.

Once the turrets were finalized, I grabbed the scrap 1/8" hardboard (leftover from the back I cut out a while back) and used the scrollsaw to cut out two semi-circles to make "ceilings" for the little turret rooms. Here's the glue-up in progress:



In the above picture you're looking up through the "floor". You can see the door there in the middle. The ceiling hardboard is drying here. And here is both turrets drying:



After these were gluing, I pulled out the semi-circular pieces for the turret bases and sanded everything smooth to final shape. That took most of my shop time today. Once the ceilings are dry, I can glue the turrets up and attach to the bookcase.

Time today: 1hour, 15 minutes.

Total Time: 13 hours, 15 minutes.
 
#11 ·
Gluing the Turrets

Today I finished the lower part of the turrets. The bottom pieces were glued up this morning.



Then when they were dry (enough) I attached them to the turrets:



Then I did a test fit a few hours later and here is what it looks like:



Looking good, so I moved on to glue up the corbels and main turret platform like so:



As everything dried I cut out two 9" diameter circles from the 1/2" plywood for the tops of the two turrets. More fun with the scrollsaw! These will eventually be lined with "crenellations made out of the 1/8" hardboard. To make the crenellations, I think I'm going to use the drill press and drill half-holes along the length of the board. The effect will be the same as square holes but it should take a LOT less time. And I doubt Kylie will care or notice the dofference.

But…hehe…that will take a drill press table. Luckily I came up with an idea for one that shouldn't take too much time to make. That will be next….

In the meantime here's a parting shot of the left turret with its top in dry fit mode. I am so excited with how this is turning out!



Time today: 2 hours.

Total time: 15 hours, 15 minutes.
 
#12 ·
Crenelations and Glue Up

A lot of progress today. I decided to skip using the round turret tops because it was proving to be too difficult to get the hardboard and then thin plywood to make the curve. Everything either snapped or would simply disintegrate when soaked with water. Here's how the center turret looked when cut out of the Sonotube:





Not bad, but the tips were frayed and not very strong. Kylie would be sure to destroy them pretty quickly. So how to make them stronger? Well, after thinking about it for the past few days, I came up with a cool idea. I turned the circle bases into hexagons. Then it was relatively easy to cut the crenelation pieces from the plywood and fit to place.

To begin with, I had to glue up the little shelf on the middle turret.



Then I had to finish the first part of my new drill press table. You can see more info on that side-project by clicking on the link here. Once the drill press table was complete, I realized that the whole reason I made it (to punch holes in the Sonotube) would be a waste of time as the Sonotube wouldn't flex enough to allow me to cut the crenelations with a Forstner bit.

That's when I had the revelation to use a hexagon base, instead of a circle. Back to the drill press and I started the process of making my crenelations:



After spacing the holes (one half the bit diameter) I just made a whole lot of them in a line, pop, pop, pop. This is the first real use I've gotten out of the press and I love it. Then using the Japanese razor saw, I sliced the holes in half. Then I cut the strip of semi-circles free:



After that, it was easy to measure each side of the hexagon and cut the crenelation to fit. some glue, a few tiny nails and before long, the turret platforms were complete! It only took a little planing and sanding to get the bottoms flush, then it was time to glue to the turrets.



I repeated the process for the middle turret (but made that half an octagon instead) and pretty soon everything was nailed and drying.

Here's a shot of the whole shebang:



The middle turret is done, other than filling cracks with putty and sanding, etc., and is held on with clamps in the above picture. I'm going to prime and paint the middle turret and then install it when the bookcase is done and up in Kylie's room. This thing is getting heavy and adding the bulk of that third tower just doesn't make sense until it's all finished.

Tomorrow's task will be to putty up all the cracks, sand everything smooth in preparation for priming and get cracking on the little "door". Very pleased with how this is turning out!

Shop time today: 3 hours.

Total time: 20 hours.
 
#13 ·
Drawbridge and Blog Anniversary

Well, time sure does fly. I was 1 year ago today that I started this blog with dreams of building my own workbench in my head. Here's the first post, just for laughs.

Today, after I spent 30 minutes adding wood epoxy to all the cracks and gaps (more than I'd like but fewer and smaller than would have been the case last year!), I set to work on the drawbridge

In concept, it's simply a piece of wood (I used 3/4" pine) cut to fit the shape the opening. I rounded all the edges, and used hand planes to roundover the edges that rub the sides of the opening.

The hinge is made but drilling 1/8" hole in the sides of the cabinet. Then I put corresponding holes in the sides of the door. The trick was, I couldn't fit my fit in the opening (ah the joys of changing plans mid-project). So I found a smaller bit that fit in my impact driver which had just about 1/32" clearance.

I took a small piece of 1/8" oak dowel and using a utility knife and sandpaper, narrowed the diameter of the left dowel to fit the small hole. Then on the right side the dowel could go straight through.

Here's a picture of the door closed:



You can see the dowel sticking out of the right side in the above picture. When I'm done with the door, I'll cut the dowel flush. After some very slight trimming of the bottom of the door for a smoother fit, it fit perfectly and pivots nice and smooth. I credit Peter Follansbee's blog with the idea, though he uses these pegged hinges as lids for boxes. And HE got the idea from 17th century craftsmen.

Here's the door open:



Next up, I need to attach the ropes, a handle of sorts, and finish the decorations on the drawbridge. I'm thinking it's going to have routed grooves to simulate planks. Should be pretty cool!

Time today: 1 hour.

Total time: 21 hours.
 
#14 ·
Prepping for Paint

I wrapped up the final bits necessary before painting in the past few days. Here's the rundown on what I've been up to…

First, I sanded everything. This took a whole day's session…there's a lot of surface area on this beastie.

When satisfied the kids won't get any splinters and everything was nice and smooth, I worked on the draw bridge. I used the router table to rout vertical grooves to simulate planks. Like so:



Oops, the picture is rotated. Well, you get the idea. Next, I routed two 1/4" wide grooves horizontally and glued in some 1/4" square dowels I had laying around.



Now it's looking like a proper wooden door. But it was a little hard to grip. I thought a out putting a knob on, but that would encourage Kylie to snap it off. Then I considered having a rope come through from the back and make a rope handle….but that wouldn't look right to my eye. Then I happened to be in the car trying to referee a fight in the backseat at the grocery store when inspiration struck:



There in front of me was the window controls…just a hollowed out part that lets you get a finger under the button! I could do that! So I whipped out the carving chisels and hollowed out a notch under the upper crossbar:



After a few test pulls from Kylie and Keaton, I finalized the slot and sanded it smooth. Best part is, if you're not looking for it, it looks like there is no handle!

All I had to do was stain it! So I took an old Minwax ebony stain pen and filled in the grooves. It bled a little, so after drying, I simply sanded off the offending stain, leaving nice smooth dark grooves. I then applied a Minwax honey oak stain to the whole thing and wiped it down. Here's the result:



Looks a proper drawbridge now!

With that done (I'll add a layer or six to finish it when the castle is painted), I turned back to the castle. Detail time!

I plan on putting Kylie's name on the toy storage front, so I went Michaels and picked up some wooden letters:



These will be primed and painted a contrasting color and glued to the bookcase later. I also picked up a laser-cut frame and mirror to install under the middle tower platform:



This is gonna be awesome….I decided to go ahead and finally attach the middle tower while I was at it:



Once the frame was trimmed with the coping saw (there were a few too many pointed fleur de lis that stuck out a little too far…) I made the last of the crenelations for the back. This is decorative and it will keep anything from falling down behind the bookcase:





Then, at last, it was time to prime. Last night after the kids went down I spent 2 hours priming the the bookcase and mirror frame. It is just flat white, but now that everything is a uniform color, it looks great!





I cannot wait to got get the paint and start the final steps….paint and shellac and install the drawbridge and she's ready for books!!

Time today (three days): 6 hours.

Total time: 27 hours.
 
#15 ·
Paint, Paint, and More Paint

The color scheme on the castle is fairly simple, but it coordinates with Kylie's bedding on her new big girl bed. Two shades of purple, one light, one dark.

My master plan is to use flat paint, then cover the entire project in a few coats of clear shellac and sand and buff to get the perfect glossy-but-not-slippery surface.

For the main castle and turrets, I got a quart of the light purple at the BORG. For the highlights, crenelations, roof, inner portals, etc, I got a sample cup of the darker purple.

Underneath everything was a heavy coat (one coat plus touch ups) of primer.

It took about three hours for the priming two days ago. I let it dry completely over night and hit it with the light purple yesterday. This took only an hour and a half:



For the last half hour of shop time yesterday, I put down a layer of dark purple on the crenelations.



Today, I did another layer on the crenelations and taped off the interior of the turrets and then switched back and forth doing touch ups with both light and dark paints.



As you can see I also added a bit of a border around the side doors to give it a little decoration. I think it turned out pretty well!

I also painted the letters that spell "Kylie" in the dark purple so they'll contrast nicely against the light purple. I painted the mirror frame the dark color as well. The letters will be installed next…

Shop time (three days): 7 hours.

Total time: 34 hours.
 
#16 ·
Grand Finale

Thus begins the home stretch. Yesterday, I glued up the letters, decorated some little stars and fimished prep on the mirror and frame.



I also wrapped up touch paint and trimmed the excess paint off the base trim where it sat on a plastic tarp during painting. In all, I spent about three hours doing fine detail work.

Today was he final day.

I started applying shellac at 9am and by 1 pm I had two solid coats on the entire bookcase (using a paint brush). I have to say, after using the spray shellac on the medal chest, I much prefer that over brushing. I feel I have better control over the application with the brush, but man are my arms tired. I also had fun with runs and drips and had to sand, recoat and sponge up a few spots.

Anyway, I installed the drawbridge and hooked up the braided rope "chains" I made the other day:



And glued up the mirror and frame:



And after the final application of shellac I used the brown bag trick to buff it to a nice smooth finsih. My daughter, and more importantly my bride, were very impresses, which means MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.



What about my 4 year old son? What did he think? And I quote:

"That's awesome Daddy! I want a rocket one I can climb in!"

Time to start designing….

I will get a picture of the bookcase in it's new home tomorrow, after drying and airing out in the garage tonight.

But first, I have a new project I need to tackle:



Time today (and yesterday): 7 hours.

Total project time: 41 hours.
 
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