Rosemine’s wall shelf

Glueup

I “dexterized” my work bench with plastic and assembled the shelf with Titebond original wood glue. I then clamped the living daylight out of the thing (just look out the windows if you don’t believe me!) and left the shelf in clamps overnight.

I just slapped the clamps on, focusing on getting tight joints all around. Afterwards I checked for square.

Dead. Square!

This was a really satisfying moment, seeing my efforts pay off like that. Dead square because all my joints were cut dead square. Made me feel proud, because I have not done much joinery before. In fact, these 8 dovetails pushed my total dovetail count to about 30..

After the glue had cured, I planed the tenons and tails flush with the sides. This demanded a bit of creative work holding. A few stirring sticks to protect the shelf from the vise dog, and I could pinch the shelf between the dog on the vise and the apron on the bench.

I’d say theses dovetails are acceptable. I do need some more practice as I went past the base line a bit. But other than that, these pins came straight off of the saw. No fettling needed. It really is just a matter of remembering which side of the line one should cut.

And of course a bit of practice following a line with the saw.

As for the hand cut mortise and tenon, I think I have those under the belt…

I decided to give the divider wall a profile to soften it a bit. I also had some splintering going on that I wanted to get rid of. I grabbed my Lie-Nielsen No.66 beading tool and selected a roundover profile.

I marked a millimeter in from the edge on both sides and adjusted the fence so that the scraper was dead center on the board. Lie-Nielsen did not modify the pattern from Stanley on this tool, so there’s no center mark to guide you. You are forced to place your pattern directly off of the profile – which when you think about it is the only way to do it. Relying on a mark on a tool which may or may not line up with what you assume it lines up with, is a recipe for disaster.

After a few passes with lots of pressure going into the fence, the profile is established. This is a crucial part! Focus the pressure so that the fence is firmly up against the work piece until the pattern is deep enough to steer you. Afterwards you keep a bit of pressure on the fence, but not too hard. It is a good idea to lower the profile gradually when scratching deep profiles like this. Especially at the ends, which are a bit harder to form. In my review of the 66 I am covering this; how the sole should’ve been made a bit longer.

To remove the thin strips of wood, I used the cutter on my Veritas marking gauge to slice off the wood.

After a few passes, the strips came clean off.

I used a chisel to pare off the leftover material and to clean the bottom of the profile cut.

Voilà – a nice roundover made in minutes. Using a router and router table would be an option, but I bet I would still be rummaging for the correct bit… The scratch stock (the 66) took a couple of minutes, and I could listen to my playlist the whole time!

Time for more glue. Let’s turn page.

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