Sellers Home Bookshelf

In this episode, Paul concludes by adding the extra diagonal bracing and stops to add even more stability to an already superbly strong project.

The last joinery section on the bookcase is to cap off the top with an overhanging piece parallel to the last cross-member and equidistant to the ends and sides.

Even on large projects, it’s often the small details that intrigue us the most and it’s the small details, sometimes the hidden ones, that ensure the longevity and strength of our work. The engineering of the shelf joints becomes more self-evident as the housing dadoes and twin tenons combine with a simple technique that dovetails the tenons within the joints.

Even though Paul is doing the same work he has done for half a century, he still found this aspect of truing and fitting the arched lamination fascinating and rewarding. The extending of the width of the laminated arching created the added dimension Paul wanted.

This was a particularly fascinating section for Paul, and he loved the way the bookcase came together. The new joints are working exceptionally well and, so too, the laminated arch work. It’s the small details that can make all the difference.

The association between joints is always exciting, but when you see several elements come together in a single joint area, it becomes all the more amazing. In this episode, we make a twin tenoned housing dado joint to intersect each shelf with the side uprights.

Have you ever heard of a dovetailed mortise and tenoned stepped housing dado? Paul came up with a combination of his three favourite joints as an all-in-one joint, and we make six of them in this cherry bookcase.