Craftsman Style Bookends: Episode 4
Posted 1 February 2017
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Two screws are used to help align and pull things together. Then Paul squares the hole in order to fit the square peg. That is all the construction and decoration, so it is ready for the glue up process. The screwed hole is then pegged and cut flush, then it’s the post glue clean up. The final step is shaping, recessing and fitting the base plate before applying the leather/felt to the base of the bookend.
Dear Paul,
I would like to ask you that what kind of leather are you use for your projects, faux leather or naturat leather?
Thank you for your great videos, I learn pleanty from you.
All the best, Stefan
@stefanolah, it was real leather as we often have offcuts around from other projects. Faux leather would be fine I think.
How did you resist putting a copy of your own book in the selection between book ends? I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
A little project with a lot of skill. I look forward to each Wednesday morning to learn from the master.
Thanks Paul Great project looking forward to a few days in my shed.
Don’t you hate taking all that time and precision to align and seat the buttons into the bookends only to find when assembling that while they look nice – they’re supposed to go on the outside! I wonder how I know that?!
Yes, brother, I too hate when things like that happen. That is why I mark all my pieces: “Acceptably Imperfect, just like the man who made it.”
Great project Paul. Now I can complete the two prs. I have in my shop
since the last episode. Thanks for another lesson.
Thank you for the lesson.
Hi – Sorry if I missed this but can someone tell me where the metal piece for the base of the bookends came from.
Thanksbill
I just picked up a small piece of steel plate at Lowes (Home Depot sells it as well). For a 6″ x ~ 18″ it was ~$7.
Hello
Thanks for an entertaining set of videos one and all.
This takes me right back to my youth, say about 1974/75 at my Granddads and he’d set it up his trestles and boards in the drive and set to…. ‘what ya making Granddad?’… a photograph stand Greg, but don’t tell Nanna ‘cos it’s a secret…
As an eight or nine year old boy, I’m sure this is where my passion began to kindle…
I’ve laid out the wood and look forward to starting work on my own set. As a pastor, with bookish colleagues, I hope to make and give a few sets as tokens of esteem, for instance to a friend for completing his doctorate (major book junkie, that fellow)
Careful there Blaine, when people around you start finding out that the gifts are aimed at “… a token of esteem …”, some will become ‘cranky’ when not on the recipients list! ROFL.
On the other hand, you could also do a “production run”, of x many, and claim that they’ve all been given away and you’ve moved on to other items.
Never come up with a problem without offering a solution!
Paul, your step-by-step practical demonstrations have been immensely helpful for me; thank you so much.
I notice you are happy to put screws into end-grain, but when I did woodwork at school (60 years ago) I was taught not to do that. The reason, I was told, is that the thread of the screw cuts the fibres so you end up with a screw in a plug of cut fibres, and it’s liable to pull out. Your joint in this piece is glued, and there is no great load on the screw, so I suppose it’s not liable to pull out, but was that advice sound as a general principle?
The screws serve only as an alternative for clamping the pieces together. Once the glue sets up, the screws no longer serve a function. So, as long as the screw going in to end grain stand up to the force needed to draw the pieces tight, everything will work out.
Thank you for responding, Rich. Yes, I did understand the function of the screw here, but I was wondering whether Paul would agree with my old teacher that in general one should not put screws into end-grain (unless one uses a cross-dowel or similar). My teacher was good, but Paul is even better as a teacher, and more experienced, and I would value his advice.
Hi Peter,
Paul says:
There are some antiquated perspectives that no longer fit in our world of pluralism. Today we have a dozen or more different screw types that make objective choices available to us. I doubt whether your teacher was actually saying they never work, just that it’s less than ideal. I’m sorry if that point of view has prevented you from screwing into end grain for 60 years, as in 99.9% of situations they do thread the wood without disintegrating it and in most applications they will work.
Kind Regards,
Izzy
Hi Izzy,
Thank you for the response, and please pass my thanks to Paul as well. I was indeed taught ‘never do this’, probably because we were not experienced enough to know when it would be OK. For most of the 60 years I did no woodwork; my few tools were packed away. Only recently, when I retired, did I unpack, clean and sharpen them, and hesitantly made a few simple toys for my grandchildren. Then I found Paul’s videos on YouTube and from there to his Woodworking Masterclasses, and a whole new world opened to me. Now my wife is delighted with her new coffee table and many other items, and it is largely thanks to Paul’s careful instructions, advice and encouragement. Thank you!
Peter.
Obrigado Paul .