Shelf Life - Williams and Cleal

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Jane Cleal makesa simpleyet stylishbookcasethatmaintains
visualinterest
withthe useof contrastino
and Cleal
timbersandthe unmistakable
Williams
legdesign
resistedthrowingthe kitchensinkat it
that sets them apartfrom a
:ti:rr,.,::
Designed
aS
a suite,
thispairof
bookcases
lollow
theconstruction
anddesign
principles
fromthe
sideboard
in
F&C112
F&C
pieceof
,f\ straightforward
produced
furniture,
by
S*\
:l
\ Williamsand Cleal,can often
be hardto find- l'll letyou decide
whetherI meanthisas a positiveor a
negative.
Commissioned
alongsidea
sideboard(SeeF&C112)and a pair
of smallsidetables,the bookcases
featuredhereare refreshingly
simplel
V i s u a l l yi n, m y o p i n i o nt,h e o n l yt h i n g
partitioned
box arethe legs.
Forthe sideboardI describedhow
the leg featureeasilytranslated
acrossall the designsand how it
gavethe projecta sirongvisual
identity.
Goingoff on a tangentfor a
moment,if you lookat a lot of design
classicstheyare,moreoftenthan
not,simple.So, althoughmy
I
bookcaseis not exactlyexceptional,
was extremelypleasedwith how I
in orderto achievevisualinterest.
i.lf',qitA:f tr{}},J
IIi':..
for a changeI have
ln this instance,
to admitthatevenI foundit difficultto
justifyproducinga rod, I madesure,
however,
lhat I produceda detailed
, sI
t e c h n i c adlr a w i r g lO n c ea g a i n a
clearlynevertireof saying.all issues
musl be resolvedat thtsstage- even
if the pieceappearsto be simple
I
1 A routerboxis
essential
forcutting
lhehousings...
I
o
I
F
)
I
6
@
I
c
2 ... it is alsoused
to cutshoulders
o
o
o
I
and
3 Thecut-ouls
housing
complete
thereare alwaysa numberof waYsto
I alsothinkit is
tackleproduction.
'get out' all the materials
to
essential
at the start.In thiscasetheyincluded
Englishcherry(Prunusavrum),solid
and veneer,rippledmapleveneer,
MDf, ebonyinlayand ebonisingfor
the feet.
Roughmachinethe solid
first.Not onlYso that
components
they havea chanceto settle,but also
so you can checkthe qualitYof the
timber.Forexample,if you discovera
piecewitha shake,a defector
perhapsthe wrongcolour,Please
disposeof it straightaway- even if it
moretimberor
meansreordering
puttingup withdelays- in my opinion
it is essential.
l'll neverforgetproducinga
cabinetas a student.I only
collector's
just had enoughtimberand just like
we all havedone,I askedother
peoplewhattheythoughtaboutusing
a railwitha knotin it. Clearlythe fact
that I askedthem provesI knewjolly
well lwas tryingto hidefrom making
the rightdecision.Eventhoughit was
a bottombackrail,it stuckout likea
sorethumband I was so
the classic'oh
Similarly,
disappointed.
the polishand timewillmaketwo
differingcomponentsgo the same
colour'is somewhatdebatable,
Matchingthe rightgrainis also
Basicstuff,but,againin my
essential.
opinion,railsshouldbe straightand
panelscrown,leftand rightlegs
shouldmirroreachotherand front
lippingsshouldall comefromthe
samepieceof wood.
point,which
Anotherinteresting
againmay be obvious[o you,is that
whenyou cut out yourMDFmake
surethat it comesfromthe same
batch.On a largekitchenjob we
usedup our stockof l BmmMDFand
reordered.The new MDFwas from a
differentsourceand the material
differedin thicknessby 0.5mm,
which,in termsof production,
created
all sortsof problems.In fact,like
manyothercompanies,
we now more
oftenthan not prethicknesssand the
MDFbeforeveneering
to eliminate
any hollowsor differingthickness.
VENgARING
'got
So of we go. Having
out' all the
materials
we can beginthe making.
l'm afraidI can feelsomemorerules
comingon, I alwaysliketo lip and
we
veneerpanelsto start.Generally
4mmlippings
and
tendto use
thick
machinethemover-width
according
to how longtheyare,ie if the lipping
i s o n l y1 0 0 m m( 4 i n )l o n g ,l o c a t i o n
shouldbe easyand therefore1mm
(%,in)extrain the width shouldbe
4 Theendpanels
in cramps
5 Theplinthrail
andebonised
leet
F&C
Recess
fot rail
lor
Spigot
fixingtop
is
Housing
lull thickness
Maincatcass
is biscuited
housing
Plinth
r
F&C
1000
-r
6 Theinternal
divisions
areall
biscuited
together
7 Frontplinthglued
up
plentyto shaveoff afterwards.
Anotherrulewhenflushingoff the
lippingsis to try and resistsandingor
scraping,as quiteoftenthiscan
and
resultin dipPingthe liPPings
witha
uP
end
can
subsequentlY
You
joint
line.
dark
HavinglippedYourPanelsit is now
timeto veneerthem.Mostof the
paneisfor thisjob requiredshooting
one joint,ie two Piecesof veneeron
eachside.
Nowthen,is it bestto shootthe
veneeredgesusinga shootingboard
and a plane,two blocksin a viceand
a plane,a routerwitha following
or
cutteragainsta straightedge
perhapsto cramPthe veneerin two
blocksand pass them overthe
planer?
Guesswhat?Fora changeI don't
havea preference.Whichevermethod
you find producesthe bestresultsis
the one to adoPt.TheonlYthingI
would say is try to Packthem uP so
you are producingseveralat a time
One criticalthingthough,I strongly
suggestthatyou onlyjointthe veneer
goingto glue
thatyou are definitely
and pressthat daY,Evenif the joint
edges havebeen taped together,
overnighitheywillmoveand
literally
ninetimesout of 10 Youwillend uP
witha darkglue hairlineonce
pressed,Havingveneeredthe panels
theycan thenbe planedsquareand
sanded,and stored
dimensioned,
somewhereflat untilthey are readyto
be used.Thetop is veneeredfirst,
sandedand thenwide,showliPPings
Once the
biscuitedon aftenruards.
squared
flushed,
have
been
lippings
is
then
inlaY
the
and dimensioned,
(%ax%ain),
and
routed,1.5x 1.Smm
and
the ebonyfinallymachined
skimmedwitha blockplaneto fit.The
curvedcornersare then routedusing
a n M D Ft e m P l a t eA. 1 , 5x 1 . 5 m m( % xo
shadowgrooveis also routedon
%uin)
edge of the toP,
the underneath
C{}NS?i{UCT!{,}l'{
To start,the internalpartitionand shelf
Eventhis
are biscuitedtogether.
simpleprocesscouldbe executedin
ways.The shelfwas in
101different
one pieceand thereforethe toP and
bottompartitionhad staggered
biscuitslots.I supposeone
interesiingdebatehereis whetherthe
panelsshouldalsohaveshoulders
trench.
and thusa corresponding
Althoughthis,in theory,helPsthe
seenjointfacego up, I feelit is
unnecessaryand insteadadvocate
perfecting
the art of edge planning
MDF,whichI am veryconsciousis
easiersaidthendone.
To glueup, the bottompartitionis
screwedand thenthe top cramPed,
The assemblyis then attachedto the
base and top usingexactlythe same
principles.
Thetop of the partition
also has to be notchedarounda top
of the baseis
rail.The underneath
receive
also biscuitedto eventually
the plinth.Also,alwaysavoidhaving
the frontedgesflush.VisuallyI thinkit
looks betternot to, and more
importantlyin termsof constructionit
makesa lot more sense.Youavoid
havingto planeedgesthatdon't
alwayslineup, and giventimetheY
w i l li n e v i t a b l y ' c r e e p ' ,
I Theplinthis set
backfromthecarcass
g Theleetare
Notethe
ebonised.
stepdelail
the
separaling
plinthandmain
calcass
F&C
10 Thecarcass
cramped
up- just
thetoplo go
11 Thetopsare
lixedviaspigots
12 Thetopshave
ebony
slringing.
Thegrooves
belore
andwithinlay,
waitingto be
flushed
off
13 Thetophas
rounded
cotners
to
malchthelurned
legs
yel
14 Thesimple
stylishpieceis
madefromEnglish
cherry
andrippled
maple
veneer
LAGS
In termsof the sideassemblies,
althoughtheylookcomplicated,
to
simplifyyou haveto almostregard
the legsas oddly-shaped
lippings.
Firstthe plinth,whichis set in from
the side panelis biscuitedon and
glued.The panelis then let bodilyinto
the legs.Thisonceagainelimrnates
any needfor complicated
tapered
shoulders.
lt does,however,
considerably
testthe accuracyof your
trenchingabilitiesand the already
highlighted
needfor consistent
board
materialthickness.
I realisethatthe
flippancywithwhichI makethisand a
numberof my otherpointsis possibly
irritating,
but to be honestI don'tthink
the processesthemselves
are
actuallydifficult.
but theydo require
good preparation,
incredibly
So just
likeI havealludedto in the past,in
thiscase,it is essential
thatyou
producean accuratebox jig to hold
the legs- locatedwithspigotsat
eachendsof the legs- whileyou
routerthe trenches.
The legsarethen
turnedaround90oand slotsare
F&C
routedto take the top railand the
frontplinth.The back legsare also
trenchedto receivethe veneered
, h i c hi s 1 s m m M D Fb a c kp a n e lw
(%oin)
thickin orderto add rigidityto
the bookcase.Finally,
notchesare
routedto receivethe base and shelf.
Beforeyou thengluethe side
panelsontothe legs,it is important
to
ebonisethe feetof the legsand sand
up all the components.
F}]\AL ASSE&4tsI,Y
The shelfand basearethenbisculted
to the sideframes.Youprobablywill
havegatheredby now thatthe biscuit
jointeris consideredby Williamsand
Clealas an essential
tool.lf you
haven'talreadydoneso, can I
stronglyrecommend
thatyou go and
purchaseone verysoon!
Youcan thenglueon the side
framestogetherwiththe back panel,
The back panelis alsoscrewed
throughthe backof the partition,
shelf
and base.Thetop railand plinthis
thenattachedand,you guessedit,
the top is finallybiscuitedontothe
carcass.Holesare alsodrilledon the
undersideto receivethe spigotson
the top of the legsand the top is then
glueddown.
As mentioned,
I enjoyedthatfor a
changethiswas quitea
straightforward
and simplepiece.I
am even more comfortedby the fact
that it was verywell receivedand I
hopeit holdsbookssuccessfullyl
So,
all in all I can thoroughly
recommend
this project.lf you havea trustyrouter
and biscuitjointerand wouldliketo
testyourplanningand trenching
skil's,feelfreeto havea go! nc