Friday, April 10, 2009

Scrolled Oak Shelf



Here is my latest project! As usual, I had a need for something and I decided to capitalize on this need and build it myself! The story goes something like this.

My wife and I just recently had a baby which meant we needed to make room for the "pack and play" in the living room. We moved our computer desk out to give us some room but quickly realized that there was no longer any room to put our telephone! The only option was to build a shelf, but like everything I do, it couldn't be anything too simple.
The first thing that I did was choose the type of lumber that I wanted to make it out of. I decided to make it simple and use some red oak I had laying around the shop. I used my new jointer to true up the edges and cut my stock to length. I created a mortise to attach the top of the shelf to the back and routed out a couple dados to create a place for my scrolled supports to rest.


The scrolled supports were also made out of the same red oak that I planned down to about 1/4 of an inch. The pattern was an original design that I created on paper with a set of french curves. I gave myself a measured rectangle to start on paper and filled it in with a design I thought would work. I then copied the pattern to the wood through carbon paper and cut away on my scroll saw.
I fastened all of the parts together with a good wood glue and some 3/4 inch brads. A few coats of Polyurethane with light "wet sanding" in between and hung it on the wall! Functional and different!






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