Walnut Sec. Build Part 6 – Cabriolet Legs, Scalloped Aprons and Pullout Writing Surfa

[Mike Allen1010]

Earlier parts of the build are posted in separate threads here for anyone interested. Despite my best efforts, I can't fiquire out how to up load larger pics so this is the best I can do.

I tried to add walnut veneer to ¼” plywood for the back of the bookcase. I need to find a better adhesive; I’ve used Tite bond before, but have problems with it soaking through the veneer and leaving blotches, so this time I used spray on adhesive that absolutely did not work, requiring multiple, time-consuming repairs etc. I’m hoping nobody notices when it’s installed. I would really appreciate suggestions/advice about best way to glue veneer to flat surfaces.

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Here are the 4 legs with curves laid out from the template, and with excessive labeling to hopefully ensure I don’t screw-up by shaping the wrong surfaces (yes, I have done that before and I hate when that happens!!).


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Before cutting/shaping the legs I chop the mortises for the aprons. They meet in the middle and tennons will be mitered. Because there is not a lot of meat left in the legs to support the mortises that can be reasonably expected to get significant stress due to the leverage of the legs, I’ll add glue blocks to give additional support.
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Here is sawing out the square upper portion of the legs that will be joined to the aprons.
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Legs after the rough shape has been precariously sawn out on the cheesy, under powered bandsaw.

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[Mike Allen1010]

Final profile is shaped with spoke shave, rasps, files, card scrapers and gouges to define the top margin of the feet. This reminded me how much I appreciate quality, hand stitched rasps. Definitely tools I wish I would’ve thought to acquire much earlier in my woodworking experience.


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I’m really bad at anything resembling three-dimensional curves – the best guideline for me is referencing the shaping work off a straight, vertical line on the apex of show surfaces for the legs.
I intentionally left the intersection of legs and apron a little fat so that I could plan them flush after assembly.
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[Mike Allen1010]

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I intentionally left the intersection of legs and apron a little fat so that I could plan them flush after assembly.

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Here’s the dry assembly of legs and aprons.

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Runners/kickers for the 3 drawers in the apron. A rare chance to use some nails to assemble seat-of-the-pants components and soft woods – something I always enjoy.
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[Mike Allen1010]

Dimensioning the “skirt” that ties the curved profiles of the legs to the apron. I added glue blocks along the long, horizontal dimension and angled vertical dimension to help secure the skirts in-place at the correct angle.
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Here is sawing out the curved, lower profile of the skirts. Again I drew up the templates of these curves, which is always a recipe for a profile that never quite flows together in a symmetrical way. I much prefer to copy existing profiles from builders much more talented than me.
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Here’s the dry assembly of legs and aprons


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More to follow, LOML is insisting dinner can't wait anymore.

Best, Mike

[Jerry Olexa]

Looks good Mike.....Good approach..Better run to dinner

[Christopher Charles]

Looks great Mike, thanks for posting. I often pick up an idea like clamping a parallel clamp in the vise to hold the leg for shaping

C

[Mike Allen1010]

Final shaping of the skirts:

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Here are the skirts glued in place with initial coat of oil/varnish – now that I see the curves – they do look pretty choppy – par for the course.



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The 3 drawers will be flush fit in the drawer pockets. Here are the inlay tools I use for the Holly stringing. When it comes to string inlay, best advice I can offer is do your best to get a consistent thickness of stringing that matches the width of the groove. This groove is .025”, the width of one of the standard cutters that comes with the LV inlay tools. I use a LV scraper that lets me sneak up on a good fit. For the width of the stringing. I always saw extra stringing because I pretty much break about 50% of it trying to get to a correct thickness.




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I planed a rabbit around the drawer fronts to allow for adding 1/8” wide cock beading. A sharp shoulder plane and mitered shooting board make this a lot easier.

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[Mike Allen1010]

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Because the depth of the bookshelves take up much of the width of the tabletop, I tried to add a pull-out work surface with breadboard ends to allow for a little more flat desktop. My rabbit plane with adjustable fence is my favorite shop made tool. I always struggle getting flat rabbits with clean shoulders and somehow I got lucky with this plane because it typically works pretty well.

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Tennons/mortises for breadboard ends and final dimensioning of the pullout desktop.
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[Mike Allen1010]

Engineering the guides system for the pullout was a nightmare. The only way I ended up with something workable was multiple trial and error etc. No way I could envision anything on paper that was in the ballpark. After this picture I added stops to the guides to limit extension of the pullout and also added pieces to cover the guide pockets to try keep everything aligned.

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In the end, it’s still not an elegant solution; the desktop/bookcase simply rests on the apron with indexing blocks to hold it in place. This allows disassembly into 2 parts to make it easier to move. The weight of the upper unit against the guides keeps the pullout surface parallel to the desktop. However, to move the pullout in/out, I have to tilt the upper unit up to allow movement. Certainly will be problematic, especially once there are heavy books in the bookshelf, but that’s the best I’ve got.

Here are some pictures with oil/varnish, shellac/French polish, paste wax finish.
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Last steps will be building the drawers and carving a door for the central pigeonhole unit – I’m thinking shell? Any advice and suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks for looking. I’ll post more pictures when it’s done.

All the best, Mike

[Pete Taran]

Mike,

I don't know what I like more, your build or that rack of handsaws behind it! Excellent job!

[John Kananis]

Mike, its a beauty - really nice work.

[Brian Holcombe]

Beautiful work Mike! That one is most certainly going to make it into the house.

For the veneer, I use a vacuum bag and cold press glue, works well. I've used fancier glues and that made for an expensive disaster, so I stick to cold press glue.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I love this build! Very well done. Something like this is on my to-do list. Thanks for sharing.

[Hasin Haroon]

Beautiful work Mike, and thanks for sharing.

[Mike Allen1010]

Mike,

I don't know what I like more, your build or that rack of handsaws behind it! Excellent job!

Pete, I blame you for pushing me down the slippery slope that led to all those hand saws in my shop!


Specifically, the first time it occurred to me I could enjoy woodworking without a table saw, was when I got a pair of Disston # 12's from you (still have a place of pride in my till). Getting those saws from you was a watershed moment in my woodworking experience; I had no idea handsaw's could be so fast and accurate!


It's no overstatement to say your saws are the primary reason I became a "hand tool" woodworker, something I've truly enjoyed for many years. Sincerely I can't adequately say how much I appreciate your contribution to the woodworking community, and more specifically to my personal enjoyment of the craft.


Yeah, I know that sounds pretty sappy, but it's the truth. Thanks Pete.


Best, Mike