bookshelf and drawers

admin

I had alluded to in a couple of older posts of working with wood and steel. Here are pictures of a piece of furniture I did. Three piece bookshelf, bottom and top bolt together, with ladder resting on horizontal support.The breakdown was about 50/50 or so on time required to between wood vrs steel.Finish was important so the steel has a dark pewter patina, followed by an automotive paint with a lot of reducer so it was transparent so the patina would subtley show through.Wood was knotty hickory for shelving and drawer fronts. Seville mahogony for the drawer sides which if you look carefully are the finger joints on drawer edges. Drawer handles were Brazilian rosewood, wheels ( rollers )  on top of the ladder are purpleheart.The decorative rivets are not real, these were 1/2 punched to achieve the same visual effect.
Reply:Some people just do nice work,  I would have a smile of my face if I did that!!!have funTom
Reply:Very nice. Unfortunately I don't think the picts do the piece justice. If you hadn't mentioned the wheels or the rivets, I probably would have missed them in the dark picts with the dark finish.  ( It's often hard to get decent picts of projects that show what's clearly visible to plain sight.) I'd love to see some detailed picts of the ladder wheel design and maybe a better shot of the rivets..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:The wheels were really the work, basically a wood version of cast iron rope pulley wheel. I was looking for cast iron wheels but couldn't find them easily. They were run on my lathe, to fit the 1" round bar. The finish was bake the purpleheart ( actually BBQ ) to get it to turn black ( not charcoal, purpleheart blacks up with a very small amount of heat ) then applied stain finish on the warm wood to suck the finish into the wood.The metal was easy, the wheels weren't really hard they just took a long time as purpleheart is very hard, and you must be slow and careful to not get tearout.Piece isn't in my house but I will get a few more pics of the wheels, rivets, and the fingerjoints on the drawers, probably take a couple of days though.
Reply:Here are the pic I promised:
Reply:Nice. Thanks for the extra picts..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:sweet!!!!Adam MMorales Ranch
Reply:Interesting.I always called those joints you have on your drawers "box joints" (can be made by hand tools or various machine tools/jigs), as I think of "finger joints" as the shallower and often v-shaped joints used to join short lengths of trim/lumber into longer pieces (made with router/shaper bit only, can't even imaging trying to cut those by hand!).http://www.woodcraft.com/product/200...joint-jig.aspxhttp://www.woodcraft.com/product/208...k-1916-cl.aspx  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:Box joint is not incorrect, but neither is finger, admittly its a very simple finger joint, and box is probably the more correct of the two.I did them on my router table. The four big power tools I used ( other than sanders ) were the router table, a chopsaw, a festool track saw, and a bisquit joiner.The joints were detailed and fit by hand with a chisel, and a file, the router bit I used was a 1/2 inch round barrel bit.BTWI have cut finger joints by hand, I made a jewelry box for my wife some years ago, all rosewood, with brass inlay and hand carved and motiffed doors. I think that one jewelry box took me a little over 10 months and I probably averaged about 4 hours a day on it about 6 days a week. I really thought I was never going to see the end of that piece. The fingerjoints were on 3 drawers and the top lid, and the inlay was a absolute labor of love so to speak as I averaged about an square inch every two days. Needless to say its a one of a kind and there won't be another one, just way too much work.I do like challenging wood pieces though and have always had a passion for working with wood and metal. High quality wood with tasteful metal details make really nice pieces. Brass and silver are two very friendly metals for that purpose, and steel makes great structral pieces.
Reply:Explain the darkening of the purple heart if you would? I have found that it turns  a dark brown with a hint of the deep purple if it is exposed to sunlight with out being dyed. What color do you get by heating it? I like it as an accent but as you said it is a wood you work slowly and with sharp tools."Liberalism is a mental disorder" Dr. Savage
Reply:" What color do you get by heating it? "It turns black not a charcoal/ebony black but real close. If your wife will let you drop it in the oven at 200-250 ( at 250 watch it ), and the heat turns it black ( actually super dark purple but it looks black to me ). I used the  BBQ as oven and wife was a no/no. While it was hot I applied a Spanish Oak stain which it drinks up hot. Wipe down once cool and polish.And yes its a neat wood, I was going to use Brazilian Cherry but I couldn't get any that thick, so I opted for Purple Heart. And the real old Ironwood like they used to use for bearings and pulleys is absolutly impossible to find.
Reply:Great job on the wood/metal integration.  One question:  Why not use the ready made library ladder wheel kits for the "classic look" they provide without having to make your own?
Reply:" Why not use the ready made library ladder wheel kits for the "classic look" they provide without having to make your own? "I looked for a set of cast iron wheels, I either didn't find anything I like or they weren't the right size.
Reply:I have recieved a couple of requests for more and detailed pics of this piece. I will try and get some more, and guys I am sorry but they are just crummy cell phone pics. Anyway here are a couple more showing some detail, the round bar support is DOM tube.Some details on the arches, those are not rivets, they are carrige bolts that I knocked the zinc polish  ( Zinc won't take patina ) off on my wire wheel then tacked on the inside, then used a flap to flat the head so they look like rivets.When it comes to welding detail (s) they are difficult to show, I didn't want this to look like a welded piece, and being riveted together was part of the theme ( actually nothing is riveted they are all for show ). That said I made most of the welds hidden, or buried so they couldn't be shown, or in some places where the welds show, I did good welds then used a spatter ( I had to practice that on scrap stock ) to ugly up the weld some and then used a flap disk to clean it up. I found that setting my welder for 16-14 gauge worked best for that, and there are only a couple of those visable welds.As far a process I did it all on my Milller 212, with Esab ER70S6 .035 wire. Materials was all cold rolled steel, the big rivet plates are all 3/8 thick as thinner than that 1/2 punching for the rivets doesn't work, The bottom was 1 1/2 inch square tube, the drawer and shelf supports are 1 1/4 x 3/16 angle. The materials used were:Bar stock 3/8x3Bar Stock 1/4 x2Bar stock 3/8 x 1 1/4Angle 1 1/4 x 3/16Square tube 1 1/4Square tube 1 x1Round bar 1"Dom Tube 1 3/8 ( it was either that or 1 1/2 ) it telescopes over the 1" round barFlat plate 3/16 and 1/814 guage flat plate for the backAll showing tube stock ends were capped with 1/8 plateBoy I wish I had taken some more in process pics now, I will dig through the camera and old photos and see if I have any in process photos, cause these really show what I have been asked for. And guys I apoligise I take pics on my cell and I they aren't real great.
Reply:WOW ! Those close ups really show the detail. Your first pics didn't do your work justice. Very impressive, nice job.
Reply:Digging around in old pics these are some showing patina and paint process but unassembled which show a bit more detail:
Reply:Gorgeous, Excellent work bud! I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:Very nice. I need to make something like this for my home.Northern Tool MIG/Flux coreWEL-BILT 4 1/2 angle grinderYou gotta start somewhere!
Reply:Not right away, but my next project will be a coffee table to match up to it. Thoughts are a old railroad luggage cart, but the cast parts needed scare me. That out of matching 4/4 hickory to match the book shelf would be way cool. The other thought is a Walnut burl with a metal base.Thanks for all the compements and and PM's on this.And guys my brain is wired design, build,  fabricate......and build details, I know how to do the work, but showing others so/so its only after a project is finished I start thinking documentaion.  I suck as a photo documentation specialist.And if somebody is really serious on building one PM me, no I don't have CAD prints, but I have a couple of lessons learned I would share which would save time, like I would do if I ever build another or similar piece.Thanks again.
Reply:Gorgeous, Excellent work buddy and thanks for sharing you make book shelf and drawers together in one place its really good i have some drawers to see them click here
Reply:beautiful work. i like the ladder. are there roller's on the bottom as well?
Reply:I'd missed the last set of updates you did on this until now. I hear you on documentation. Even though I try and keep a camera on the truck, too many times I'm too involved in the work to stop and take picts until it's too late.Some of the raw patina'd picts look really cool. It's a shame you can't get the material to stay that way. I know from work I've done with acid stains and clear coats that you never really get that "raw" look once you coat it usually. The color almost always changes when the top coat goes on. In some ways the top coat can enhance the look, but some times you loose that " rough" look that I often find interesting. When I have time later today I'll have to reread this and see if you listed the process for the patina on the steel..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Looks great - one question - why not have the ladder attach above the shelf?  The way it is now you can't easily insert or remove books because the bar that the ladder wheels hook to is in the way.Miller Diversion 180Hobart Handler 140 (Soon to be replaced with Miller 211?)Miller Spectrum 625 Extreme
Reply:" Some of the raw patina'd picts look really cool. It's a shame you can't get the material to stay that way. I know from work I've done with acid stains and clear coats that you never really get that "raw" look once you coat it usually. The color almost always changes when the top coat goes on. In some ways the top coat can enhance the look, but some times you loose that " rough" look that I often find interesting. When I have time later today I'll have to reread this and see if you listed the process for the patina on the steel."Anybody who has done patina work knows its not exactly a science ( or maybe it is but a lot of variables need to be controlled which is tough in a small shop ) Not today I will write details up on how I did the above, right now in brief I did:1. clean and descale the metal, scale will take patina albiet poorly and when used with descaled metal they don't take patina the same. In short the descaled metal doesn't get engough, while the clean gets too much.2. Temperature has a big impact on the process, a good warm 85-90 degree day is ideal, below 55 degrees would make it very time consuming and add a lot of unneeded difficulties.3. I actually used two different types of patina on this, the supplier is http://www.metallicfinishes.com/, and the two types I used were antique pewter, and auburn rust. The auburn rust was too red/orange for desired effect and the pewter didn't have enough red/orange and gave a bluish color. In addition to the patina's you need another product which is react arrest, which stops the rusting chemically. This is important or you can't control the process. And lastly water and a hose.4. I am sure there are different methods but I used plastic spray bottles like you mist plants with or but spray cleaners in. I used three bottles one for each product.5. First I used the the pewter, and liberally sprayed the whole surface, and then it needs to sit, this period and temperature are the two hard variables in this process, too much and it looks like a old piece of steel that is rusted out, not enough and the process needs repeating. After it has sit for a while, use the hose and wash it down, the color is going to change on this step and wetting it down, a spot spraying at this point you can fix places that didn't take the patina. Once you have gotten this first stage done, its time to use the arresting agent, and letting it dry to see what you really have is suggested.6. Once dry inspect and repeat the number 5 step above, at this point I started using small amounts of the auburn rust to highlight areas and blend in the pewter, I also used pewter. It is a little trial and error between this to patina colors, highlighting and getting the effect you desire. I went back and did this rust, wash, and arrest a couple of times. And I also used some wet sandpaper a couple of times, just very lightly, and some spots need a little more attention.7. Once done with the patina process a final rust arrest to stop any additional rusting should be done, then wash it throughally and let dry again.8. I wanted a very specific finish and the patina alone didn't get me completly there. If you are comfortable with the finish at this point its ready to clear coat. I would use an automotive clear coat with harderner, Napa Auto has this and and it is what I use. I wasn't happy with the patina finish, so I took this a step farther, before clearcoat. What I originally planned on using was way too expensive, I was going to use autotive candy apple type paint. I priced it out and figured out a different way to achive it. What I used was a very dark green ( almost black ) with a very little amount of metal flake in it. I then used reducer and thinned the paint at about 90% reducer to 10% paint. ( if somebody wants it I can get the paint code). This step is several light coats, and to get the see through to see the patina this is very important or it will end up tooking like painted dark green and the patina won't show through. Once this is all done and dried I used an automotive clear coat.Truthfully this is a fairly time consuming process and I think I spent about 7-10 days getting it finshed, between multiple coats and drying time. The paint coats need to dry completly between coats and can't be tacky.As I built this and did a self review on this, I will say if I built another I would do some stuff different. Mostly I would change the welding a bit, so the welds didn't cause issues to fitting wood pieces later, and some minor fabrication tweaks to simplify a few of the steps. The finish is the part I would not change though, the pictures don't really capture the patina and the see through finish, and although it was fairly time consuming it turned out exactly how I wanted and I really liked how it finished up. As to the design of this, I can't really take credit for it, I was handed a photo by my daughter, and I back engineeredfrom the photo's. I did do some changes though as I didn't like the original design, those were:  1) I didn't like to long unsupported shelves and added the metal support under the shelves, the shelves would sag with books under them, 2) the ladder wasn't functional on the original as was welded into a fixed position, I made it so it will roll and can be repositioned 3) I didn't like the shelves or drawers ( all of the woodwork actually ) and I completely changed how it was built.This was what I had to copy the design from: http://www.restorationhardware.com/c...yId=cat1970012Next big project is going to be a vanity with five drawers and a zinc finish, but it is going to wait till spring and better weather.