barrister bookcase – is there a mistake?
I am looking over the plans in the Bookcases book published by Taunton – author Niall Barrett. I have looked at the dimensions of some of the parts and they do not make sense to me so if anyone has familiarity with this project or sees I am interpreting the plans incorrectly, please respond.
Particularly, the edging sizes on the cases are calulcated to make the box edges and rabbets line up when assembled, says the book at page 138. I am looking at the illustration and trying to figure out how the bottom shelves of these boxes fit into the side rabbets when the they have the same width but the bottom gets an extra 1/4″ added onto it by a front edging. This edging now makes the parts not fit by my calculations.
The problem I have is the sides (without edging) and the bottom (without edging) are the same size, 11 and 9/16″. Now, the bottom gets a 1/4″ edging in front of it so it is now 11 and 15/16″ wide yet it is supposed to be housed in a rabbet where the side is still only 11 and 9/16″ wide, even with the back having a 1/8″ rabbet. The back rabbet does not matter in my calculation since the back side edge is 5/8″ so that 1/8 rabbet just cancels out the overlap between the back (3/4″) and the side edging (5/8″). The back rabbet just allows the rear of the bottom shelf line up with the start of the 5/8″ edging so I still have to find room for the 1/4″ front edging because that appears to also sit in the side rabbets.
If this is a mistake in the book then I can address it by reducing the width of the bottom shelf by 1/4″. I can also add width to the side edging but that just means I have to cut a partial rabbet into the back side edging – that is just too difficult so I am hoping my fix is the right fix and I am not misinterpreting what I see as an error in the dimensions provided in the plans. -Tom
Replies
I don't have the book so I can't tell you for sure but is the trim cut short on the bottom so that it is only the bottom panel that is housed?
No, the shelf itself is short so that the bottom shelf edging acts as a stop for the door frame, which hangs on the front side edging so it appears from the multiple pictures that the front trim is supposed to be housed in the rabbet, immediately behind the front side edging.
When I run into things on plans that aren't clear or seem like errors, I redraw at least the parts in question to help me figure out how things are supposed to fit. This is a good practice I learned from boat building.
If I were redrawing it, I would use SketchUp of course but you could just use a pencil and paper.
Without seeing the drawings in question, I guess I'll be little help.
dave
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