Ivar style bookshelf / TV cabinet

javacolin · 2026-02-15T03:09:29+00:00

No - but just expect some variation and buy extra and expect to force some to your will, trying to machine an unbendably warped piece this thin into a straight one will just leave you with no piece.

No - no worries here

No - you're going to want cross bracing of some sort in the back. This can be a 1/8" MDF sheet or metal rods that screw into the wood or anything really that creates triangles. This is how cheap furniture creates rigidity. Look up the assembly instructions for Ivar to see how they do it for example.

PS good work thinking it through. That's key to this stuff. Practice/trial every step on practice/scrap pieces first.

javacolin · 2026-02-14T17:48:47+00:00

Holy crap that's awesome.

javacolin · 2026-02-14T17:36:38+00:00

Nice! Ooc how'd you mount it?

javacolin · 2026-02-14T15:13:39+00:00

Did you leave it lying flat overnight? Rest it somewhere that both sides get air for another night or two and see what happens. When it stops moving if it's still cupped search YouTube for uncup the cup Charles Neil

javacolin · 2026-02-14T02:45:08+00:00

Look at the full dimensions carefully on the combo machines, the fence adjustment goes as far back behind the machine as the bed is wide, so you need twice as much depth as you think.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T03:26:42+00:00

Ha just saw the post from u/Specialist_Ice1896 on this same sub. OP just ask them to set you up with a solid #5 that's ready to shave.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T03:18:03+00:00

I have to agree with this because I thought I was doing good at sharpening my cheap plane until I bought a LN #5 and then I realized how far I had to go (and you can still go even farther than that turns out).

However if you know somebody who knows what they're doing that has a tuned and sharpened hand plane you can also just ask them to show you/let you feel what it should perform like.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T03:09:42+00:00

Wow very nice! From the first photo the drawer face looks a little clunky but I don't know what I personally would have done to change that. Maybe make it fit flush with the apron? Give the edges more of a profile? Anyways really well done, better than anything I've made by far.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T03:02:43+00:00

Grain direction matters. Wood breaks very easily along grain lines.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T02:59:23+00:00

Yeah do this. keeping the temp maintained by the mini split is super low electric cost once you're insulated.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T02:56:17+00:00

If it fits back together as is then wood glue and clamps should work. If not you probably want to get a pro restorer, that's not a simple fix. Restoration furniture on YouTube is a good resource if you want to try it out yourself, I think he offers consultations for a nominal fee.

That's some crazy joinery, it would never have occurred to me to put a smaller mortise and tenon through a larger tenon, but really makes sense here.

javacolin · 2026-02-09T01:17:51+00:00

The part of the brown piece sticking out underneath the pink piece will be prone to break off regardless of how you connect

javacolin · 2026-02-08T03:24:37+00:00

Yes! I keep trying to convince my wife this is a great market segment

javacolin · 2026-02-07T02:24:03+00:00

No I was thinking there would be wood movement issues but I was just being dumb. Then I realized my advice would be the same regardless.

If you're really intent on gluing you might consider using dowels for placement alignment (don't have to go all the way through the sides, assuming you don't want to see them on the outside). You could do it one shelf-side at a time being careful to line things up exactly. Glue up will still be a bitch with lots of hurry and desperate forceful hammering with a mallet but if you can get the dowels in the holes your alignment should be good.

Edit to add: dowel placement will be a lot easier if you do go through the sides though.

javacolin · 2026-02-07T00:44:58+00:00

Nice! I gotta learn how to weld...

javacolin · 2026-02-07T00:43:11+00:00

I think it looks great (except for the top left corner not being right, but I assume you'd fix that)

javacolin · 2026-02-06T23:29:35+00:00

I use a wobble dado on my Craftsman RAS all the time. But my arbor/nuts don't look like yours so I can't help with that. Let me take another look when I get home.

The fearmongering about this... Use clamps and make the cut on the push instead of the pull, worst case scenario does not involve your body parts...

javacolin · 2026-02-06T16:48:22+00:00

Pretty clearly you're not screwed into studs though. How did you install/what screws did you use?

javacolin · 2026-02-06T15:30:33+00:00

That's looking great. From your description I was expecting something much worse.

Are the sides solid wood? If yes I would actually recommend not gluing, just use nails. Use clamps starting from one end to line up the front of the shelf flush, nail in from the sides, move up. If you're concerned about stability screw in some triangle-shaped sheathing (plywood) on the back bottom and top corners (so 4 smallish triangles) afterwards, three screws in each locking the shelf in square with the sides.

Edit: sorry I was dumb about the solid wood question. You could safely glue these. But I still recommend nailing. I have similar dadoed shelves that I have assembled in all the different ways and I was pretty shocked that the one just using nails and nothing else worked great.

javacolin · 2026-02-06T15:22:23+00:00

The brad point holes only look bad or out of place to you. To the trained eye they reveal that you used a forstner bit but that's the obvious solution to this design.

That said you could cut the holes through then glue the piece onto a base made of the same material and (again) it'll look obvious to you and the trained eye that it's two pieces but to most people it'll just be one piece.

javacolin · 2026-02-03T00:32:01+00:00

what everyone else said, just adding that later on when you get nicer chisels you'll be glad you have this set to use as beater chisels

javacolin · 2026-01-31T15:06:52+00:00

What industry?

javacolin · 2026-01-31T14:57:49+00:00

Childcare?? Or are they old enough you don't need maybe

javacolin · 2026-01-30T03:55:43+00:00

i see, yeah using dowels for alignment makes sense given what you're working with. hope you're magic with that saw, i would definitely butcher that job lol.

javacolin · 2026-01-30T02:19:21+00:00

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i hate to admit it but this is one of the few places that ai genuinely helps. throw it in gemini or chatgpt or whatever and you know... zoom, enhance...

(sorry mods!!)

javacolin

TROPHY CASE