Mud room shelf

Rennie Heuer

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11,607
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Constantine, MI
Just finishing up this shelf/cubby for a customer her in MI. Flat sawn white oak, 5’ long. Simple dado construction. (No pocket holes. ;o) )

Since it is 18” tall attaching a one piece back would be out of the question because of wood movement. So, I broke it up into three pieces. The first is the crest rail at the top at about 3 1/2” wide. At the bottom is a 5” rail that will hold coat hooks. In between is the back of the cubbies. The crest and hook rails are glued and nailed to the top and bottom shelf’s respectively. The cubby back floats, or at least half of it will. It slips in behind a rabbet on the hook rail and will be screwed at the top to the individual cubby dividers. There is a 3/16” gap at the bottom, inside the rabbet, that will allow for expansion movement.

Lastly, the crest rail incorporates a full length French cleat for hanging.

Just hand sanding and finish left to apply. Likely to get a seal coat of dewaxed shellac followed by several coats of a poly varnish.
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More great work from the Winding River Workshop.:thumb::thumb: Good idea on the french cleat too. This is a pretty heavy piece. Are you doing the install?
No. The customer lives a few hours away. They will be picking it up at my shop and doing the install themselves. I'll give them a quick primer on the cleat while they are here.
 
Just took another look at this and didn't realize the scale of it when looking on my phone. This is a pretty good sized piece. You did a fantastic job lining up the grain on the shelves and partitions, good choice of wood. :thumb:
 
Just took another look at this and didn't realize the scale of it when looking on my phone. This is a pretty good sized piece. You did a fantastic job lining up the grain on the shelves and partitions, good choice of wood. :thumb:
Yep, it's a big one at 5' long, 10" deep and 18" tall. Weighs a bunch too.

This was a bear to build in as much as the lumber gave me fits. According to my supplier, flat sawn white oak that is clear, defect free and good looking is getting hard to come by because of regulations in the liquor industry that prohibit the reusing of casks. There is such a high demand for clear white oak that what is left for those of us just wanting to build a fancy box is lower grade. I did not get the yield I expected having to work around numerous knots, checks, splits and wild variations in color and grain. Overall it came out fine but it was a more difficult road than expected.
 
All done and waiting for the customer to pick it up. It will have 6 brass coat hooks. These are being supplied by the customer and I will install them prior to pick up.
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She's a beauty. :thumb: Probably a conscious decision on your part due to the economies of the project, but as I look at the finished product it strikes me that a little extra work stopping the dadoes shy of the front would have given the piece a much cleaner look. Just a thought for discussion with clients during the conceptual phase.
 
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