The original idea was to only store books and bottles. The angular mounting worked for this
The semi-circular arrangement was abandoned after mounting a few units on the wall and seeing how they actually looked
The idea of only storing books and bottles was also abandoned. With the rectangular arrangement, they can store art objects as well as books and bottles
The original Solidworks CAD model
Cutting the Walnut veneers for the bent rims
Digital readout makes precise cuts
Rough size 0.10". Freud "Glue Line" rip blade makes very smooth cuts
Drum sand with 36 grit
After sanding, 0.097" thick
Jatoba must be cut thinner to bend without cracking
Jig used to align veneers for cutting
6 Walnut pieces and 2 Jatoba
Soaking in hot water makes bending easier
Joints must not line up, 2" overlap is required
This jig makes alignment easy
Start clamping and bending process
Note the metal strip at the outside of the bend
Continue moving the clamps as necessary using temporary pieces first
Then, as the job progresses, use the matched pieces of the bending fixture
Continue around the corners
Building up the bending fixture
..one piece at a time
The ends must be interleaved
The assembled clamping fixture showing interleave at back
After one day in fixture, remove to dry for a week
Tape minimizes springback
Return the dry pieces to the fixture for trimming
Paper strips provide glue allowance
Clamp the strips securely
Use a thin kerf saw to precisely trim ends
Interleaved strips now precisely trimmed, except for the outer pieces
They will be trimmed during gluing
Slow cure glue used, it takes a while to glue all the parts
Ready for glue
All fixture parts and clamps ready
Apply glue using silicone brush tip on glue bottle
Removable spacers elevate fixture
Strips are glued and placed
The last cut
A fully glued-up rim
After glue has cured, drum sand with 36 grit
And sand inside with oscillating spindle sander
And random orbit sander
Final rim thickness 0.70"
This was difficult to achieve because of tolerance stackup from
sanding variation, swelling while wet, shrinking when dry, and glue line allowance
Mark the solid piece of Walnut
On both sides before slicing side veneers
"Wood Slicer" resaw blade
7 x 12" blanks
Keep them in order throughout the process
Rough cut 0.140" thick
Drum sand with 36 grit
Final veneer 0.125" thick
Keep them in order throughout the process
Drum sand pine to 0.65" with 36 grit
This removes any cupping that the 1x12 boards may have
Veneer laid up in bookmatch order
Veneer laid up in bookmatch order
Straighten edges
Handy glue roller
Tape the joints
And clamp
Repeat for the long pieces
Tape
..and clamp
Cut to size
Sand the veneered board to rough size
Still oversize at this point
Rough cut Jatoba blanks for corners
Blanks glued
Rough cut on table saw
Mounted on lathe
Turned and sanded to size
Cutting fixture
Digital readout makes precision easy
Blade is not big enough to cut in one pass
So, turn fixture over
After cutting
Mount in second fixture
Cut to quarter-round
After cutting
Digital tools are great
Same fixture used to cut inside corners
Rim awaiting assembly
Fixtures used to aligh corner pieces
Corner pieces placed
Sides precisely cut to match the opening
After cutting to final size, the sides are sanded 0.015" oversize to allow for final sanding after assembly
All pieces cut to final size and marked for correct sequence
Biscuit slots are cut on all glue joints
Special glue bottle makes gluing biscuits easy
Step by step assembly
Then, clamped with band clamp
Rim is fitted to help hold the assembly square, but not glued at this time
Corners and sides are oversize
They will be sanded into final size after all assembly is finished
Routing rabbet into back with template
Routing back panel with template
Back panel is 1/4" Baltic Birch for strength
Ready for interior sanding
Fill any cracks or knots, then finish sand all inside surfaces
Glue and staple back panel in place
Then paint inside
Apply oil and varnish to inside of rim but not to glue surface
This prevents glue from sticking to inside edge
Apply glue to biscuits
And clamp rim in place
Ready for sanding
Sand with 80 grit belt
Finish sand with random orbit sander to 320 grit
Apply many coats of oil and varnish finish Start with Watco, finish with General Arm-R-Seal
All units ready for mounting
The finished units, mounted to the wall
And filled with stuff
Note the custom wine bottle racks
Also note custom vent louver, made from a matching rim
Close up of tight radius corner