Arts & Crafts Bookcase

摘要

I like to build in the Arts and Crafts style, and I usually design each piece from the ground up. But once in a great while, I stumble onto a design that cannot be improved. This was the case with Charles P. Limbert's No. 355 Cottage Bookcase. With its glass doors and pierced panels featuring integral corbels, it's a true gem among Arts and Crafts designs. The No. 355 is like three small bookcases in one. There is a main case behind the glass door, flanked by two side-facing banks of open shelves. These side assemblies are the place to start. I use a pair of routing templates to make the pierced panels: one for the shelf dadoes and a second for the edge profile and cutouts. Start with the dadoes for the shelves. I elected to make a full-size template and rout the dadoes using a guide bushing. The finished dadoes are 5/8 in. wide, so I use a 1/2-in.-dia. straight bit to cut them in two passes. I mount a 3/4-in. guide bushing in the router that rides in 7/8-in.-wide slots in the template.