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Thread: Bookcase carcass joints

  1. #1

    Bookcase carcass joints

    I'm designing a set of bookcases to be built out of pine using primarily hand tool techniques. I'm planning on dadoing the shelves into the verticals, but dadoes obviously provide little resistance against tension. Does anyone have suggestions for how to join the corners of the carcass to resist horizontal strains and pullout from the books on the shelves? Sliding dovetails appeal, but I'm not entirely confident in my ability to execute them well. Dovetails at the top corners are the obvious option there, but that leaves the bottom corners in need of a solution.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    San Francisco, CA
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    10,304
    Join the shelves to the sides with through tenons, wedged. If the bottom shelf is not at the bottom of the sides, use the wedged through tenon there too. If the bottom shelf is right at the bottom of the side, use the same dovetails you're using on the top.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Michigan, USA
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    548
    Some possibilities:

    1) Add a back to each unit - preferably plywood, set into rabbets in the verticals and top and bottom shelf, glued and nailed/screwed around the perimeter. If you're ambitious, you could also cut dadoes in the back and set the shelves into them.

    2) Add a face frame to the front of each unit, with M&T, half-lap or bridle joints at the corners. You'll lose a little bit of useful shelf width, but add rack resistance.

    3) Many bookcases have a base that sets the bottom shelf up from floor level as well as an "apron" across the top. These could be joined to the verticals with M&T or dovetails to provide some racking resistance and help keep the verticals from separating.

    4) Add a small stretcher beneath the back of each shelf, joined to the verticals with M&T or dovetail. Helps with horizontal separation and also provides additional support for the shelves.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
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    South West Ontario
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    If you look at my ‘Bookcase build, Black Oak’ in the Neanderthals, currently page 17 it should give you some answers.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Tension on the shelves only occurs with really long shelves or extreme loading. You can check your proposed loading of the shelf boards at the sagulator

    I built a book case in 9th grade (I am now 72) that has 24 inch long shelves made of 3/4" pine shelves that are set into 3/8" deep dados. The top and bottom are attached with rabbet joints assembled with glue. The back is a 1/4" piece of masonite inset into rabbets into the sides, top and bottom boards. It is still loaded to capacity with books and none of the shelves have ever pulled loose nor has the bookcase racked despite being moved multiple times fully loaded so the wall behind it could be painted.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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