Woodworking Projects: Built In Bookcase Part 5
Hey welcome back, it’s finally time to get busy working on the trim for the upper portion of the built in bookcase in our family room.
The trim for this upper portion of the built in bookcase is actually made up of three individual pieces. Starting at the bottom of the trim, I installed a strip of dentil molding, followed by a flat piece of trim. At the junction of the bookcase and the ceiling is a piece of cove molding. I made the dentil molding and the flat trim in my shop, the cove molding was purchased at the local DIY store.
Making the dentil molding wasn’t really difficult. Figuring out the spacing for the teeth of the molding was a different issue. If you recall from the last posting, at the right and left ends of the book case and at the junctions of the three individual bookcases there are vertical trim pieces. And I wanted the spacing of the teeth of the dentil molding to be setup so that a “tooth” would occur directly over these vertical pieces. In a perfect world, the spacing between these vertical pieces would be “exactly” at an equal distance apart. However, the perfect world doesn’t exist in my shop. The spacing is close to being exactly the same, there is about 3/8″ difference overall between the three sections of the bookcases. Not a lot, but enough of a difference that required that the spacing for the teeth had to be calculated for each section.
Since the width of the vertical trim pieces was 2″ wide, that dictated the width of the first and last tooth of each section. The width of the teeth between these points was adjusted wider or narrower as required. The gaps between the teeth were set to 1/2″ wide and 3/8″ deep. Starting out with a piece of 4/4 oak that had been dressed by the jointer and surface planer, I began the layout. I marked the placement of the known teeth, where the vertical pieces meet the dentil molding. Then using a trick I figured out a while ago, I installed strips of painters tape between the known points. As I am trying to figure out the spacing, I mark the trial spacing on the tape. If I got it right, then I can transfer or continue the marks onto my wood. If not, I remove and replace the tape and try again. Using a fresh piece of tape for each attempt is easier then erasing the all of the errant marks on your wood. It’s too easy to miss a prior mark when doing the erasing, and depending on the species of wood you are working with, pencil marks can leave indentations on the wood. Plus residue from the pencil and/or the eraser leaves more marks on the wood that you have to be sure to remove before any finish is installed. The spacing for all three sections was calculated using this method.
To cut the gaps, I used my shaper table equipped
with a 1/2″ straight bit. I borrowed the miter gauge from my table saw to act as a guide for the stock as it passes over the knife. I also installed a sacrificial piece of stock on the face of the miter gauge for added support. For further support of the stock I used every roller stand that I have to support the ends of the stock. I began work near the center of the stock, cutting the dados that would form the gaps between the teeth. To help ensure that the gaps were made square to the face of the stock, I used small bar clamps to help keep the stock tight against the face of the miter gauge. After each dado was cut, the stock was moved to the location of the next uncut dado. The bar clamp was then installed before the dado was cut. Yes, it added a lot of time to release the clamp, reposition the stock, and then reinstall the clamp for each dado that needed to be cut. But it helped keep the stock secured to the fence, which in turn produced straighter dados.
Once all of the dados were cut,
I took an hour or so to hand sand the dados. The router bit left the surface a little rougher then I liked. The faces of the teeth were sanded with random orbital sander, starting at 80 grit working up to 180 Grit. That left only one task left to be performed on the dentil molding. Strictly for decorative purposes I decided to round over the faces of all the teeth that are not directly over the five vertical trim pieces. Those five teeth would remain straight. To help keep me from making a mistake and rounding over those teeth, I covered those five teeth with blue painters tape. I installed a 3/8” round over bit in my router and went to work on the remaining teeth. Because I was a little concerned that the corners of the individual teeth could break off if I took too large of a cut with the router bit, I rounded over the teeth by making several small cuts. After all of this work was done, I ripped the dentil molding to a final width of four inches.
The next step was to build the flat trim that was installed over the dentil molding. This was really simple. I dressed the stock, making it flat, square and true. I cut it to its final length and width. On the lower edge of the flat trim I used a ½” round over bit to treat the edge. Both the dentil molding and the flat trim were sanded, cleaned and finished before being installed.
The upper cabinets were installed with a 6” gap between the tops and the ceiling. This was done to provide space to install mechanical “L” brackets from the tops of the cabinets and the wall. The above molding was installed to cover this gap. To help with the installation of the molding, I ripped a common 2×8 stud to fit the space from the top of the cases and the ceiling. The 2×8 was then cut into several lengths. Each piece of 2×8 was sized to fit from the face of the cabinets to the wall. The wall had a small bow that caused me to size each piece individually. Installation of the 2×8 pieces was accomplished using woodworking glue and small nails shot from the underside of the top shelves.
The dentil molding was then glued and nailed to the three bookcases. I worked to make sure that the bottom edge of the dentil molding and the bottom of the top shelf aligned together. The flat molding was then installed next. It was nailed and glued to the face of the dentil molding. There is a 2” offset from the bottom of the dentil molding to the bottom edge of the flat molding. On top of all of this I installed Oak Cove molding at the junction of the molding and the ceiling.
With all of that work done, its finally time to build the face frames and the doors for the lower portion of the built in book cases. But that will have to wait until the next time we meet.
was faced with three open shelf book cases, pretty damn boring and plain looking. I wanted something to tie them together, something to make them look like one unit instead of three separate units.

he other mark on your shaper top, stop pushing and turn the machine OFF. It’s safer to remove the stock after the bit has stopped turning than to try and remove it while the bit is spinning. Now turn the stock end for end and repeat the process to cut the other flute. Doing so will hopefully produce two flutes that are 1/2″ from either edge, and a 1/2″ apart from each other.
