NOOKS FOR BOOKS
There is always a demand in the house for convenient places in which
books, pamphlets, magazines, and papers may be kept, thus avoiding the
necessity of scattering them over tables and shelves that are properly
reserved for other things. Regular bookcases are suitable for a library,
arranged especially for the purpose of harboring books, but for the
sitting-room, bedroom, or hall the odd rack, shelf, hanging cabinet, or
convenient nook is an acceptable addition to the ordinary furniture.
Among the following illustrations may be found a variety of ideas in book
receptacles. Any of them can be made at home by the boy craftsman, of
inexpensive materials that may be at hand, or cheaply purchased from a
carpenter.
All of these designs are entirely practical, and may be constructed with
the aid of ordinary tools, the joints, laps, and matched edges being of
the simplest forms. The staining, decorating, and finishing of these
pieces of odd furniture are easily within the average boy’s ability, and
if the instructions are carefully followed the results should be most
satisfactory.
A Wall-rack
Of these designs the wall-rack (Fig. 1) is perhaps the easiest to
construct, since it is formed of but three shelves and some narrow rails.
A convenient size will be from twenty-seven to thirty-six inches long,
twenty inches high (from top to bottom shelf), and eight inches deep.
The extreme height from top to bottom, along the middle wall strip, is
about thirty-eight inches. The wood should be three-quarters of an inch
in thickness, planed on both sides, and free from knots or sappy places.
The strips, excepting the centre-piece at the back, measure two and a
half inches in width, and where one crosses another a lap is cut in each,
as shown in Fig. 2. This may be done with a fine saw and chisel, and the
joint held firmly with glue. Where the shelves join the uprights at the
ends a groove is cut in the end-rails to receive the ends of the shelves,
as shown in Fig. 3. The curved sections of the rails, the back-board,
and the tops of the upright strips at the back should be cut with a
compass-saw and afterwards sand-papered or dressed down with a wood-file.
All the edges of the wood-work should be rounded by means of a small
plane or sand-paper, since sharp corners are not desirable on useful
furniture.
Long screws should be driven through the end-strips and into the ends
of the shelves to hold them firmly in place. To cover the screw-heads
and lend them the appearance of being large, wrought-headed nails,
false heads should be made from scraps of thick sheet-lead and attached
to the wood with slim, steel-wire nails. To make these heads, disks
three-quarters of an inch in diameter are cut from sheet-lead with a
cold-chisel and mallet, the work being imposed on the upturned face
of an old flat-iron. With a light hammer the edges are beaten to give
them the appearance of anvil-made nails, such as were used years ago in
decorations, and on antique chests, doors, leather-covered furniture, and
walls laid in tooled leather. These nails were hand-made, and crude but
artistic in appearance; they are always effective when used in connection
with leather and wood-work.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIG. 2. FIG. 3. FIG. 4.]
The ornament under the lower shelf of the rack is drawn on the bare
wood, and tinted in colors to match the natural flowers and leaves.
Use oil-paints thinned slightly with turpentine, so as to give the
appearance of a stain or dye rather than of an opaque color. All the
wood-work is then stained some desired shade, and the outline of the
ornament is either burned pyrographically or lined with dark-brown paint
in imitation of a burned line. A bluish-gray is a pretty color for this
wall-rack, and it can be made by thinning Payne’s gray and adding a small
proportion of any good blue, such as cobalt, ultramarine, or cerulean.
The stain should be applied thin, with a flat brush, and then partially
wiped off with a soft rag. When dry, a coat or two of shellac will give a
lustre to the stain, hold the color, and render an egg-shell gloss to the
wood-work. (See Chapter XII. for instruction in Pyrography.)
A Book-nest
A book-nest of quaint shape is shown in Fig. 4. It is formed of a
back-board, two shelves, three brackets, and two slats that connect the
shelves at the ends. This is a small piece of furniture and is intended
to fill a small space; it should be from eighteen to twenty-four inches
long. The shelves should be ten inches apart, and the under side of the
lower one is supported by a long bracket, at the middle of which small
corner shelves are arranged, as shown in the illustration. Holes may be
made in these brackets, through which the stems of pipes can be inserted.
The curved parts of the wall-plate are cut with a compass-saw and
finished off with a wood-file.
It is not necessary that this home-made furniture should be absolutely
smooth or the lines perfectly straight. A slight variation from
the manner in which shop-made furniture is constructed adds to the
effectiveness of these book-racks and holders, and gives them the
rough-and-ready artistic appearance that is characteristic of the
“mission” and other popular styles of modern craftsmanship.
Another Book-rack
A simple arrangement of shelves in the form of a book-rack is shown in
Fig. 5. Where there is room to accommodate a small standing receptacle of
this nature, this design will be found both useful and ornamental.
The top shelf is about forty-two inches high from the floor, and in
width the rack may be made to fill the available space, say from two to
four feet. The corner-posts are of wood two inches square, and where the
shelves are attached portions of the wood are cut away, as shown in Fig.
6. The shelf corners are cut out in such a manner that half an inch of
the shelf edge enters the post, where it is held in place by means of
glue and screws.
The screw-heads are covered with false nail-heads of lead. These, when
finished, should be painted a dead black in imitation of wrought iron. An
old green or a weathered oak color would be appropriate for this rack.
A Corner-nook
For the corner of a room where space is valuable an idea is suggested for
a corner-nook (see Fig. 7). This is nothing more than a well-made box
arranged with wall-plates that extend down below the bottom of the box,
and to which the ornamental wood-work over the box is attached.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. FIG. 6. FIG. 7.]
The wings, or angle-shelves, and the brackets at the sides should be
made to conform with the general proportions of the design. The working
construction is so clearly shown that it is not necessary to minutely
describe the smaller details. The shelves should be nine inches apart,
and the width of the box must be governed by the space that can be
allotted to it. The ornament at the bottom of the wall-plate is painted
on, and then outlined with a dark-brown paint or burned. The wood-work is
tinted an olive-green, or other desirable color, then shellacked.
A Book-tower
An odd but useful piece of furniture is shown in the illustration of a
book-tower (Fig. 8). It is suitable for the corner of a room where the
available space is limited.
This tower should be twelve or fourteen inches square and about seven
feet high. The corner-posts are two inches square and the shelves
three-quarters or seven-eighths of an inch in thickness. The shelves are
let into the posts (as shown in Fig. 6) and securely fastened with long
screws. The side slats are of thin wood. They are let into the edges
of the shelves, where they may be fastened with glue and long, slim,
steel-wire nails. Each joint or attachment should be finished with a lead
nail-head, which should be painted black.
A very good dead-black paint for metals is made by thinning shellac to
the consistency of milk, then adding some dry lamp-black until it is
about the thickness of cream. This is applied in thin coats with a soft,
flat brush. If one coat does not thoroughly cover the metal, another may
be applied after the first one is absolutely dry.
Around the top of this book-tower a rail is arranged three or four inches
above the top shelf, to serve as a guard for articles of bric-à-brac
placed thereon. With the arrangement of slats shown in the drawing, the
books are distributed in such a manner that the titles may be read from
both directions instead of from one side only.
Hanging-shelves
A unique design for hanging-shelves is shown in Fig. 9.
For general use the rack should be thirty inches long, the ends thirty
inches high, and the shelves seven inches wide. The space between the
shelves should be ten or eleven inches, while the total height of the
middle back strip is thirty-six inches. The other parts should be made
in proportion to the drawing, and where the shelves join the sides
mortises should be cut, through which to pass tongued ends, the latter
being fashioned on the shelf ends, as shown in Fig. 10. With a brace and
bit holes are made to receive wooden pins, or keys, that will lock the
wood-work together.
[Illustration: FIG. 8. FIG. 9. FIG. 10.]
Olive-green will be an appropriate color for the wood-work. When attached
to the wall, care should be taken to anchor it firmly and with heavy
screws to the studs behind the plaster.
A Book-castle
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
In the design for a book-castle (Fig. 11) the shelves and rails are
arranged in such a manner that books may be slipped in from the front
and also from both sides. The lower shelf is devoted to large volumes,
portfolios, or serial publications in large sheets. The top shelf and the
one under it are for volumes of medium size, while the small deck above
the shelves makes a convenient receptacle for magazines.
The wood-work should be stained and varnished, or painted to match the
trim of the room.
A Book-chair
A novel idea is shown in the illustration of a book-chair (Fig. 12). A
Morris chair may be made over on this plan, if the side spindles are
removed and the receptacle is constructed beneath the seat. A very low
Morris chair cannot be used, however, since the available space between
the seat-rail and the floor is too cramped. Both sides of the chair are
arranged to receive books, and at the front a wooden panel is fitted
below the seat-rail, as shown in Fig. 13.
Cushions of burlap, tapestry cloth, or canterbury cloth may be made to
fit the seat and back; they are held on with straps. The cushions may
be filled with feathers, curled hair, cocoa fibre, moss or even cotton
batting. Javanese kapok is perhaps the best of the lower grade material.
It costs twenty-five cents a pound, and takes about two and a half pounds
for a chair.
The ornament at the front of the chair is painted on and outlined with
the pyrographic point; or a dark-brown line may be painted on with a fine
brush.
A Book-table
For a library or sitting-room, the book-table shown in Fig. 14 will be
found a convenient and useful piece of furniture.
A good size for this table is: length, forty-two inches; width,
twenty-four inches; and height, thirty inches. The drop-shelves at the
ends should be nine inches below the top of the table, while the drawer
need not be more than four inches deep. The legs are two and a half
inches or three inches square. The slats at the sides of the bookshelves
are let into the table-top and the shelf (see Fig. 15) and apparently
anchored by means of large nail-heads. The top is attached to the frame
by means of cleats screwed fast to the top inner edges of the rails.
Through these cleats screws are passed up and into the under side of the
table-top, as shown in Fig. 16.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. FIG. 13. FIG. 14. FIG. 15. FIG. 16.]
White-wood is a good material of which to make the table, since it takes
a stain nicely. Finish with a coat or two of shellac.
A Magazine-rack
A convenient rack for magazines and periodicals is shown in Fig. 17.
The rack has three shelves and an enclosure at the top to hold extra
large pamphlets. The two uprights and the cross-strip at the top are
three-quarters of an inch thick and two and a half inches wide. The
uprights are twenty-four inches long, and the cross-piece measures
eighteen inches from tip to tip. Four inches from the top the uprights
are cut, as shown in Fig. 18 A, so that a lap-joint can be formed. The
uprights are spaced ten inches apart from the inside edges, making the
total width fifteen inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 17. FIG. 18. FIG. 19.]
From half-inch wood cut three shelves fifteen inches long and six inches
wide; also two corner-posts from wood an inch square. Cut the end of
each shelf as shown in Fig. 18 B, so that one notch will fit against the
upright and the other against the corner-post. From the half-inch wood
cut two brackets three inches long and two and a half inches wide at the
top, as shown at Fig. 18 C. These hold up the bottom shelf, and the other
shelves are supported in turn by the corner-posts and the back, to which
the shelves are securely attached with screws and glue. The corner-posts
are fifteen inches high, and near the top laps are cut half an inch deep
and one inch wide into which a cross-rail will fit. Three thin slats one
inch in width and six inches long are made fast across the front, and
above the top shelf, to form the pamphlet or periodical rack. The nail
and screw heads may be covered with brass upholsterers’ tacks painted
black to suggest the idea of a large nail, or imitation wrought-iron
nail-heads may be made by cutting disks out of sheet-lead and slightly
beating the edges so as to imitate the hammer-marks of wrought-iron work.
These disks are secured to the wood with slim steel nails, the heads of
which, when driven in with a light hammer, become imbedded in the soft
lead. A subsequent coating of black paint will conceal the nail-heads
completely.
A Box Book-case
Fig. 19 is an idea for a receptacle for a few books, bric-à-brac, and
some magazines to hang against the wall. Boxes of various sizes may
be used for this purpose, according to the available wall space, but
for general use two shoe-cases should be cut down so as to make them
thirty inches high and seven inches deep. In each one two shelves can be
arranged.
The boxes are held together at top and bottom with boards seven inches
wide and thirty-six inches long. Between the boxes a shelf may be
fastened about midway between the top and bottom boards. A wooden back
is not necessary to this case, as the wall itself will answer the
purpose; but around the top edge a strip of cornice-moulding is to be
mitred at the corners and attached with long, slim nails or screws.
Under the lower corners wooden brackets may be fastened to the wall, or
when the shoe-cases are being cut down one side may be trimmed, with the
compass-saw, in the form of a bracket end. A rod fastened at the top and
under the moulding will support light curtains, but this last feature may
be omitted at pleasure.
A Nursery Book-rack
A nursery is not quite complete without some receptacle for the
accommodation of the children’s scrap and picture books. A simple and
useful design is shown in Fig. 20.
A well-made box of thin boards, planed on both sides, forms the basis for
this bookcase. It should be of medium size and not more than seven inches
deep. Remove one side or the top, so as to leave it open at the front,
and arrange a shelf in the open space. The box should be at least sixteen
inches high to accommodate two rows of books, and it would be better to
have it eighteen inches. Two brackets eight inches high and six inches
wide at the top are placed under each end of the box. Across the top, at
the back, a wall-plate is cut and attached with two slim screws that pass
down through the narrow part near the ends and into the back of the box
at the top. Around the top of the box a narrow strip of moulding should
be mitred and fastened with steel-wire nails. The wood-work may then be
given a coat of stain and shellac. Across the front of the box and at the
top a brass or iron rod may be attached at the ends, from which curtains
are suspended by means of rings.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. FIG. 21.]
When fastening this case to the wall, it would be well to drive two or
three screws through the back of the box and into the wall-studding,
otherwise the weight of books might tear it away from its bracket
anchorage.
Another Book-rack
In Fig. 21 an odd shape for a book-rack is shown.
This is also made from a box by removing one side and resetting it
closer to the other side. A portion of the lower end is sawed off, and
a part of the bottom is cut away so as to form a small, quarter-circular
bracket. The extending upper end of the box is supported with a short
bracket, as the illustration clearly shows, and under the box two large
brackets ten inches deep and the width of the back and side support the
rack in position. Two wall-plates four inches high at the angle are
attached at the top of the box with screws. A curtain-rod is attached
at the top of the case from which a curtain may be hung, and the ledge
formed by the top of the case and the quarter-circular bracket will
accommodate a few pieces of bric-à-brac or a photograph frame or two. If
the box is high enough, two shelves may be arranged so that three lines
of books can be accommodated; otherwise one shelf will have to suffice.
A Handy Piece of Furniture
A place to put books and a place to keep bats, golf-clubs,
lacrosse-sticks, and other things that are always around, is a convenient
possession.
Here is a solution of the problem: The case shown in Fig. 22 should be
about five feet six inches high and three feet wide. The shelf across
the top would hold a number of books, and underneath are two beautiful
tuck-away places. If, my friend, you are a college boy, the curtain could
be of your college colors; the rest of the case stained a becoming color.
The door is fastened by a big wooden latch, and a pair of iron hinges
would add very much to the style of the bookcase.
If, however, you are of a studious frame of mind, and have been
fortunate enough to collect a number of books, the second case would
probably be more to your liking.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. FIG. 23.]
We will suppose that you have already a desk. Make two upright rows of
bookshelves far enough apart to allow the desk to be placed between them.
Shut off the lower part of the shelves, on each side, with a door, which
may be decorated with iron hinges or blackened metal. These false hinges
are of course placed against the real ones on which the door swings, and
are purely ornamental. These little closets make fine places in which
to store unsightly books and magazines which look untidy but which one
always wants to keep. There is a shelf over the top of the desk on which
could be placed a row of plates, a tankard, or photographs; and a poster
or nice little etching would give interest to the big panel. This panel,
by-the-way, need not be made of wood, but could be closed in by a piece
of colored burlap or buckram. The case would then have to be braced by
three slats of wood nailed across the back behind the buckram. When
completed it will appear as shown in Fig. 23.
A Book-ledge and Stool
Two interesting and useful pieces of furniture are shown in the drawing
of a book-ledge and stool (Fig. 24), and as the main shelf is but
fourteen inches wide it will not occupy a great deal of space in a room.
The main shelf is forty-two inches long, fourteen wide, and one inch
and a quarter thick. The side pieces, or legs, supporting it are twelve
inches wide and thirty-three inches high, with V-shaped pieces cut from
the foot of each one. These pieces are thirty-six inches apart, and
arranged between them, and twenty inches above the floor an under ledge
eight inches wide is fastened with long screws and brackets. Nine inches
above the main ledge a top shelf is supported on side legs, which, in
turn, are propped at the outside with wood braces, or blocks, six inches
high and four inches wide at the bottom. The side supports are placed the
same distance apart as the underside pieces, and are held in position on
the top of the main ledge with short dowels, or pegs, driven in their
under end, and which fit into holes bored in a corresponding position in
the ledge. This upper section may be omitted, however, if the plain ledge
is preferred.
The stool is twelve inches square and twenty-two inches high. The top
is covered with a stout square of leather caught all around the edges
with nails and imitation nail-heads. The lower rails that bind the posts
together are one and three-quarter inches wide and seven-eighths of an
inch thick. The posts are one and three-quarter inches square, and the
rails are let into them three inches up from the floor. The top rails are
the same width, and all let into the top of the posts with the lap-joint
union, where they are glued and screwed fast. Small brackets under these
rails will add an element of support, and they can be dressed out of
seven-eighths-inch wood with a compass-saw, and made fast with glue and
screws. These brackets are comparatively small, being two and a half
inches wide and four inches deep, but they must be cut accurately to fit
well.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]