Books and Shelving

[dbrk]

I have a lot of books, many of them beautiful, old things, some from India and Tibet that involve my work. Like the bicycles, they all work though some get used less than others. Since I doubt I will ever be able to retire, that means that I'll two offices and room for piles. The shelves are officially full. I'm always looking for more books and since they are dying as fast as newsprint and card catalogues, it means I will likely leave my daughters one colossal clusterfk when I check out. They are prepared. I love too desks, shelving, stuff to keep stuff. The fine line between archiving and hoarding has always been my fine line. These folks have some good ideas.

Vintage Industrial Furniture

specifically, Vintage Industrial Locker | Vintage Industrial Furniture

[thomas]

Some of those tables look massive. They must weigh a ton.

I still like Stickley for most applications (if I could afford it).

[Matthew Strongin]

Thanks for sharing! We're looking for furniture and I see a bunch of items on that site that would be a great fit. While probably not as extensive as your collection, I have a large number of books as well. We moved last year and about 2/3s of my books have stayed in boxes until we figure out our furniture situation. I'm looking forward to getting them all back out.

[bking]

great looking stuff. Some time ago I bought pieces, shelving for a bike room with furniture/wood from India. it's copied quite a bit lately. it too has a bit of a commercial/industrial look with reclaimed wood much of it multi colored faded paint. Lot's of steel bits as well. i'll try and take a photo or find some on the internet.

[davids]

If I tried to wedge any of those things into my Victorian-era condo, they'd overwhelm the place.

But in the right home a couple of those would rock hard.

[j44ke]

A lot of even very expensive furniture available these days is poorly constructed. We decided to look into having someone build furniture for us, partly because the quality of construction is much higher and partly because our needs dovetailed nicely with a bit of a dry patch for one of my best friends from way back during the economic downturn. He hs since built my wife's office furniture for both her workplace and her home office, bureaus for our bedroom, and a dining room table for our house. He has a signature look to his pieces, but he can shift the style based on discussions with you. His work is handmade which means the furniture displays the same "fatti con le mani" or "imperfection is perfection" appearance that make hand built bicycles so attractive. Here is his website, but he also has a Facebook page (should be findable, I just don't do Facebook) that is more current with photos. chris chase studio | home

[dgaddis]

A lot of even very expensive furniture available these days is poorly constructed.

Yeah it is. Ever look at aquarium stands? When we set up our 75 gallon tank we looked and looked for a decent stand. Most are particle board, and I just don't like the idea of a particle board supporting 900lbs of water, gravel, and glass. The only off-the-shelf real wood stands were ugly, and the tank is in our living room so it's gotta look nice. The only option was custom, or DIY. For the price of a custom stand I was able to finally justify buying some saws and built the stand myself. It's nowhere near as nice as some of the custom stands we saw, but it's a lot better than any ready-made stands, and it's nice enough that no one realizes I made it myself haha.

EDIT - oh, and your friend does some awesome work!!

[j44ke]

Thanks! I'll tell him you said so!

There is a lot you can do with a few power tools and patience. As long as you can cut and join straight lines & right angles cleanly and with strength, projects like bookshelves are completely doable yourself. Use nice ply for the carcass and cover edges with hardwood strips, join with some of the high quality cabinet hardware, get a ton of clamps of varying lengths and types, hide some nice leveling feet in the base and mount to the wall and voila! The nice thing about bookshelves full of books is that the only thing most people see is the front edges of the shelves and carcass. As long as you keep your build square, the fine work can be devoted to the edges only.

I used to do more of this when I had a garage. And I spent a lot of time looking at the Rockler website. Woodworking Tools Supplies Hardware Plans Finishing - Rockler.com

[woodworker]

That Vintage stuff looks cool. If you are inclined to build bookshelves, it's pretty easy, as everything is right angles, and most of the cuts are repeats. Worst part about most modern shelving is the use of pressboard, etc., and the resulting sag on the shelves, as books are heavy. Even plywood suffers, as it is strong in one plane but not another. The best remedy is to cut the shelves shallow, then glue / fasten strips of wood with the grain running the other way to prevent bowing of the shelf boards. Mine are still straight after years of use.

[davids]

A few years ago I had cabinets built for audio-video equipment and media. I used a local company whose specialty is cheap student-type bookcases.

I think they were thrilled to work with someone who wanted nice wood, good joinery and finishing. I came up with the basic design to fit the space and our needs, they refined the design and built some lovely custom cabinetry. It's not at all fancy, but the quality is off the charts and perfect to the need.

[j44ke]

One of the coolest bookcases I've seen was done to pack as many books in as little space as possible. The book case was 4 wall mounted units with 3 same-size units in front of the 4. The 3 front units were on wheels - one set running on a runner on the top of the 4 bookcases mounted to the wall and another set running along a track along the floor just in front of the base of the 4 bookcases. The 3 front bookcases looked almost like they were floating in front the 4 rear bookcases. Whoever did it, the system was so well balanced you could move a fully stuffed bookcase with a finger. Impressive.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I build furniture like this for a living. We build modern industrial, modern and custom tables, chairs, beds, bookshelves, architectural pieces and structural.

If anyone has a need for a custom piece, feel free to let me know. Or if you have questions or just need some advice. Will be happy to help. If you want to come to Tennessee and build it yourself in my shop, let me know.

[rowdyhillrambler]

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We had an Art Prowl this weekend, just a few picks of the more "arty," stuff.

[Gattonero]

A few years ago I had cabinets built for audio-video equipment and media. I used a local company whose specialty is cheap student-type bookcases.

I think they were thrilled to work with someone who wanted nice wood, good joinery and finishing. I came up with the basic design to fit the space and our needs, they refined the design and built some lovely custom cabinetry. It's not at all fancy, but the quality is off the charts and perfect to the need.

Lotsa vinyl, and good turntable &speakers. Good man

[davids]

Lotsa vinyl, and good turntable &speakers. Good man

Plenty of CDs over on the left, too, in all those black binders.