Saturday, November 14, 2009

Shutter and Hollow Core Door Shelves


I usually plan a project in my head (mostly when it is on the pillow).  I have been planning this project for years.  Our oldest daughter asked me to build her something out of a pair of shutters that came off of the first house she purchased.  That was around 2003.
I had a hollow core door that I removed from a house and saved.  First I ripped the door to 15" on the table saw.  Here it is after it has been ripped.  After ripping you have to add reinforcement boards inside the door.  The middle of the door is corrugated cardboard sandwiched between two pieces of luan.  I ripped pine support pieces to thickness (~1-1/16") and glued/nailed them around the edges of the shelf panel.  I do this again after I cut the shelf to length.


I used scraps of wood to layout the angle of the shelf.  You can see these temporary brace pieces in this image.  I'll remove these after the shelf is complete.

Also I used shelf supports glued and nailed to the rails on the shutter.  I also screwed thru the side of the shutter into each shelf and plugged the screw holes.

After each shelf is attached, I ripped 1.75" strips to serve as trim around the shelf.  The shelf will not be backed so I added trim on the back of each shelf to prevent things from falling off the back.  This trim also prevents the shelf from racking.

Next the shelf will be sanded and primed.

All the material for this project was found in the scrap wood pile in my garage.  I probably used a couple of dozen screws.  Overall shelves are 15"D X 30"W (at base) X 70"H.