Arts & Crafts Bookcase

We begin the season with this little oak bookcase, originally made by the Roycroft colony of New York to display the hand-bound books for which they became so famous.

Saw out the four identical posts and clamp them together.

Find the locations for the through-mortices on the posts and carry the lines around the sides of all four pieces.

Saw and chisel the outer shoulders of the tenons on the ends and then unclamp the legs to continue them individually.

Finish the tenons with saw, chisel and plane.

Bring the lines for the through-mortices across the faces of each leg and complete them by boring with an auger and chiseling the corners square to 1 1/4 by 3/4 inches.

Lay out the mortices in foot and top rails, boring and chiseling them to fit.

Saw the foot bracket to an ogee curve with a bow saw.

Assemble the legs into the foot and top rails with glue and pegs.

Saw out the shelves to leave two tenons on each end to fit through the mortices in the legs.

Make the keys to hold the tenons by first sawing, chiseling, and planing across the grain of a board, and then sawing out the individual keys 1/2 inch-wide.

Assemble the shelves and legs so that the tenons protrude fully.

Hold the keys against the side of the tenons and mark across to locate the mortices for them.

Disassemble the shelves from the sides and bore and chisel the mortices through the tenons.

Finally, fasten the top to the brackets with screws placed diagonally upward from underneath.

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