Sometimes I buy wood for no other reason than it’s cheap. What I lack in storage space for this impulse, I make up for in aspirations to build things. When you find a deal on wood, buy it and figure the rest out later. 

 

A year ago, I saw a cart full of White Oak offcuts behind the Habitat for Humanity secondhand store. The offcuts were 2” thick by 12” wide, and they ranged from 10” to 14” in length. I always liked the scrap materials out back more than the furniture and appliances in the building. Instead of price tags, you haggle for the stuff outside. I offered $20 for the full cart. They agreed to the price and I loaded the wood into my truck where it sat for the next 6 months. I scored a great deal. I figured, if these offcuts were laid end-to-end as a single board, that’s easily a $400-$500 board. I just had to design something that looked intentional, not like it was made from materials bought for the price of a hamburger.

 

After a few months, I had an idea. I was upgrading stereo equipment in my living room to build a better sound system. The storage for my old equipment was a hodgepodge of thrifted furniture and milk crates full of records. It worked, but it was ugly. I began designing a counter-height shelf that had a place for everything. Heavy records and books would go on the bottom shelf. Above that would be the sound equipment shelf - receivers, amplifiers, and pre-amplifiers. Then the turntable would live on display on top. I was also thinking about the structure and lifespan of the piece. Record storage requires more vertical support than a typical shelf. If the furniture had multiple “legs” to shorten the shelves’ span, it wouldn’t sag under the weight of vinyl (e.g. IKEA’s Kallax Shelf, a favorite amongst record collectors). 

 

I started with a furniture piece that looked like blocks of wood stacked on top of each other. 3/4” thick shelves sat atop vertical columns made from the White Oak offcuts. The concept reminded me of the CMU and pine shelves stacked together in my college living room, but more dignified. Next, I needed to design the joint connecting the vertical supports to the shelves. I decided to use a sliding dovetail joint for a couple purposes:

 

1. When fastened perpendicular to the woodgrain of the shelves, this joint will limit cupping. This is a common detail to keep furniture square over time. 

2. This joint allows me to assemble and disassemble the shelf easily without tools. Everything slides apart in a couple minutes and can be flat-packed for moving.

 

After cutting 20 of these joints, I wanted to showcase my hard work with a some flair. I made the tails of the sliding dovetails from Walnut to contrast the White Oak. The tails extend 1/4” beyond the White Oak columns to highlight the joinery. You don’t see these decisions at a distance. But up close, the subtle details refine the piece, and tell you it was built by hand.

 

The final step of this project was finishing the wood. It was winter, and I didn’t have a heated ventilated space. I decided to convert my guest bedroom into an ad hoc finishing room. This helped narrow down finish options easily for the sake of my braincells. I chose Tried and True’s Original Wood Finish, made of linseed oil and beeswax. It has zero VOCs, and leaves a natural matte oiled finish.

 

This piece was challenging both in design and construction. It looks simple, but it took many iterations to figure out how to repurpose the salvaged material. The sliding dovetail was a joint I’d never built before. I was able to perfect it after a few mockups and fine adjustments. After cutting the joint 20 times on this shelf, I feel confident to do it again on another piece of furniture. 

 

Thank you to the Wonder Institute for providing the space and tools to build this project, and Andrew Ruesch for photography.