How to Make a Simple Dado Shelf
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As some of you may know I don’t own a table saw so I again had my pieces precut in the home center. For the sides you’ll need 6 – 3/4” wide and 3/8” thick plywood. You need to cut two 48“ long pieces and 14 pieces 6” long. The back panel and the shelves are made from ¾” plywood. The shelves are 6” wide and 40-3/4” long. The back panel is 40x48”. The sides can also be made from ¾” plywood, you just need to cut the dados with a tool of your choice.
I wanted to use dados to affix the shelves but I’m not that comfortable with routers yet so I decided to try something else in making them. I made the through dados on the sides by attaching the small pieces on to the longer ones with glue and brad nails. I used a scrap piece of ¾” plywood to space the dados on the sides. Remember to use enough wood glue and nails in the glue up. I should have used a piece of paper to make the dados just a bit wider to make attaching the shelves easier.
I tried to use brad nails to affix the shelfs from the sides but my air compressor doesn’t create enough pressure so the nails were left sticking out quite a bit. I believe I have some problem with my pressure regulator so I need to check that out in the near future.
When the brad nails didn’t quite work out I resorted to use #8 crews to attach the shelves. I drilled pilot holes from the inside and I then flipped the piece around and used backwards running counter sinking drill bit to make the counter sinks for the screws. I’ve been told that running the counter sinking bit backwards helps with the tear out.
Glue up of the shelves was bit of a hassle because of the snug dados. I had to use some force to persuade the joints to close. I don’t have any long clamps so I had to use hammer, bit brutal but I worked out in the end. I used three screws per end.
With the sides being ¾” wider than the shelves there is space for the back panel to be recessed on the back. The sides will cover the back panel on the edges. I used some # 8 screws to attach the back panel to the shelves. Screwing the back to the shelves helps to prevent sagging in the future; not that there will be that much load on the shelves.
I wanted to hide the screw heads on the sides so I used some filler to do that. I also had some gaps and inconsistencies on the edge so I used filler on those too. I also used some acrylic caulking in the inside of the shelves to hide some gaps. Remember to use caulking that can be painted over afterwards.
I sanded everything to remove any excess filler and pencil marks before painting the shelf. I gave the shelf two coats of paint.
Link to a free SketchUp model of the Shelf: https://bit.ly/2EqsI5l
As some of you may know I don’t own a table saw so I again had my pieces precut in the home center. For the sides you’ll need 6 – 3/4” wide and 3/8” thick plywood. You need to cut two 48“ long pieces and 14 pieces 6” long. The back panel and the shelves are made from ¾” plywood. The shelves are 6” wide and 40-3/4” long. The back panel is 40x48”. The sides can also be made from ¾” plywood, you just need to cut the dados with a tool of your choice.
I wanted to use dados to affix the shelves but I’m not that comfortable with routers yet so I decided to try something else in making them. I made the through dados on the sides by attaching the small pieces on to the longer ones with glue and brad nails. I used a scrap piece of ¾” plywood to space the dados on the sides. Remember to use enough wood glue and nails in the glue up. I should have used a piece of paper to make the dados just a bit wider to make attaching the shelves easier.
I tried to use brad nails to affix the shelfs from the sides but my air compressor doesn’t create enough pressure so the nails were left sticking out quite a bit. I believe I have some problem with my pressure regulator so I need to check that out in the near future.
When the brad nails didn’t quite work out I resorted to use #8 crews to attach the shelves. I drilled pilot holes from the inside and I then flipped the piece around and used backwards running counter sinking drill bit to make the counter sinks for the screws. I’ve been told that running the counter sinking bit backwards helps with the tear out.
Glue up of the shelves was bit of a hassle because of the snug dados. I had to use some force to persuade the joints to close. I don’t have any long clamps so I had to use hammer, bit brutal but I worked out in the end. I used three screws per end.
With the sides being ¾” wider than the shelves there is space for the back panel to be recessed on the back. The sides will cover the back panel on the edges. I used some # 8 screws to attach the back panel to the shelves. Screwing the back to the shelves helps to prevent sagging in the future; not that there will be that much load on the shelves.
I wanted to hide the screw heads on the sides so I used some filler to do that. I also had some gaps and inconsistencies on the edge so I used filler on those too. I also used some acrylic caulking in the inside of the shelves to hide some gaps. Remember to use caulking that can be painted over afterwards.
I sanded everything to remove any excess filler and pencil marks before painting the shelf. I gave the shelf two coats of paint.
Link to a free SketchUp model of the Shelf: https://bit.ly/2EqsI5l
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