Bookcase from the customer’s own timber

Waney-edged book-case using oak from the customer’s own woodland.  

From time to time we get asked if we will use a prized piece of timber in the customer’s possession. We will initially ask for photos, and if they look promising, either arrange a site visit, or if that is not practical, request more information - measurements, age, and more detailed pictures. We can then thoroughly assess the suitability of the wood for the job. This set of bookshelves was made entirely of oak from the customer’s own woodland. It had been felled and planked many years ago, and after aclimatising in our workshop for a couple of months, was ready to use. I made a site visit to David’s woodland in mid-Devon to collect. We trimmed the boards to suitable lengths, to maximise the yield from the wood, and to minimise waste. I then took the pieces back to the workshop, “stickered” them, and waited until they had acclimatised to a suitable moisture content for indoors.

This is what is known in the trade as “character oak”. english oak typically is “pippy”. and with quite wild “waney” edges. Quite unlike the rather bland, uniform, square edged European, or worse still, American oak. David was keen to retain as much of the character of the original tree as possible. We love that too!

I was keen that there was an even set-back from the sides of the waney-edged uprights, to the front edges of the shelves. i achived this by developing a sliding carriage to use on our table saw. The shelves were housed, screwed, and plugged with oak dowels. The heights of the shelves were designed to accomodate David’s collection - a mixture of paperbacks, and larger hardbacks. If you’d like to commission a piece using your own timber, or would just like some bespoke bookshelves, just contact me here.