# Clean Chip-Free Cut in Painted Wood?



## Lovegasoline (Sep 27, 2009)

I have bookcase units I built 20 years ago as my first major wood project. The units consist of three pieces designed to fill an entire wall of my living room, fitting around a pair of French doors. There are two 8’(H) x 3’(W) x1’(D) pine bookcases and a top piece I call a bookcase ‘lintel’ measuring 12’(w) x 1’(H) x1’(D). The bookcases are installed on either side of the double French doors and the 12’ long section spans across the top of the French doors and rests on the two bookcases…effectively filling the entrance wall of a 12’ wide x 9’ tall room with bookshelves. The two bookcases do not have a ‘top’ shelf; instead the base of the lintel bookcase functions as the bookcase top (I had designed it that way to avoid a double-board thickness at the mating surface where the two units were stacked, wishing to maintain a uniform thickness for all horizontal shelving members). I built this fresh out of college with an extremely restricted budget, limited knowledge, and scant experience. For example, none of the shelves are adjustable but are rather different fixed heights (all dado joints), the units were not designed as built-ins, and instead of making the base of the bookcases true and then using shims to level, I planed the bases to fit the skew of the floor. I never learned about installation, or designing for installation, for a project of this nature (…and still don’t have that experience). They were primed but never painted.

Recently, in a spate of renovating, I decided it was time to put a finish on the bookcases. I planed the bases to make them square. I used a ROS to sand the primer smooth, spot primed with shellac where some knots bled through the 20 yr. primer, re-primed everything with Benjamin Moore #271 Alkyd Underbody Primer (brushed on…love this stuff), sanded primer smooth and then top coated with white Benjamin Moore Waterbase Satin Impervo enamel (again brushed instead of sprayed). It was a big job as there’s lots of sq. footage of wood. I even managed to prevent damage to the upper lintel section (12' long) by catching it on my arm when I lost control of it while single-handedly removing it; it luckily _didn't_ hit the floor and instead only crushed and severed a part of my brachioradialis (forearm) muscle. 

The topcoat has now cured for a few weeks and I’m re-installing the bookcases, but in another room with similar double doors. Due to recent skim coating and room dimension differences the unit is a little too tall for the room. I want to trim about 1/2” – 1” from the bookcase sides (recall they do not have a ‘top’..the sides are effectively 11” x 3/4” pine. As everything is now carefully painted and looks very good, I’m looking for advice on how best to make this cut cleanly without chipping the paint and wood, and reducing or eliminating the need for touch up paint? Possibilities include a Bosch portable jigsaw with the anti-chipping insert, a Japanese fine tooth crosscut dovetail handsaw (has the reinforced spline at the blade top...blade not too fresh), and/or in conjunction with a block plane…other another method? Tape applied over the cut? Router trim bit?

Anyone care to offer his or her suggestion?

Thanks a bunch.


PS: I'm still a noob regarding installation. What's the best way to level the bookcases in my 80+ year old place? Use of wood shims?


----------



## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

Score the edge of the cut deep with a razor before the actual cutting and be very careful not to run over the score during cutting.


----------



## Lovegasoline (Sep 27, 2009)

Yes, I forgot to mention I'd intended to score the wood. I'm wondering though which tool might deliver a more finished cut.


----------

