# Big Project



## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

Hey folks, I haven't posted here in a while, but I'd like to share a big project that I finally finished. 

I'd always dreamed of building a home bar in my den. With the passing of my dad last summer, I decided that I've waited long enough to do something that I've always wanted to do. Life is short, you know! So I fulfilled my dream of building that bar. I inherited some of the Toby mugs that my dad had collected, so I incorporated some shelves to display those. I also have my grandfather's liquor cabinet that I wanted to showcase as a part of the bar, so I built in a little spot for that. 











I couldn't find any oak crown molding without having to order it, so I just made what's up there with a 1x3, a 1x4, and a trim piece. I couldn't find any bar rail locally, either, so I made that, too!

















Oh, and here's a before picture... there was more junk piled up in this part of the room that I had moved before I thought to take a before picture.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

*Oh yeah...*

I wanted to add some interest to the shelves so I used the bird's mouth style adjustable shelving.









Another interesting note is that I used pocket screws for just about everything on this project. I only used glue to put a solid piece of oak on the face of the shelves (since they are oak veneer ply), and to glue two 1x6s together to make the bar rail. 

It's all surprisingly solid for only being screwed together, and there are no visible fasteners!

There is plenty of cabinet space behind the bar. These are the first cabinets I've ever built.


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## davidbard (Dec 30, 2012)

nice looking project


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## BKBuilds (Jan 12, 2013)

Very nice work!


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

Thanks guys!

This is by far the largest woodworking project I've ever undertaken. I'm glad it's done, but I'm already thinking of my next project... cabinets and bookcases for the living room. :O


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## Kahlua (Dec 6, 2012)

Can you describe the process of making the "Birds mouth" rail? That's interesting.


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## gus1962 (Jan 9, 2013)

I like it! I am very impressed! You have an incredible woodworking skills! Beautiful piece of art!


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

Kahlua said:


> Can you describe the process of making the "Birds mouth" rail? That's interesting.


I'll try, but I don't have time for pics today. I'll try to add some later.

I set up a sled for the table saw that would allow me to make easily repeatable straight cuts every 1" on the shelf rails; similar to this. My sled has a removable stop 1" to the right of the tablesaw blade. I had to carefully make the first cut without the stop, then put the stop back in its slot on the sled. From then on, I could repeat those cuts every 1". 

For the angled part of the shelf support rail, I used the band saw. I couldn't figure out how to set up a jig for that, so I cut them all by hand! Naturally, they aren't perfectly uniform, but they all work together anyway. 

Sanding those things was the hardest part. I ended up clamping a couple of the rails together and sanding with a custom made sanding block that fit into those triangles. 

It was a lot of extra work to make the shelves this way, but I like to make things with no visible fasteners, so it was worth it to me to make the shelf supports a feature instead of something I tried to hide.


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