A few months ago someone left a large antique bookcase at the dumpster at work. This case was just about 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Sadly, it had water damage, dry rot, cupped wood and quite a bit of broken wood that would require a complete tear down and re-build to save it to the original look. I took the piece apart and salvaged all that I could use. I believe that the primary wood is walnut and the secondary pieces are poplar. There was not a lot that I could salvage, but enough to do something with it. A few months ago, my wife mentioned the need for a bookshelf and I finally got around to building it. I did not take a lot of pictures of this build. The only new materials I used were about 24 Kreg screws, a dozen biscuits, glue and shellac. This is part of the original door frame. I had to narrow it down and shorten the height. I re-cut new tenons and shimmed them into the through mortises. Where the wood panel is would have been glass on the original. You can see part of the water damage on this lower panel. This side will be facing a wall. This shot is of the case with the poplar beadboard on the back wall. The shelves are poplar with walnut nosings. I glued up three pieces of walnut using biscuits and glue. There was slight cupping in the two wider boards. This top was made from the sides of the old bookcase. The rows of nailholes were where the old shelves would have been. I needed to find a matching color finish for the planed wood to match the original finish. I tried several colors of stain, and they were not close. I tried a waxed shellac and it took 3 coats to bring it to the right shade. I left the lock hardware in place for some interest on the sides. I dadoed in some molding around the top to help hide the cupping. The molding was what held the glass panels the original doors. I also added two small corbels to each side to give it a slight mission style look. I hope in time, the gloss of the shellac dulls a little.
