Ian Houghton
Mt Lawley WA

Jarrah bookcase

‘I designed this bookcase to suit an older style home. I incorporated curves into the piece, as I prefer this look, which softens the line. The timber for the bookcase is mostly recycled, as I prefer the colour of old jarrah. The leadlight glass doors were kept plain so as not to overpower the simple lines of the unit.

‘The hand sawn veneers came from the sill of a large front door frame, resawn on a Woodmizer sawmill. All sawn veneers were glued down to the substratum with clear urea formaldehyde glue, using a vacuum bag. The bookcase sides are sawn jarrah veneer on chipboard, with solid jarrah mouldings front and back that incorporate inlayed fiddleback quarter round mouldings and blackbutt stringing.

‘The curved top is five layers of 3 ply with a jarrah veneer on each side over an MDF form. The crown moulding is sawn from recycled 6 x 4 jarrah beam. The doors are made up of a back piece with a curved moulding and two cock beads of fiddleback jarrah. The door panels and back are jarrah veneer on 10mm hoop pine ply. The middle section is sawn jarrah veneer on ply with two layers of ebonised veneer sandwiched either side of a blackbutt string, around a feature panel of fiddleback jarrah. The brass adjustable shelf supports are set into the underside of the solid jarrah shelves to make them less conspicuous.’