Fifteen Years in the Making

When I got married to Carol fifteen years ago, Rolf and Mary Wilson gave us a bookcase kit. It was a collection of very nice pre-cut oak boards and assembly hardware, requiring only that the holes be drilled in the standards and the bookcase screwed together. Rolf had gone to some trouble to cut and stain the boards and assemble the hardware, similar to some bookcases that I understand that he made for himself.

Well, that marriage didn't last and -- for one reason or another -- the bookcase didn't get assembled. Then I misplaced the hardware. Then I found the hardware when Gretchen and I moved to Des Plaines eight years ago. I carefully put it into a box for the move.

And I haven't seen it since.

It's apparently hard to find this particular type of hardware any more, so Rolf had no suggestions as to where I might replace it. I asked Sam to help me put the bookcase together and we determined that the best thing to do was to plug the holes in the shelves with dowels and drill new holes. We plugged the holes last summer. I bought oak plywood to make a back for the bookcase.

Over the weekend, we finally assembled it and took it upstairs to the library.

It's a very nice bookcase.

Thanks, Rolf!

Fifteen Years in the Making

When I got married to Carol fifteen years ago, Rolf and Mary Wilson gave us a bookcase kit. It was a collection of very nice pre-cut oak boards and assembly hardware, requiring only that the holes be drilled in the standards and the bookcase screwed together. Rolf had gone to some trouble to cut and stain the boards and assemble the hardware, similar to some bookcases that I understand that he made for himself.

Well, that marriage didn't last and -- for one reason or another -- the bookcase didn't get assembled. Then I misplaced the hardware. Then I found the hardware when Gretchen and I moved to Des Plaines eight years ago. I carefully put it into a box for the move.

And I haven't seen it since.

It's apparently hard to find this particular type of hardware any more, so Rolf had no suggestions as to where I might replace it. I asked Sam to help me put the bookcase together and we determined that the best thing to do was to plug the holes in the shelves with dowels and drill new holes. We plugged the holes last summer. I bought oak plywood to make a back for the bookcase.

Over the weekend, we finally assembled it and took it upstairs to the library.

It's a very nice bookcase.

Thanks, Rolf!