Friday, June 13, 2008

Bookshelves by Myself

This bookcase has been sitting quietly in the corner of the Condo for the last five years doing its' duty. Filled with books, it's just another bookshelf. But when we moved, I had a chance to show off it's glory. The back panel is a book matched piece of birch I was lucky enough to find at Home Depot. After visually inspecting about seven 4 x 8 sheets of 1/4 plywood, I managed to find a piece I really liked. I'm not one to waste wood, but to get the heartwood flame shaped pattern centered, it was worth cutting out the unwanted parts.

This is the first project I built with my biscuit joiner, this was five years ago, when I swore the biscuit joiner was the greatest invention ever for cabinet building. I then realized it has it's strength and it's limitations. I didn't use much of it since because the joiner needs a very flat work surface to be precise, something i didn't have in the condo with poorl;. I'll revisit the tool now that I have a garage with a large flat floor.

I didn’t have a circular saw back then, so I had the people at the big box store rip the plywoods down to 11-1/4” pieces so I can fit in the back of my hatchback. I tried to use every piece of wood. This is biggest size bookshelf I can make from a sheet of4×8’ -3/4” birch and a one 1/4” birch. Stock inside corner molding and 1×2 made up the trims. Little legs gives is a nice furniture feel. Unfortunately I think it looks better without books covering up the back panel.