Sirrob01

We needed another new bookcase in the house (quickly) as we had gained another pile of books. If Kindles ever catch on I may have an over supply of bookcases. I decided to try out some new ideas on this bookcase as well as designing around the fact my router had burnt out.

After viewing a few ideas and bookcase around the net, decided on a double thickness side design. Basically you double the thickness of the side uprights but cut the inner piece into 5 segments and space and glue them the width of the shelf apart. The uprights appear routed but are double the thickness, the edges are then trimmed with a thin piece of timber to cover the lamination.  I added a lip to the front of the shelves and back brace at the back of each shelf to help absorb some wobble/shelf bend and stop books falling of the back.

The bookcase stands about 85 cm high and is around 140 cm long. I trialed using only screws to hold the bookcase together so it can be pulled into it’s component pieces for easy transport. This seems to have worked okay but in future I’ll use tusk joints rather than screws more work but much more stable and no chance of screws ripping out. I have a 2nd Bookcase to build for some friends and this will utilize tusk joints.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, I should have spent more time sanding and used tusk joints but the side upright doubling worked very well and the bookcase looks and is very solid if the screws ever present a problem I’ll drill the holes out and glue and dowel the whole thing together. Time to move on to the next project.

Few pictures

First up One of the bookcase assembled but un-finished

Second One of the bookcase stained and varnished un-assembled

Third one of the bookcase assembled and Ready for books

Few additional details
Timber: Pine
Stain: Walnut Brown
Finish: Estapol Gloss (Not Water based)
Cost: $80-$90 AUD
Time : 1 weekend and a few evenings