This Old Workshop

Project Blog: Book Case

The other day my wife came to me and said “hey you have all these tools how about making me a book case for the bedroom. So I grabbed my measuring tape and laid out the size needed, about 6’ high and 3’ wide. There is a recessed area in the bedroom that is begging for a bookshelf. Having the measurements I drew up a simple planc and detailed the cut sheet. I believe these are 2 drawings you need before proceeding. Figuring out the size of the pieces I drove over to our local DIY Depot and bought 2 sheets of ¾ inch oak plywood (about $45 each) and a ½ inch thick sheet for the back. (about $25 a sheet) I had the friendly store employee cut the ¾ inch sheets into equal width pieces and the back to roughly the correct size allowing a little space so I could smooth cut them on my table saw. After smoothing out the edges on my table saw the shelves came to 11 ¾ deep. Cross cutting them to a rough cut of 36”, then cutting them on my ridged radial arm saw, and smoothing the edges on my table saw, adjusting the incra fence to a exact  ¼ inch to fine cut the final length of 33 ¼ which gave me the width of the bookcase adding the dado into the sides of 3/8. Allowing me to make the bookcase with the top and bottom molding to 36 inches the width of the space minus ½  inch on each side so it has a little wiggle room to get the bookcase into the slot easily without gouging the walls.

Next I laid out the dados on the sides to receive the shelves. The thickness of the oak plywood was exactly ¾ of an inch, which was a surprise because typically veneer plywood is a little shy of the ¾ thickness by about an 8^th. Using the radial arm saw to cut the dados and the top and bottom rabbits, making sure each side is at the same location. As long as both sides are at the same location then if you miss the dado a little it dosent show up as a leaning shelf.

Now I glued up the plywood shelves each one seated in its dado and perfectly flush with the front. Any discrepancy would be in the back and very hard to notice. If you lay out the cuts exactly then you will be right on the money6 when it comes time to assemble your project.

Clamping the sides of the book case with my bessy clamps I applied some glue and brads then allowing the glue to dry for a full 24 hours before I moved it. Once it was dry I turned to the back panel. Laying out the cut lines I clamped down my skill saw guide perfectly adjusted to the cut I needed to make both along the side and the top to make the back nice and square. Any miss alignment here will really shop up on your final construction. After gluing down the back I pinned it into place with a few brads. Clamping it once again with my new Bessy Clamps (see the review if you want more info on these clamps). Again waiting for a full 24 hours before I moved it.

Next I turned to the face molding. I decided not to make this on my own because it is such a low expense, and my table saw (an ancient craftsman) just dosen’t have the strength to cut through oak. So for about $20 I purchased several 8’ long quarter round molding. Mounting the side pieces went easy enough, I used my new Bessey Revo clamps to hold on the molding while the glue dries, and I hit it with a few brads to keep it in place.

Now the side moldings are in place so I turned to the shelf molding. I turned these so the curve of the ¼ round was at the bottom giving the shelves a smooth rounded look. With some glue and brads, I again I put the Bessey clamps to work. If you are interested you can see the Bessey Clamp review in the tool reviews page. It is very nice to be able to use clamps that won’t slip on you and are easy to tighten. But enough with the advertisements. Working my way down the book case attaching the moulding the same fashon as the first one. It took a couple days to get them all in place and dried. Unfortunately I only have 6 clamps of the right size so I had to do the shelves one at a time letting them dry for 6 hours each.

Today it is sanding day. Starting out with 120 grit sand paper on my random orbital sander, being very careful not to sand through the oak veneer. Trust me, I know what I am talking about here, I have done this before. The giving the whole bookcase a once over with 220 paper. It is now ready for a further smoothing with a steel wool pad just to make it super smooth and take off any little bumps or loose wood.  You don’t have to get to detailed here unless you are looking for a ultra-smooth finish.

For my finish I choose Min-wax golden oak stain and finish. You could choose practically any type of finish or paint for your project. For my book case I have to match an existing set of furniture and the golden oak matched it pretty much spot on.

Next I complete the finish coat.