Birch Ply Arts & Crafts Bookracks

Having been forced to straighten up my living/work room for Thanksgiving, I haven’t been able to finish any of the projects that are now competing with me for space in my bedroom … after being removed from the living room. At least I had these two bookracks to help me get organized. I had made them earlier 1) to see if the design would work, and 2) maybe somebody would pay actual cash money for them. I never offered them for sale because I decided I liked them enough to keep … at least until I came up with something better. I used 3/4 inch birch, 10” x 48” and the shelves and racks are 24” wide, including the tenons—part of my goal was to minimize waste as much as possible. The racks are two pieces of 4” x 24” birch ply cut from the same stock, while the keys for the tenons are cut (by hand) from a white pine 2×2. I should have used hardwood, because the pine split several times and had to be glued back together (if you think I was going to cut some more …) before being whacked home with a mallet … sort of like me after a party at college. I didn’t have a router when I made these, so I cut the mortises by starting them with a 3/4” spade bit, continuing with a keyhole saw, and finishing with a chisel. It would have been a lot easier with a router, but this was at least satisfactory.

Oh, crud. I just uploaded the photos, and got the sideways thing again I thought I’d corrected. Once again I prove that just because you’re a genius doesn’t mean you know anything.

-- Hibernicvs