Bookshelf by Myself

Looks great to me! Interesting story to go along with it also.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Excellent work, Thuan, the color of the finish is soft allowing the grain to shine through. water based finish? and the trim accents the shelving nicely. I like the whole look of the shelving. And yes, it does look good without a lot of books.

-- so much wood, so little time. Bradford.

Great looking book case – the book match look of the back panel really sets it off.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Nice job Thuan! Very nice bookshelf. Love that back piece you used!

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

This is a really nice looking bookcase. To think that it was made without any power tools makes it all that more remarkable. I agree about the books. Let the inherent beauty of the wood show.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Very nice piece of furniture! Well done. Good choice of woods, proportions, and finish.
I like it.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Nice case. I like the proportions, including the face frame on the center shelf while the rest are recessed. And I’ve always been fond of letting the natural color of the wood show, so I like the finish. I’ve had mixed luck with Big Box store plywood – mostly I can’t find a good sheet, let alone something to book match. Nicely done.

Did you biscuit the face frames, and if so, did you use face frame biscuits or 20’s that you trimmed? I assume the shelves biscuited to the case – did you screw them from the sides and plug, or clamp them?

The case looks like it’s held up to use. Would you use the same construction again?

I like it. Most book shelfs look great without books but we alway wait until we have so many books the book shelf becomes an necessary piece of furniture.
I also like the size and that you used up all the plywood very little waste.
Keep up the great work.

-- Dominic, Trinity, Florida

Thanks everyone,
Bradford is right, three coats of waterborne poly. I finished it in the living room, so I needed something fast drying and none flamable.

Good eye KDL – Proportion is very important when resources are limited, I made sure the bottom portion is squared, then the top portion is close to the golden ratio, while not wasting wood nor cuts because cutting sheetgood by hand take lots of concentration. I think golden ration should not be an exact science -close enough is good enough. I biscuited the face frame together with # 20 and then trimmed it off. I wanted to use #10 but felt it was too weak. I needed a faceframe that would hold the 3/4” carcass square when I move it upstairs by my self.
The middle shelf is biscuited permanantly in place, the other shelves are adjustable. If I were to build it again, I would dowel the styles and rail, or do half laps joints with contrasting pegs, then biscuit the frame to the carcass.

-- Thuan

THis has a nice, clean, well-proportioned look to it. I really like it a lot.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

This is great. It really shows what amazing work you can do with so few tools and space. Great use of “found” book matched veneer on the plywood.

-- Dust collectors suck.

you are truly an amazing guy thuan , great looking project ! well done

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes

Looks very good!

-- Young Padiwan Woodworker

Very nice. You did a good job on this bookcase.

-- Maplewood, MN