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My wife's grandfather (who died before I met my wife - I really wish I had the chance to meet that man) made book shelf's for each of his grandchildren (and probably children too). We were talking about his craftsmanship one day when my sister-in-law suggested a book shelf that would hold the little wooden puzzles for kids as a little twist.

I thought to myself, hmmm - I wonder what that would look like. So after a couple of days of doodling around on some paper, and the night before my nieces birthday party I came up with this:


It was pretty exciting carrying that in for a 3 year old that knew exactly what to do with it. By the time I set it down, she already had started bringing over her puzzles and books from the over-flowing book shelf she was using.

The kicker for me was this was the first time I had undertaken a project like this. I had never build anything out of wood, but always watched my parents growing up (both my mom and dad are skilled with their hands). I figured "woodworking has to be genetic" so I promised that I would bring something, and built this the night before her party! With only a table saw… Keeping that in mind, I think I did alright.

I included the only picture that I have during the build, when I had glued everything together. I had it "clamped" with tie down straps. I really had (have) no tools yet!

But now I have the bug, and I want to build so many more things!

Gallery

Comments

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Very nice job. Welcome to LJs. You will buid many more pieces gaining skill and confidence with each project. Looking forward to seeing many more.
 

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First project is pretty darn nice. Yep, you are bitten. Welcome to LJ's
 

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It's a big bug also. Great job.

Welcome to LumberJocks
 

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welcome to LJs
very interesting design and nicely done
 

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Very nice! And with limited tools too! Now that you have the "bug" let the sawdust fly. I look forward to all the beautiful projects you will make in the future. Have fun with it and welcome to LJ, best woodworking site on the web!
 

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You built this in a single day?
 

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Thanks for the encouragement guys! My wife is having twins (!!!) and that creates many more opportunities for me to build stuff… Next on the table will be a glider rocker (or two!), then maybe a custom crib for the munchkins.

Aside from the table saw, wifey got me a Ryobi router and table- so I think I'll be able to have more fun with my next few projects.

I built that shelf in about 5-6 hours I think. Maybe less. Is that good? I did up everything up to the clamping and then let it sit over night. Then put on the rear panel for more support right before we brought it to the party. I'm thinking of getting one of those spray finishers from Harbor Freight to put some poly on it…
 

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congrats on the twins!!!

great looking shelf,nice work.
 

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"built that shelf in5-6 hours. Is that good?" Nope, that's amazing! And with only a tablesaw. I started out with that Ryobi router/table combo and rapidly outgrew the table (but can't kill that router despite my best efforts!)

The bigger table I built for that router has built a LOT of projects.http://lumberjocks.com/gfadvm/blog/28051
 

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All I can say is "Wow!" You figured that out, banged it out in that amount of time, and it looks that good?? Wow! Great job! It is fantastic. I wish I had thought of that when my kids were into those puzzles!
 
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