Bookcases: How much time do you have?

Instead of doing this in a video format, I decided to simply take pictures. Below you'll find a number of pictures with discussion about how each was built. I also have pictures of the bookcases I did in the videos installed so you can see the finished product.

We love books as you can probably tell from the pictures below. Finding a place to store all our books has sometimes been a challenge (yes, even for a woodworker)!

The problem we usually ran into was the fact that I didn't want to build something if it wasn't something "up to my standards" What I mean by that is I didn't want to make something that when looked at by friends or family, the first thought would be, "Wow, I expected to see something more impressive". Can you relate?

But, to be honest, I just had to get over it and build some bookcases that looked nice, but weren't all that time consuming so that my wife wouldn't kill me.

So, in the pictures below you'll see examples of bookcases that can be built in a long weekend, all the way up to a bookcase that took me two weeks to build.  (Which is when, by the way, the idea finally got through to me that every piece I build doesn't have to be heirloom quality).

If bookcases are on your list of projects to build, hopefully this article will help you decide how much time (and money) you want to spend making them.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, simply leave them at the bottom of this page.

Craig

The bookcases are made from plywood with a face frame made from poplar. The back is 1/4" birch ply that I left unpainted because I liked the look (okay, I got tired of painting, but I do like the look).

There was no moulding used because these bookcases were made for one purpose: Getting books and toys off the floor! I had no illusions of these bookcases being passed down to my children and their children. It took a weekend to complete these two bookcases, including painting.

It's made from white pine (the sides made from two 12" wide boards) with the exception of 1/4" plywood. I used a gel stain (which I love using on pine to prevent "blotching") to give the piece a uniform color.  This is important when you're mixing wood. I also like to use gel stain to "antique" a piece by leaving a little in the crevices where dirt and grime would naturally build up.

This bookcase took about four evenings to complete, with another couple of days for the finish.  My wife is not happy over the closeup of our dust. 

Here's one of two bookcases that I built for my wife for her sewing room. She is as passionate about heirloom sewing (not dusting) as I am about woodworking (I had to put my foot down when she wanted to make drapes for my shop). These bookcases are very similar to the bookcases built in our videos. I want to point out two differences: The material used and the different moulding used. I tried something new with these bookcases. See, I have a confession to make: I hate to paint! There, I've said it. So, in designing these bookcases I thought I'd try using melamine for the sides, top and bottom so I wouldn't have to paint them. Wrong! Because the face frame and back had to be painted, the colors didn't match. So I ended up painting the whole thing anyway! I was not a happy camper.

Here's a close up of the crown molding used on these bookcases. The crown actually sits on a piece of poplar with an ogee profile routed on the edge. This gives a wider looking crown with added depth and shadow lines.

These bookcases took about a week, working during the evenings with the weekend spent painting.

This bookcase is made from African Mahogany, a wood that is similar to Honduras Mahogany. The difference I found in working with the African version was that it was lighter in weight, and much more susceptible to splitting. Other than that, it has the advantage of being more readily available and less expensive. The sides are made from one board each. The top is attached to the sides with sliding dovetails.

The finish used was a coat of linseed oil followed by multiple (thin) coats of orange shellac applied by french polishing.

Well, that's a few of the bookcases I've built over the years. Hopefully this article will help you decide what style bookcase you would like to build for your own home by first figuring out, "How Much Time Do You Have", to put into one.

If you have any different designs you'd like to share with us, send them to me at: contactus@woodworkersresource.com. I'll add them to this article as they come in.

And as always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Craig

P.S.  Here are some more pictures of bookcase designs sent in by viewers of our website.  A big thank you to all those who took the time to share their bookcase designs with us!

(click on the "view picture" buttons below to see pictures, doing this will help the page load faster).

Our first bookcase design comes from Kent:

Hi Craig,

Here are two built-in bookcases I made last winter.  I modified plans out of an old Woodsmith magazine from stand alone to built-in.  They are made out of cherry stock and cherry veneered plywood.  I wasn't up to making the dentil molding that my wife wanted, so that was purchased from Rockler.  I stained them with Olympic cherry and mahogany gel stains mixed 50/50 and then finished with five coats of wipeon polyurethane gloss with a final coat of semi-gloss.

I truly enjoy your newsletters and blogs. especially your interview with Tom Lie-Nielson.  This summer my wife and I were vacationing in Maine.  We were driving up Route 1 to Rockland, Me, when low and behold, what pops up as we rounded a curve, but Lie-Nielson factory and showroom.  Of course I had to stop and check it out.  I got to talk to Tom a few minutes and left with a new beading plane in hand.