First big project - Bookcase

[Luck Leventopoulos]

First of all, thank you to everyone for their posts and the wealth of information that I have received from this forum. Without those, I doubt that I would have had the confidence to even attempt any projects myself. That being said, with all of the really impressive projects shown here, I was hesitant to even post any pictures myself. But, I have overcome my reluctance and decided I have to start somewhere...

Not my first project ever, but my first larger item that will really be on display in the house. This is a bookcase, made by request for my wife, to go into our newly repurposed 'office' space in our house in order to try to stem the ever-growing tide of books, pictures, etc. in our home. The case was made using red oak and red oak plywood (next time probably will choose all 'real' wood instead) and I tried to do some design details to match the built-in bookcases that already existed in the room. I also built it on a base box to lift it above the baseboard in the room and tried to get the bookcase to sit as close to the wall as possible. Had to figure out how to build it in two parts and then put it together on-site. It is finished with several coats of shellac (first time using that on anything large also) topped with a coat of paste wax. Hopefully it will stand up to usage.

This took WAY too long to make, but I managed to finish before the Thanksgiving company arrived, so i guess it worked out.

Of course, now my wife thinks I can make her a bedroom set... I disagree, but that may not matter. (I think she likes having me in the garage (shop) and out of her hair!)

Let me know what you think...

Luck Leventopoulos



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[Luck Leventopoulos]

Couple more pics. Didn't take long to fill it up...

Luck
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[Gordon Eyre]

Hey Luck, it is nice to get a project like this under your belt. I think you did a great job and the book case fits in well with the other furniture in the room. This is bound to give you confidence to tackle other projects that your wife might dream up. Good job.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Luck,

Very nice project.
I know form experience just how fast storage projects fill up.

P.S. I love the place of honor for the Wonder Women.

[John TenEyck]

Luck, nice job. Getting a larger project completed is always a good confidence booster. From your comment above it sounds like you weren't happy with the red oak plywood. I'm guessing that's because the grain looks kind of wild, right? If so, that's because the plywood you used is called rotary sliced - it's what you almost always get at the BORG. The only thing it has in common with real wood is the species. So next time you want to use hardwood plywood, and there are many good reasons to do so, go to your local full service lumber yard and ask them if they carry plain sliced veneer plywood. If they don't stock it they will probably be happy to order it for you. I can order plain sawn or rift sliced from my local lumber supplier. Either of those looks just like "real" wood.

Great project. Now get busy on that bedroom suite !

John

[Luck Leventopoulos]

John,

It wasn't the figure of the plywood as much as thinking it might have been easier in some respects to use regular wood in some spots than having to cover the edges everywhere. Must say that the plywood quality really bugged me after I brought what I thought were the best pieces home from the BORG. When I started working with it, I found that some of the factory edges were not even cut square to the face?!!?! Also found more defects than I noticed at the store, of course. Had to make some compromises getting the wood because I felt bad bugging my brother (and his truck) to get it back to my home and didn't want to make him drive farther to a real lumberyard. (by the way, anyone know a good lumberyard near Pittsburgh, especially on the east side?) Also, my lack of a jointer (and a place to put one) at this point is limiting me.

Anyway, I learned my lesson and will search out better suppliers for future projects, whether it be plywood or other lumber.

Luck

[Luck Leventopoulos]

thanks for the feedback. Onward!

[Luck Leventopoulos]

Yup. Full already. The wife would also like a couple more bookcases downstairs on either side of the fireplace eventually... Wonder Woman is just the tip of the iceburg as far as the superhero stuff. Maybe a display case or frames next????

[Paul Saffold]

Nice job, Luck. As with most bookcases, whatever wood is behind the shelves is not very visible. Not so true with cases that are used to display items. One suggestion I will make is to anchor the bookcase to the wall near the top if there are children in the house.
Paul

[Todd Burch]

I like this. Ditto on what John said.