Bookcase

My latest project was this bookcase that I built for my girlfriend, who will need space for her large med school text books (currently, Harry Potter dominates the top shelf). I made it using notes from one of Norm Abram's New Yankee Workshop books. His bookcase is only about 77" tall, so I modified it to add an extra shelf. My 90"-tall book case can handle 7 shelves with 12" spacing. The case is also 11 3/4" deep, so it can handle large text books, as well as a TV. Right now, there are only 6 shelves, but I made a 7th, which can be slid in to separate the 24" gap where the TV now sits.

The bookcase is made primarily from birch-faced plywood, which I stained with mahogany and then varnished with a semi-gloss finisher. The birch plywood was easy to work with. I bought a full 4' x 8' sheet for $48, and had it ripped in the store to make the sides, the top and bottom, and 2 shelves. I had to buy another half sheet to make the remaining shelves. The back is 1/4" birch-faced plywood. I used select pine to cover the sides of the birch-faced wood so that none of the plywood is exposed. There are 2" stiles that run up the sides of the case, and 1 1/2" lips to cover the front of the shelves. The baseboard is 5"-wide select pine that I ripped from a 1"x6" and then ran a decorative bead around the top using a 1/4" round-over bit in my router. For me, the hardest part was the crown molding that decorates the top. The New Yankee Workshop is full of neat tools that I don't have. I use a radial saw without a miter gauge. Therefore, cutting a compound miter with the miter gauge set to 45 degrees and the saw tilt set to 38 degrees was very difficult for me. Not to mention, my saw probably needs realignment. I was able to use crown molding scraps to finally find the correct position to set the saw for the molding to turn the corner at the top of the shelf.