Book Cases

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The first bookcase I built was made from very basic pine and painted white. I used a router to cut all the dado and rabbets. It's not gorgeous, but it works, and I still use it.

My next project was much nicer: A hanging bookshelf for my daughter Isobel's room at our house in Canton. It's made from oak. I believe I had the radial saw by this time.

My next set of projects of this type were cases for CDs and DVDs, of which we had rather a lot, and nowhere to put them. They are made from poplar, which is cheap but sturdy, and can have some very interesting grain.

A maple bookcase for my study was next...

followed by a small pine bookcase, again, for my wife Nancy's study.

Part of the point of that one was to try using something like box joints for the top shelf. It worked pretty well and gives it some visual interest.

After that, it was large bookcase (60x36) made from redwood.

My big project in summer 2020 was another large bookcase, this time made from jatoba, sometimes called 'Brazillian cherry', although it is not a type of cherry.

I like to challenge myself with these projects, and the new element here is the drawers at the top, for some of Nancy's art supplies. As you can see, the fronts of the drawers were cut from a single piece of wood, which really does look nice.

My favorite lumber store recently had some kiaat, which I'd not heard of before but which is one of the most striking woods I've ever seen. I bought a bunch of it not quite knowing what I'd do with it. It ended up becoming a small bookcase that we use, next to our piano, for music books.