A friend of mine saw a bookcase in a woodworking magazine. She knows all about my workbench and my woodworking YouTube videos so she knew that this would be an easy project for me. So, she asked me to make one for her grandchildren.
Gluing the apron and the cleats on to the top
Her grandchildren, Billy and Alex live in another state with their mother and my friend was going to deliver the bookcase to them. Actually, that was my biggest challenge on this project because she was leaving in 2-1/2 days so this was definitely a rush job! After I agreed to do it, she asked me if I could make 2 of them. I try to be a nice guy, but I couldn’t commit to 2 bookcases in 2 days!
Test fitting the pieces
She wanted the boys to be involved in construction of the bookcase, so I had to build it as a kit rather than a finished piece. I had this in the back of my mind the whole time I was building it and I made sure that assembly would be easy and as fool proof as possible.
Zippy with the bookcase before I disassembled it and sent it off to the boys for finishing
I don’t normally work from plans in magazines, but having the dimensions all laid out for me did make it a lot easier! Of course, I did stray just a bit from the original plan. The plan in the magazine called for solid wood construction and used a combination of pocket screws and dado joints. I kept the dado joints, but ditched the pocket screws. I also made it from cherry plywood and added solid cherry edge-banding. Also, the one in the magazine had 3 shelves and I made this one with 4 shelves so it is taller than the one in the magazine.
After the boys got it they glued it and clamped it together, they nailed the back on and they applied a wipe on polyurethane finish.
It turned out quite well, especially since it was such a rush job!
Billy and Alex with completed bookcase
