If you have too many books to fit on your desk, in your living room, or in plastic milk crates, you might need a bookshelf. It’s easy to build your own bookcase. In the steps that follow, we’ll walk you through building a small bookshelf, but you can easily modify the sizes to create a case that better suits your storage requirements.

1.Design and evaluation

You can construct a bookshelf to fit a specific space in your home, or you can make one that is a standard size and can be used in many places.

  • Find out how much room there is for the bookshelf. Choose how tall and wide you want the shelf unit to be when it’s done. Bookshelves are usually 12″ or 16″ deep, but you can make them any size you want to fit your needs.
  • Choose whether the back of your shelf will be open or closed. If you leave the back open, your books might lean against the wall or touch it.
  • Choose whether you’ll use it to store paperbacks, hardcovers, or books that fit on a coffee table. This project has shelves that can be changed so that any shape book will fit.
  • Standard bookshelves have two, three, four, or five shelves, but you can end up making as many shelves as you need for your project.

2.Select your wood

The wood you use will have a big effect on how your piece looks, how much it costs, and how long it will last. Since solid wood might cost thousands of dollars, you’ll probably want to use plywood with such a hardwood veneer.  Choose 3/4-inch plywood for the bookshelf’s body and shelves and 1/4-inch plywood for the back.

3.Select the proper saw

Cut your boards with a table or saw a circular saw. Cutting plywood can be hard and dangerous, so it’s crucial to ensure you’re ready to do a good job.

4.Make your sides cut

Cut the long boards to the width you want first. Remember that standard widths are either 12″ or 16″; for this project, our depth will be 12″. Keep the wood moving through the saw at the same rate to get a better cut.

  • One problem with working with plywood is that it comes in big 4′ x 8′ sheets, which can be hard to move by yourself. Saw horses or a roller table can also be used to hold things up.
  • Cut the strip into two pieces that are 4134″ long to make the two sides of the bookcase. If you want your bookshelf to be taller or shorter, you can change this measurement.

5.Drill adjustable shelving holes along bookshelf sides

Since books come in different sizes and your needs may change over time, it’s ideal to make your shelves adaptive so you can move them around as needed.

  • If you don’t have a pegboard, you can use a 34-inch pine cut to the exact length as the bookcase sides to make a hole-drilling template. Use a drill/driver with a 5/8-inch spade bit to make a row of holes in the layout board that are all the same distance apart.
  • Use a drill bit with the same diameter as that of the shelf support pegs and drill holes every 2″ from the edge.

6.Add support structures

You could use support blocks on the middle and bottom shelves if you want. They will make the frame stronger without adding too much weight. If you do add such blocks, be conscious that you won’t be able to move the middle shelf.

7.Place the bottom and middle shelves

Once the top shelf is in place, put the bottom shelf in place.

  • Put wood glue on the blocks that hold up the bottom shelf, and then put the shelf in place.
  • Drill as well as countersink pilot holes into the side of the bookshelf, and then use 2″ wood screws to hold the shelf in place.
  • If you chose to use support blocks for the middle shelf, put them in now, just like you did for the bottom shelf.

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