Low bookshelf
I built this low bookshelf for a friend's sister. The bookshelf went into a
room that was also used to practice dance routines in. So one of the design
criteria was that it should be OK to bump or crash into this shelf.
So I made the shelf sturdy enough to survive getting crashed into. I also rounded the corners so that, hopefully, any crashing into this shelf would not cause undue injury.
I joined the boards with pieces of 3/4" dowel. I used my
horizontal boring jig
to drill the dowel holes into the ends of the shelves. I built this
shelf back in 2006, in my old workshop,
long before I built my horizontal
boring machine. Note how the workpiece is clamped to my workbench.
Drilling holes in end-grain with a forstner bit takes a lot of force, so
securing the work piece is important.
Getting the dowels to all line up is a matter of marking carefully,
best done with a marking gauge. The back edges of all the boards end up
flush with each other against the wall in the assembled shelf.
I set my gauge to mark
the right distance from the back edge for one of the dowel positions,
then marked both ends of both shelves and the sides for the first
dowel position. Then I set it for the other dowel positions and
repeated.
I put a faint pencil line on the sides of the shelves so I could see where
to put the marks. I didn't have to be as careful when I marked the actual dowel
positions because the 3/4" holes drilled away any marks near the hole center.
Here's all the boards, drilled, prior to gluing.
I drilled all the holes except for the ones in the top of the sides
before starting assembly.
I first glued the sides and lower shelves together, then clamped the top of
the shelf onto what I had assembled and drilled holes through the top of the shelf and
into the upright. That way, I could be sure that the holes for the top piece
aligned with those in the side pieces perfectly. This photo shows a dry fit
(before drilling the holes in the tops of the vertical side pieces)
I didn't add any diagonal bracing to the sides. I figured with 18 3/4" dowels holding the corners together, that should give the shelf plenty of sturdiness against side loads from somebody bumping or crashing into the shelf. All 18 dowel joints would have to break before the shelf could tip sideways. Certainly, the glued together shelf felt very rigid.
I have drawn up some plans for this low bookshelf
See also:
Tall narrow bookcase
Shelf with drawers
Fixing a sagging
Stackable book
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