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For the past several weeks, I have been working on a book case for storage in our upcoming daughter's room. It is still under way, but I am finally getting around to putting up a build thread as I finish things up. The book case is made from 3/4 Baltic Birch plywood and Cherry. The first image shows a bit of the planning stage. I drew up a few versions that eventually evolved into what the wife wanted. This, of course, is also not what it will end up looking like :LAUGHING:.
I picked up a 1/4" Freud slot cutter on clearance from my hardware store and used that and 1/4" Baltic Birch splines to line up the cherry facing on the plywood, while also adding some additional surface area for gluing.
All of the shelves, sides, and vertical dividers connect with sliding dovetails and glue. A few sliding dovetails are pretty easy to fit if you cut them on a router table--especially with an Incra fence. Lots of sliding dovetails that are dependent upon one another for alignment, though, that is another story all together. It was during this stage that I made my first big blunder. I had built an extra 4 inches into the height of the top shelf so that I could have a curved trim piece that would hang down from the top across the front and still have the same size of opening. This was important because some of the shelves are sized for some baskets that the wife picked out. I was so focused on my sliding dovetails that I somehow overlooked this design detail. In the end, I made a number of other changes to rectify the design, some of which I am still ironing out.
Above is some of the dry-fitting process to check for alignment as I was cutting the sliding dovetails. The original plan had 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood to be used as a back panel. I didn't think too much about this, but I knew that I wanted the back panel to be dadoed into the back. I ended up doing the back panel in three pieces (one per shelf). I shortened the vertical dividers to fit flush against the back board without actually attaching to it. The dados run inside the the shelves and side walls. There was a very specific process for assembly in order to have everything go together properly.
(Cue my second blunder) This actually relates to my first. The extra 4 inches that was supposed to be with the top shelve ended up at the bottom. The side walls are now my legs. Previously, I was going to build separate legs for the unit, but no more! The two panels are plenty sturdy, but they don't do much for the center--especially if anything heavy is placed on the unit for an extended period of time Granted, all of the shelves and top would have to flex in order for any one of them to sag, but I am not taking any chances. I built two extra supports for underneath (I'll try and get a picture next time I have it upside-down). They are 3 layers thick plywood and extend from a shallow dado in the center of the side panel perpendicular 16" to right under the nearest bottom shelf divider. The plan was for these to be glued in place and have 2 2" stainless wood screws help anchor them in place, driven from the inside of the dovetail slot of the bottom shelf vertical divider, downward into the lower brace. I did this for the first one as planned, but the second was supposed to go on last. Like a bone head, I assembled the rest of the case, including the vertical divider for the other side of the bottom shelf that I was supposed to leave out to drive screws in for the 2nd lower support. Alas, both lower supports are attached in different ways. I am okay with it, though, as both are strong and the differences are well out of sight.
I used Titebond III when assembling all of this, taking advantage of the extra open time to glue all of the joints and ensure that they are square. Lacking any clamps bigger than 32", I used ratcheting straps to help wrench everything together. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best solution as the sides do bow slightly out in the center on both sides. This obviously isn't ideal, but there is no fixing it so I can live with it. It really is a minimal amount and not noticeable to the naked eye.
Because of blunder number 1, I had to start from scratch again with the whole design aspect and reevaluate the overall aesthetic. This whole thing really took the wind out of my sails on this project. Eventually, through a process of attempted solutions, new problems, and new solutions, I nearly have the blunders resolved.

I picked up a 1/4" Freud slot cutter on clearance from my hardware store and used that and 1/4" Baltic Birch splines to line up the cherry facing on the plywood, while also adding some additional surface area for gluing.


All of the shelves, sides, and vertical dividers connect with sliding dovetails and glue. A few sliding dovetails are pretty easy to fit if you cut them on a router table--especially with an Incra fence. Lots of sliding dovetails that are dependent upon one another for alignment, though, that is another story all together. It was during this stage that I made my first big blunder. I had built an extra 4 inches into the height of the top shelf so that I could have a curved trim piece that would hang down from the top across the front and still have the same size of opening. This was important because some of the shelves are sized for some baskets that the wife picked out. I was so focused on my sliding dovetails that I somehow overlooked this design detail. In the end, I made a number of other changes to rectify the design, some of which I am still ironing out.

Above is some of the dry-fitting process to check for alignment as I was cutting the sliding dovetails. The original plan had 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood to be used as a back panel. I didn't think too much about this, but I knew that I wanted the back panel to be dadoed into the back. I ended up doing the back panel in three pieces (one per shelf). I shortened the vertical dividers to fit flush against the back board without actually attaching to it. The dados run inside the the shelves and side walls. There was a very specific process for assembly in order to have everything go together properly.
(Cue my second blunder) This actually relates to my first. The extra 4 inches that was supposed to be with the top shelve ended up at the bottom. The side walls are now my legs. Previously, I was going to build separate legs for the unit, but no more! The two panels are plenty sturdy, but they don't do much for the center--especially if anything heavy is placed on the unit for an extended period of time Granted, all of the shelves and top would have to flex in order for any one of them to sag, but I am not taking any chances. I built two extra supports for underneath (I'll try and get a picture next time I have it upside-down). They are 3 layers thick plywood and extend from a shallow dado in the center of the side panel perpendicular 16" to right under the nearest bottom shelf divider. The plan was for these to be glued in place and have 2 2" stainless wood screws help anchor them in place, driven from the inside of the dovetail slot of the bottom shelf vertical divider, downward into the lower brace. I did this for the first one as planned, but the second was supposed to go on last. Like a bone head, I assembled the rest of the case, including the vertical divider for the other side of the bottom shelf that I was supposed to leave out to drive screws in for the 2nd lower support. Alas, both lower supports are attached in different ways. I am okay with it, though, as both are strong and the differences are well out of sight.

I used Titebond III when assembling all of this, taking advantage of the extra open time to glue all of the joints and ensure that they are square. Lacking any clamps bigger than 32", I used ratcheting straps to help wrench everything together. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best solution as the sides do bow slightly out in the center on both sides. This obviously isn't ideal, but there is no fixing it so I can live with it. It really is a minimal amount and not noticeable to the naked eye.

Because of blunder number 1, I had to start from scratch again with the whole design aspect and reevaluate the overall aesthetic. This whole thing really took the wind out of my sails on this project. Eventually, through a process of attempted solutions, new problems, and new solutions, I nearly have the blunders resolved.