60-minute bookcase

I had a brainfart this morning that transformed a $10 spare scrap of plywood into a really cool 5' tall, designery bookcase that some yuppie idiot would probably pay a few hundred for.

Warning: this procedure involves extensive lame woodworking techniques such as glueing and stapling with nailguns. If you're a dovetail joint purist, you probably don't want to read any further.

Step 1 Ingredients

Tools you will need:
- a table saw
- a nail gun

Material you will need:
- at least a quarter of a plywood sheet, 96" long x 12" wide x 3/4" thick.
- at least 60 1.25" brads for the nail gun
- wood glue
- sand paper
- pabst blue ribbon, to help you channel your inner bubba.

Note: User earay indicates that MDF might be a better substitute for plywood, as it is cheaper and easier to paint when complete.

Comments

[David_n_Redena]

Your bookcase design was great. I used 2 of them to fill in a doorway that was not needed anymore. I backed it with sheetrock painted the wall color.

[cuevassweetie]

Love your design! I'm wondering what you might think of the structural integrity of this bookshelf if I was to put a mattress on top and 3-4 of these guys lined up. Im in desperate need of more bookselfs and under the bed is my only option now :o)

[heartlesskitten88]

I'm giving these instructions to my husband so he can build his own bookcase and get all those giant auto manuals off my bookcase!! Thanks for sharing bubba :)

[den126]

My "vertical" version

[innerbubba]

Nice job! Yours came out looking great!

[callmechaos]

Cool bookshelf! We love it!
I plan to make one and paint the back board one
color and the other areas another bold color for a "funky- look". (I am so inspired that I may even start on it before I finish the other 50 projects that I am working on!! ha!)
Speaking of that "extra money" you don't have anymore-- you could always moonlight as a comedian! Reading your instructions, etc you have us cracking up over here!!

[timlawyer]

WARNING - DO NOT USE THE RIP FENCE to make the series of 6inch cuts shown here. Use a miter or cross cut saw guide. The way it is described here, you are essentially cutting off 6inch ends from a long rectangle that is perpendicular to the saw blade. DO NOT USE THE RIP FENCE because if the cut off piece pinches between the rip fence and the very back of your saw blade - THE 6inch CUT OFF WILL FLY BACK AT YOU AT OVER 100MPH - ENOUGH TO KILL YOU.

[alanemartin]

A properly equipped table saw should have a splitter behind the blade to help prevent this very issue. And most miter saws don't have the depth capability to make the 12" cut (only the 12" sliding saws can do it.)

There's no reason to not use the table saw IF you pay attention and use proper safety measures.

Personally, I wouldn't try to cut 6" pieces off the end of an 8' strip of plywood...use the circular saw to cut it into more manageable pieces first (say 2' long), then slice off the smaller pieces.

[smokehill]

This can happen with radial arm saws, too, as I found out the hard way.

On radials, the piece usually shoots out the back, rather than the front, of the saw. While paying not nearly enough attention, I shot a small piece of plywood about twenty feet, almost hitting my partner's head. It made a quite visible dent in the new drywall, and scared the **** out of both of us.

Power saws are downright dangerous, and you have to pay attention.

[Eye Poker]

My first and only kickback mistake with a table saw sent a six inch piece of particle board flying like a ninja star about 150 yards.  Luckily, I was outside and no one was in the way.

[mysterygirl154]

In our shop class there is a huge dent in the blackboard on the other side of the room from when someone did that. It's incredibly lucky that it didn't hit anyone.

[innerbubba]

Tim is right. I live dangerously, but my life is worthless. You should be careful.

[_soapy_]

Better yet, use a handsaw and wear boxing gloves.

[tradmer]

Built 2 of these this weekend - one for books, one for DVD's... found out too late that the large board my pieces were cut from was bowed. (Damnit Home Depot!) So.. unless you like that curved "it's a puzzle!" look.. make sure your board is straight. =/

[gollihughj]

innerbubba... your life is not worthless... just in this Instructable you have given me hope that I might outfit my "library" wtih shelves that I REALLY need (to get my books out of boxes), in a way that will be attractive and super helpful to me and my family. I'm sure you so many other useful and even valuable things... like attracts like. Be more positive and you will attract more of that to your life! And so it goes and you'll feel and, even, BE an even better person than you already are in little to no time. :)

[CraigStanton]

Thanks for the inspiration, nicely used up a plank I've had sitting around for a while. I might even go buy more so I can make it reach the ceiling now.

[DesignerUserName]

Saw this ages ago, then moved into a room with NO CLOSET and suddenly remembered seeing it. I constructed mine taller and deeper to hold shoes :) (Hey, I'm a woman!)

[SkizMaroo]

Lol, cool brainfart. PBR never affects my creativity quite like that :-)

[dptlord]

Not really a $10 project either, but for $35, I can make two for less than the price of one 4' floating shelf! It looks great, and is still affordable (and easy enough for those like me who aren't so skilled in construction)!

[fiducianullus]

 Mine came out GREAT. 2" drywall screws and bam... stable.

[ravijojla]

This is a bit more then '60 seconds' but definetly worth a try... Thanks! 

[fiducianullus]

 It says "60 minute"

[tiptop44890]

Looks to be easy to build gonna build a few of them and add some things to it myself

[jollymoon]

How do you make the bookshelf more stable so it doesn't fall over?  It looks kinda narrow and with 40-50 paperbacks on it what keeps it from tipping forward or sideways??

[rrod436]

Love this. I've made two so far. Used my own dimensions and added some copper rods to the open ends of one ( dvd rack ).

[mo37]

very nice...

[mrguy19187]

This worked fantastic and was super easy! I made mine one level shorter because it seemed a little unstable to put on carpet, with stuff on it. You could also add some little legs to increase stability. But overall this was a fantastic idea for an instructable. I wouldn't mind trying it in cardboard, too. Great job!

[GorillazMiko]

Awesome... gotta show this to my dad, I wan't one. I'm going to paint it black if I do it. Neat job. (added to favorites)

[GorillazMiko]

Woops, I meant "want", not "wan't". :P

[Yerboogieman]

No you didn't.

[--scare--]

LOLERZ!!

[Yerboogieman]

No.

[keno1010]

Im going to put in in my room. Because i keep slipping on my books. Thanks a million...

[--scare--]

you know u could just stack them, that way it would be higher to step on...

[mreighties]

This was an inspiration as it gave me an idea to do something like it, but on a smaller scale. I made a "paper organizer" for use at work. It will hold copies of about 4 different papers that we use daily. I have inserted an image of it. Thanks again for sharing this instructable. mreighties :)

[bruno13069]

Sweet Variation! This could be used for a IN/OUT filing tray set!

[frannyloo]

this is a fantastic instructable! but i don't have the things needed to cut plywood, nor do i have the plywood. do you think this might work with with something else?? like cardboard maybe..?

[eldavoloco]

  I just checked out lumber...you can by 1in. x 6in. x 8ft. length. 2 pieces would be enough to make this project. You could make wider shelves by using 1in. x 10 in. x 8 ft. boards (again, 2).
Buying this size lumber means you would only have to make 6 inch or 10 inch cuts across the boards to get your 1 foot pieces.

[spydog4]

search "cardboard lumber" there's a great instructable on how to make "wood" out of cardboard

[eldavoloco]

 Another alternative would be 2 pieces of 1in. x 6 in. x 8 ft. whiteboard (I just priced it at my local building store at around $11). It would cut way down on the amount of saw work, as you'd only have to cut it into 1 foot lengths.
 I love this design! Very elegant.