Cheap, easy, low-waste bookshelf plans

Build an easy, portable 3' x 8' wooden bookshelf in about 20 minutes, with a minimum of tools and less than 1% waste, for about $60. The basic concept can be modified to create any size shelf system needed.

For a similar bed see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-easy-low-waste-platform-bed/
For a similar dining table see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-easy-low-waste-trestle-table/

As a professional carpenter, furniture maker, and designer/builder, I see a lot of home carpentry projects that are grossly overbuilt and over-engineered. One of the goals of this Instructable is to avoid the unnecessary overbuilding that I frequently see on this site, and that I see every day working in the residential construction industry. Many of the building methods we (in the US) use today are horribly wasteful despite the advances that have been made in materials science and structural engineering, because most people in the residential building industry, from architects and engineers to carpenters, are mired in tradition, doing things a certain way "because that is how it has always been done", rather than consulting the best available science, or even questioning their own assumptions about "the right way to do it". I don't intend to knock tradition, either. Many of the tricks, techniques, and tools that I use daily are definitely "old-school", but seem to have been forgotten.

Thanks to my father for introducing me to this style of shelving, and who built a particularly fine example (using stained fir 2x4s and 2x12s, black washers, and brass acorn nuts) which is at least 25 years old and still in use.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

You will need:

(4) 8'  1x8  #2 and better pine
(2) 12' 1x4 #2 and better pine
(16) 9-3/8" long pieces of 1/4-20 all-thread rod (about 13')
(32) 1-1/4" fender washers
(32) 1/4-20 "acorn" or "cap" nuts
(1) 1/4-20 wingnut

My material cost was:
Lumber $39.62
Hardware $18.24
Total: $57.86

Hand or power saw for wood
Hand or power saw for metal
        (You can often have these items cut for a minimal fee at your local lumberyard)
Tape measure
Square
Pencil
Drill
9/32" drill bit for wood
Two 7/16" wrenches, or two adjustable wrenches, or a 7/16" wrench and a 7/16" socket and driver

Optional:
Awl, nail, or centerpunch

Comments

[mkslocomb]

have you tried this with 12" shelves, or just the 8"? this looks like a good replacement solution for my "milk crate shelves" (at least if it will hold 12"). also, very nice 'ible. looks easy duplicatable.

[aeray]

Thanks. 12" shelves should work fine, even with 1x material. If you need to dramatically increase the spans between uprights, or really dramatically increase the load-carrying capacity (like to hold bricks), you could use 2x material, but it shouldn't usually be necessary.

[laturb]

Tks, Aeray. I was scratching my head trying to convince myself that I must build a tools/nails/equipment shelf unit in our basement.
Your instructions seem idiot proof so within the next two weeks I should be able to place all my bits and pieces on shelves and more importantly, be able to find them when I need to.
Bravo!

[aeray]

You should also double-check the length of your all-thread rods. I'd dummy one up and try it out before cutting all of them. It needs to be just long enough to catch a couple of threads and snug down without punching out through the cap nut. The actual "cap" portion of cap nuts is fairly thin, and if the all-thread is even a bit too long it will punch through the end when you snug it up

[Avasar10000]

Would 2x2 material be strong enough if used as the upright supports? I did not see any mention of adding grooves that will ride over the all thread to keep the shelves in place. Is that not needed? My initial plan is to use 12" wide boards with 2x2 uprights and to make the bookshelf 5' to 6' tall by 60" wide.
I had also thought about adding some moulding to "jazz" it up a bit.

[aeray]

The 2x2s would be strong enough, but there might not be enough contact area between the upright and the shelf. The uprights clamp the shelves in place, and the friction between the shelf and upright is what keeps the whole unit from "going rhombus" (as starwalk put it). If you use 2x2s, there will be less surface area in contact, and less friction. And no, no grooves are necessary in the shelves, for the reasons mentioned above.

[aeray]

Post some photos when you're done.

[demxod8]

Thanks for posting this. I've been looking for a simple solution like this for years. It's brilliant.

[a.tyler.nelson]

Just build a 6'x6' version using the techniques in this 'ible. It looks great and works great! I used 6 lengths each of 1"x10" and 1"x4", both 6' long, and spaced the shelves to get on 18" shelf, one 16" shelf, and three 12" shelves. Mine cost a bit more (~$100 lumber and hardware), but the shelves went from concept to finished in only a few hours. Thanks a lot!

[aeray]

Pics would be great.

[a.tyler.nelson]

Here are a two views of the 6x6 shelves I built. Thanks again!

[mhendrickson]

Dear Aeray,
First thanks so much for your instrucables. So enjoy them. I've done the bed and will send pics later. Most recently did the bookshelves. Had about 20 boxes of books after a move and nowhere to put them. Did 3 sets of your shelves and emptied the book boxes in a day. Pics included. THANKS!
- MaryAnn

[aeray]

Extensive! Thanks for the pics!
Something about very long/low or very high/narrow bookshelves has always intrigued me but I haven't yet had the opportunity or space to build any.

[llmadigan]

thank you, thank you, thank you!! the lumber that i had in the garage wasn't exactly what your plans called for (2x4s and 1x10s), so i adjusted the length of the all thread to accommodate the depth. also, one of my 2x4s was kind of wonky and i was worried it would jeopardize the stability of the set - but it's totally solid! the shelves are level and aren't going anywhere!! :) (i threw all of my body weight against it, and it's totally solid!) it's approx. 4' wide by 7.5' tall.

oh yeah, and buying a bunch of cap nuts is not so easy unless you order ahead of time. i went to two hardware stores (one family owned and one big box) and they kind of laughed at me when i said i needed 32. so i got regular nuts, tightened them so they were flush with the all thread on the front side, hammered it against the board and tightened the back side while holding the front one in place with a wrench. so, some of them have a little bit of overhang on the back side, but i don't have to worry about gouging skin while walking past it. for my next set, i'll order the cap nuts in bulk from ebay ahead of time...

[llmadigan]

i said "totally solid" twice [blush]. i guess i'm excited :)

[narayas]

Made a nice set of shelves (30" tall x 8 ft) over 2 weekends. Home Depot cut the lumber, and I borrowed a hacksaw to cut the all-thread.
Sanding and staining the pine was more of a hassle than I thought it would be. I lost patience so it ended up kind of blotchy but the functionality is still fine. Didn't have a 9/32" drill bit so just used a 1/4" and it was a tight squeeze on the allthread but still worked fine. Nice & sturdy, glad to get all my books off the floor and organized.
Thanks for the very nice instructable.

[aeray]

Looks good. Thanks for the photos. With pine (or other species with inconsistent density) using a pre-stain conditioner really helps to even out the "blotchiness".

[leander37]

here's my 6x6 version build with #2 pine. shelves are 1x10 and threaded rod upsized to 5/16" to allow for extra width. center upright spaced at 1/3 side to side. this is very complex structurally - all the commenters who don't believe it should build it to really feel how it works. it is basically like a post-tensioned high rise. i think i'd like to paint the uprights and stain the shelves.

[aeray]

Good analogy, and thanks for the pics. I'm a big fun of the judicious and appropriately proportioned use of asymmetry. Looks good.

[Xpyd3r]

This worked like a charm and I love the simplicity. I'll definitely continue using the design, Thanks for the great instructable.

[aeray]

Thanks. Excellent corner application. What are the specifics? Are the shelves themselves joined in any way? Mitered? Butted? Splined? Pocket screwed?

[scallywag_ak]

Here is the one I built. Had to sand my lumber & decided to stain it. Hardware store did not have acorn nuts so I used regular nuts & will order acorn nuts. Hardware store was out of 1 1/4" washers so I used 1 1/2". Simple, cheap, sturdy, & useful. I like it! Thanks for sharing the plans.

[jzampaglione]

Made this bookshelf with a little alterations. I made it 8'x8'. There was no cutting involved because I bought 8' 1x3's. There are 8 shelves of slightly varying heights. If I did it again I would have about 12 shelves on the 8' but we will stack on this. I stained it using a poly-stain. Thought this would take less time. I will never use this again. It left drips all over the place..even though I was being careful. I would have been better off using stain then polyurethane. I also made the mistake of bying oil based (rushing in the store). Didn't realize until I went to wash my hands. If you ever do this...I found out that cooking oil followed by dishsoap works great to take oil based paints off your hands. I also used 5/16" rod because there wasn't any flex and I was making the shelves so big (used a 5/16" drill bit too so the fit was a little tight :) . Couldn't find the acorn nuts after 4 stores so I ordered them on Ebay ($10 inc shipping for a box of 50). Only put them on front because I needed 64. I also put metal cable on the ends (drilling two holes at the end of each shelf and x'ing it) so the books wouldn't fall off (got this idea from the poster who used clothesline). It cost a little over $200 when done (CT prices are high) but it is much sturdier than a Melemie shelf that would have been this price. My husband did not not believe it wouldn't "rack" but it is VERY sturdy. Will be making more.

[jzampaglione]

oops...forgot photo

[aeray]

Looks good, and like it fits the space well. Thanks for the photo. I tried the poly/stain combo stuff once, years ago, and decided that it was junk. I've been having good luck recently with stain conditioner, stain, and Sherwin-Williams Fast Dry varnish. The varnish is good stuff and lays down nicely.

[cattyb]

We'd been meaning to build these for over a year to replace a bulky entertainment center plus some cobbled together shelving for our TV wall. With a new 32" panel TV that only needed an 8" front-to-back shelf, this looked like a good choice! Since we live in rented housing, we couldn't attach anything to the walls but wanted something large enough to cover an exactly 8' x 8' wall without protruding the 27" into the narrow living room that the old furniture had while being "knock down-able" for future moves. Main problem = no real workspace for 8' uprights.
We finally did it!
My parents have the space and Dad has the tools -- a drill press, forstner bits and a long workbench were pretty essential. We decided to use countersunk 2x4s as uprights. This eliminated the need for pricey cap/acorn nuts while still leaving the all-thread ends 'protected' on the outside and allowing us to put it flush against the wall without causing damage.

Dad was SOOO concerned that there wasn't any way they weren't going to go rhombus and kept trying to over-engineer the project (my husband wasn't so certain, either!) but I stuck to my guns and followed the plans I'd "modified" to my specs -- 92" uprights (so as not to actually wedge against the ceiling), with 3/4" washers plus lock washers and plain old hex nuts in a 1" wide hole countersunk to 1/2" depth, 1x10 shelves and my brother just happened to have salvaged massive amounts of 1/4" all-thread that Dad cut to 12" lengths for us.

Because we needed to fit a 32" wide TV into the center of the whole shebang, we spaced the uprights further out from the center and eliminated a couple of shelves from just that center section...making 8" tall shelves on either side suitable for DVDs.
I also had the brainstorm to use two nail-in furniture "feet" on the bottom of each 2x4 on the front side so as to compensate for the carpet tack strip on the back edge and to make the shelves lean ever so slightly into the wall. I thought we might have to anchor the top of it to the wall, but with the feet, it stands very firm with absolutely no signs of wanting to tip forward! I felt great satisfaction when the almost 150 square inches of friction applied allowed for NO racking -- I could practically climb the end without anything budging!

We now have over 58 linear feet of shelving (with space under for shoes) for that wall that barely protrudes 12.25" into the room for a total cost of about $125! We plan to make at least two more units to accommodate the more than 15,000 books we own that are currently on store bought or cobbled shelving and in boxes plus have display space for our many collections Our only problem...we didn't take into account the depth of the shelf itself -- if you've got 10" between holes, you actually only get 9 1/8" of useable height on the shelf (most hardback books are 9.5" tall) = major bummer! We measured (from bottom) 12", 12", 10", 10", 9", 9", 10", 10" with top shelf at 13" from the ceiling.

(The shelves are only partially populated in the second pic because of our plans to get the other units done soon -- we knew we'd have to have space to move what we DO have on the other wall somewhere while we build)

Sorry for the long description...we're just so excited to have finally done this and how very well it works for us!

[aeray]

This may be the best comment I have ever received on one of my projects. Thanks, and thanks for the photos. Good for you for sticking to your guns; see what I mean about everyone wanting to over-engineer everything?

[kelociraptor]

I just built a 3' by 6' bookshelf using a scaled version of your plans, in one night. I chose 1x10s instead of 1x8s for my shelves in order to support some big textbooks, which impacted the rod length. I decided to put in only 1 center support roughly halfway between the ends, and it seems to be holding up well and it is a much more aesthetically pleasing and sturdy solution when compared to the IKEA bookcase I was using.

All in all, an easy build after everything was cut, and I am grateful for your detailed instructions and annotated photos. I added an extra set of flat washers after realizing that I had cut every section of rod about 3 threads too long for the cap nuts alone (oh well).

I stood on top of the middle of the top shelf with 150 pounds of weight and tried to "shake" it loose. Even with up to 0.5" of difference between cuts, courtesy of the person who cut my wood, I got little more than a lateral wiggle which was quickly fixed by tightening two of the 12 rods I ended up using.

Thank you for this excellent instructable.

[aeray]

Thanks for the excellent endorsement.

[narmády]

Thanks for the awesome plans! We spent a bit longer applying 2 coats of amber shellac, looks great, went together easy. Only alteration was 1x10s, longer rods. :)

[cattyb]

Oops -- this was supposed to be a reply to gmanhart-davis' question re drawers!
Stinkin' cookie blockers!

[cattyb]

We've built our 2nd and 3rd 8'x8' units (see long narrative above) and I've been using both plastic bins and covered cardboard boxes -- suitably reinforced -- to store items that I like having accessible. Ours is in the living room, but if you're in a workshop/garage you can get creative with containers and size/space your shelves accordingly like we did. Baskets, boxes, drawers from an old dresser, crates, buckets, flowerpots...you name it!

(photos coming soon...need to get the hubby to do his pic uploading magic!)

[rgbucha]

Do you think it would be possible to use MDF boards rather than pine? We have a large project and are trying to keep the cost down. Thanks.

[aeray]

While MDF has its place, and I use it fairly often, I wouldn't recommend it for this project. If you really want to use it, I would only use it for the shelves themselves, not the uprights, and I would space the uprights no more than 2' apart. Over time, even with 2' upright spacing, MDF will develop a noticeable sag. Go pick up an 8' 1x4 MDF board by the center and shake it vigorously perpendicularly to its long axis, and then try the same thing with a pine 1x4. You will be surprised. If you need to save a few pennies, look into spruce lumber, or a lower grade of pine.

[mdamaso]

I used your guide about a year ago to make my own bookcase and it has held up spectacular and looks great. Now if I only hadn't underestimated how many books I own. Thanks for the Instructable!

[aeray]

I built two, and I'll probably be building another soon. Thanks for the photo.

[efahrenkrog sheehan]

This is a great project-and for any sort of woodworking familiar person I am sure it is simple-however, I did run into some challenges and have some solutions to offer for those with the same.
1) altered the plans to make my shelf 48"Lx 12"Dx36"H (single self unit)
2) drilled holes and used 17/64 bit because that is what came in my drill bit box and I wanted to save $...the hole markers points were very helpful and everything lined up great
3) the thread rod proved challenging-due to my altered board width the 12" pre-measured length would not work and I was forced to go up to the 24" pre-measured size. knowing nothing about thread rod-I asked if they could cut it and they said they did not do that-so I bought a hack saw for $5 and added the proper measurement changes-it had been 8" width on original plan and now I had 12" so instead of
(16) 9-3/8" segments, I needed (8) 13 3/8 segments
The biggest challenge quickly discovered to a novice is that even with the wing nut on-it still would not repair my thread so back I went to buy more wing nuts (one wasn't going to cut it) and I decided-I would use wing nuts on each rod for the back side of the shelf (8 total)-so each one after cutting-twisting till the end and then putting the fender washer on the appropriate way (Pro) so when I put the rod through the shelving was secure for the other sides fender washer, acorn nut and tightening.
4) after I was certain it would work and the wing nuts would stay-I took it all apart to stain-this was my own problem but I just was not sure and the stain looked so nice with the fender washers and bolts.
I will add photos when I can but all in all-what seemed to be a 20 minute project ;) was more or less a 3 day one for a mom of two who could only afford so much time each day. I am very happy with the end results and know it would be so much easier to make the next time-maybe with some extra hands and a cold one. Thank you very much for sharing the plans!

[gmanhart-davis]

I love looking at your instructables and plan on making a couple beds and some shelves. My question is do you have any suggestions on adding a drawer like piece to this? Im thinking i might just have to build a cabinet and then put this on top (different dimensions of course)

[drzog]

great, just what i was looking for, since i dont have a lot of fine skills as yet. did find the racking an issue, will try further tightening. used 3/8 rod and 300mm pine shelves, held by 3/4 inch x 4inch hardwood supports.

[aeray]

Thanks for the photo. Snug down the nuts, and load it up. It should be pretty solid then.