Bookcase II

I actually finished making my bookcase a couple of weeks ago, but for those who are curious, here's a photo of the finished product:



It's made of cherry plywood, sanded with 220 grade sandpaper, and finished with two applications of Danish oil. I didn't face the edges; I like the raw look of the plywood. The whole thing barely fits in this photo because it's almost 8' tall - which is what gives it room to hold 8 shelves of books (the bookcase that this replaces held only 5 shelves).

As a result, for the first time since college I have no stacks of books on the floor. In fact, on a bookcase in another room I have about a foot of empty space.

Even so, I'm not going to make another one of these right away - or at least till spring. Here's what it took to get here:

Wood, ready for sanding:


Much much later, stained wood drying under the awning so as not to get rained on:


Assembly, with screws & glue:


Before it had books on it - near the top you can see the brackets where I've attached it to the wall (this is earthquake country after all!):


And with books:


Corner detail (look, you can see some of what's on the shelves!):


And this doesn't even show the hours and hours of sanding, the measuring to drill the holes in the right place, the cleaning off the glue that dripped - not to mention designing the thing in the first place.

I can complain all I want but really, making this thing was so satisfying I hardly know how to describe it.

Bookcase I

My bookcase project begins! This morning on my way to work I stopped by Ace Hardware for wood-finishing supplies. I love Ace. It's full of tools & paint & bags of ready-mix concrete & bins of screws & a whole lot of other things that make me happy just by existing. The Ace in Palo Alto is also staffed by middle-aged men who look as if they spend their weekends doing complicated things with dove-tail joins & tablesaws. In another place and time they'd look at me and tell me to go ask my husband - but this is Palo Alto in 2007, so instead they recommend which kind of tung oil they like best to finish their own projects, and when I check out, the guy I've been talking to accords me the ultimate badge of honor:

"You must really know what you're doing," he says, looking down at my double pack of tack cloth.

I grin. "First time, actually," I say. I haven't felt so proud in weeks.

All of which causes me to think, what about the kids whose Moms aren't also devotees of hardware stores and whose Dads never rewired lamps with a small daughter looking on? Do those kids not get to make their own bookcases, because hardware stores & tools & sandpaper are unfamiliar territory instead of a comfort zone?

That sucks.