Gallery
Switchback bookcase
Jul 08, 2009
Contemporary design with traditional (albeit routed) dovetail joinery. I’ve never been a fan of adjustable shelving, which was the genesis for a fixed shelf case that could efficiently house books of varying size. No bookends required.
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cherry and walnut version
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cherry and walnut, knock-down version with unglued dovetails and tusked thru tenons. Interesting experiment.
Comments
How do you cut dovetails into and end that is not 90 degrees.....all by hand?
You can cut them by hand, but given the number of joints on this piece I chose to modify a router jig to allow me to clamp stock in at a 7 degree angle off the normal 90 degree position. It was a Leigh jig and the instruction manual covers how to do this.
This is a great bookcase. Well done!
Thanks for the answer to the dovetail question.
So far you have my vote for the bookcase winner. The greatest thing about this design is that I could see this bookcase in the simplest dorm room all the way to the most famous CEO's personal office. A fancier home den/office seems most appropriate. Wonder what it would look like with doors on the bottom few levels?
Keep producing sawdust.
Thank you for your kind words. I've done this design with a couple different versions of joinery and as a slatwork knockdown. All of them difficult to make at a low price point! But I keep trying to find new angles to make it more affordable. We are currently working on a version at the Red Rocks School of Fine Woodworking that will be 100% made from thin scraps headed for the trash.
As for the doors, that might make an interesting add on! Keep in mind that they'd be a little funky because you'd want to hinge them on the short side (or the bottom door would open into the floor). Thanks again!
Beautiful!
When I first bagan looking at your bookshelf, I was reminded of a verical stack of books.
Keep up the good work!
orginally en creative;well done.
my eyes feels fine. good luck
Great design! I think with a little adjustment you could easily make this a great production item. Thanks for posting the alternate photos.
I haven't done this with finger joints, but I think that would greatly simplify the production process for a one man shop like mine (and still look really good). A CNC solution would really make this piece more affordable!
This has to be the most intriguing design I've ever seen. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago and I still can't get over it. I love both the form and the function (i.e., the tilting over of the books to stand by themselves). You hit it right on the mark, for me at any rate. Thanks for sharing your design.
Thanks Pinebark, I appreciate your kind words. I'm glad you like the form, but this piece was designed almost 100% from a function first perspective. I started out to make rectangular bookcase. I began to measure all my books to figure out the optimal shelf spacing to house them and I lost patience with the process. I figured there had to be a lazier way to design this, so I measured only the smallest book and the largest book.
I knew if I sloped the shelves along the angle of largest to smallest over an arms length board, tossed in a 90 degree angle for the corner where the books go, the rest of the design would fall out of that. I found the stacking to be most intriguing with a little bit of cantilever, which was my only artistic flair.
Great idea, solid design and excellent execution!
I sensed this was a winner back on July 8th & again on July 14th. I'm glad other people noticed as well. Congratulations.
Now that I revisited your creation I have another question. The tall "book end" pieces (mainly shelves 2-6) don't come to a corner. Did you just angle butt-joint that piece with the upper and lower shelves or did you grove in an angled dado joint to accept it.
Sorry for the slow reply, ohwoodeye. The end caps are dovetailed and the longer angled support panels are through mortise and tenon. I used loose tenons (as opposed to integral tenons) to simplify the build process.
I just saw this in the lates edition of Fine Wood Working. Pete was my teacher in a beginning wood working class at the Red Rocks Community Collage a few years ago here in the Denver Area. A great teacher. he let us get into trouble -with direction.
I have seen some of his other work. Those projects are as creative as the book case.
Congradulations on winning the challenge
I am going to make one but was curious how wide it is?
I am doing a project for my ag mechanics class and was wondering if i could have the plans for this?
I love this bookcase and would like to purchase plans for it. Do you have plans for purchase?
Wow! Great wood works.
Great Job. Excellent Design
very creative..Good job!
Beautiful Design of Book Shelf.
Incredible wood crafting.
Such a unique and handy bookcase.
Unique and economic design
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