[ Saw whirs, stops ] ♪♪ Bookcases are always popular storage projects.

I think they can end up looking a little too boxy, though, so we're taking a whole new angle on the bookcase.

We have a slant-sided design that holds a wide variety of materials but doesn't take up a lot of space.

And best of all, you can build it in a short amount of time with mostly solid wood construction and the help of a few power tools.

It's time to start building.

Announcer: Major funding for "The Woodsmith Shop" has been provided by... ♪♪ Narrator: Old Masters.

Offering wood stains and finishes for the woodworking enthusiast and professional.

♪♪ Announcer: And by... Narrator: Kreg.

From the first cut to the final assembly, providing woodworkers with products that help to simplify woodworking challenges.

Kreg.

Announcer: Additional funding provided by... ♪♪ Narrator: Titebond wood glues -- the pro's advantage.

♪♪ Announcer: And by... ♪♪ ♪♪ And by... Narrator: Inventables -- tools for designing and building your products.

Inventables.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Logan, these are a nice- looking pair of bookcases.

That's right.

You know, these match a desk and a wall shelf that we built in a different episode, and they have a nice kind of modern design on them.

They do.

One thing I like about them is, they're a slant-front, and the shelving is graduated in the depth.

So, I can place smaller books up at the top, larger items at the bottom.

It all looks good.

And what I like is, when I look at these bookcases.

I don't feel like they're gonna fall over me.

I don't feel like my pets and children are in danger.

You know, and one thing I like that you did on the design on these bookcases are that the shelves are fixed, right?

Because we all know with those movable shelves, once you load them up, you probably never actually move them again.

No one ever does.

And then, the material on here, we changed it up a little bit from the plans.

This is birch.

It might look like the hard maple we used on the other one, but it's birch.

Works a little bit easier.

And we also changed our spacer block down there to lift the case off the base, and we with walnut instead of maple.

It kind of darkens up the shadow line a little.

Yeah, I think it looks great.

That's a good choice.

And then, we do have a little bit additional storage in the form of a drawer on bottom, and that's great for all those little board games and stuff that you don't want on the shelf, necessarily.

Well, two great bookshelves.

A great project.

And you'll find this project at WoodsmithShop.com.

The construction of this bookcase begins with the upper case portion.

And since it's mostly solid wood, the first step is to glue up the panels that you'll need for the two side pieces.

Now, while the case is gonna get a long taper cut on the front edges, I'm gonna be working with these pieces while they're square, for the time being.

And what that's gonna involve is to lay out the joinery for the dados that are gonna hold all of the different shelves on here.

So, you can see that I have the two pieces, and I've set them so that they're back to back.

And I've marked the location of where that taper is gonna get cut.

And that's important, because the dados that we're gonna cut are going to be stopped 1/2-inch from each edge of the the slanted portion.

So I want to know where that's gonna be.

Now, to mark those, I'm gonna use a long ruler here with a stop on it.

And I've set this one to mark the location for the dado that's gonna be the top of the drawer box.

Then, I have a smaller adjustable square that I can use to mark the end of the cut so that it's 1/2-inch in... ...from each edge.

Now, all I need to do is reset the stop on my ruler, lay out the locations for the other dados, and then we can talk about cutting them.

Since these are stop dados that are gonna hold the shelves on our bookcase, it makes sense to cut those with a router.

Now, we've shown several options for doing that, and since I like using my router, I like exploring other options, so here's one that you might want to consider.

This dado jig guides the router.

It's pretty simple.

There are a pair of plywood runners that are attached to a hardboard base.

Now, those runners are spaced to match the base plate of the router.

So it guides it in a straight line, and the router can't stray one way or the other to go off course.

On the bottom side of the jig... are a pair of cleats that are attached, and these cleats are square to the path of the router.

So, since I left these pieces square, I can register the cleat against one of the edges of the piece, and then I'll just slide it along here until I see my layout line appear in the slot of the jig.

Line it up with that line and clamp it in place.

I can also see the start and stop lines for the stop dados, so I can just line up the router right over that mark, turn on the router, plunge it down to its final depth, and run it all the way across, creating the dado.

In a very short amount of time, you'll have all of these dados done.

Now, to cut the taper, we've already laid it out, and I've taped my two pieces back to back here so that I can cut them both at the same time, and then I'll know they'll be right on.

You can do this any number of ways -- with a taper jig over at the table saw, at the bandsaw, or with a circular saw on an edge guide, which is what we're gonna do here.

This is just a little bit more of an elaborate version of it using a track saw.

So, for this, I'll take the pieces... ...slide them underneath the track... ...and line up the layout line with the edge of the track.

Now it's just a matter of setting the saw onto the track and making the cut in one smooth motion.

All right.

Let's shift gears a little bit and start working on the shelves that will get fit into those sides that we've been working on.

Now, I've cut the pieces for the top and the bottom and the individual shelves to their rough overall size.

Now, remember, since the case is tapered, they're going to vary a little bit in width, but the joinery that connects them to the cases is all identical.

I'm going to cut that here at the table saw.

And I have installed a dado blade, recessed it into an auxiliary fence so that the width of the blade that's remaining matches the length of the tongue that I want to create.

And the blade height is set to form that tongue so that it's a nice snug fit in those dados.

It's a pretty simple process.

I'll just make a pass holding the piece both down on the table and into the fence using a push block.

Then I'll just flip the piece around and make a second cut to repeat the process.

All right.

There are a few stages to glueing up the case beyond just grabbing the glue bottles in the clamps.

Now, what I want to do is end up with all of the front edges of the shelves to be flush with the long tapered front edges of the case sides.

To do that, I'm doing a little bit of a dance here.

I started at the table saw by trimming off most of the waste with the blade tilted.

Now, when I dry-fit it into the case sides, the pieces are still going to be a little proud.

So when I do that, then I can mark with a pencil how much more proud they are.

Then I'll come back over here and use a hand plane to trim off most of the remaining waste.

I still want it to be just a little proud at the front.

Then once I have the whole case glued up and the glue is dry, I'll come back with a few more swipes to get everything all evened out.

So, I'm ready to start the assembly process, and I'm going to do it one side at a time because there's just a lot of pieces going on here.

Then you can start fitting each of the dividers, shelves, the top, and the bottom into place.

Once I have the shelves all glued into one side, I'll apply glue to the opposite case side and then turn everything over on its back and get that other side attached.

Then it's just a matter of applying clamps.

Before you walk away from the project, you want to make sure that everything is square.

So, now that Phil has the case to our bookshelf done, let's concentrate on the base.

The base really only has a few different parts.

We have a series of four legs, and those are tapered on the inside faces.

Then we have some stretchers that connect each of the legs.

And the front stretcher has a nice, gentle curve, and it we'll cut a little bit later at the bandsaw.

Separating the base and the case is a set of filler strips, and that really just lifts the entire case off of the base and gives it a light look.

So, we're going to start this over at the bench with the legs and cut some mortises.

So, our legs start off as square blanks, and you can buy blanks that are 3 inches thick for the legs, but with this birch, we went ahead and glued these up.

So we have two inner cores, and then we have some thinner show faces that we've glued on the outside edges.

And those will be what's visible when our base is done.

Now, I've went and laid out all of our mortises.

We'll take care of the mortising before we taper the legs.

When I can, I like to do all my joinery before any shaping.

So, for the mortises here, I'm going to chop them with a mortise chisel.

Now, when you compare a mortise chisel to a regular chisel, you can see that the mortise chisel is much, much thicker and has a much steeper bevel angle.

That's for edge retention.

Because the mortising does require less strength from the chisel.

So I'm going to go ahead and use the mortise chisel.

And start in the center.

We're going to give it a good chop.

And then I'm going to flip the chisel around and come from the other way.

[ Tapping ] And get rid of that little piece of waste.

Then this is just a process of taking a step, about 1/8 inch at a time, chopping down.

And with each chop, the mortise gets a little bit deeper.

Then when we get out here to the ends, I'm going to leave just a hair of waste, and I'm going to make my final cut on the ends, and it's just going to be a paring cut.

If you try to take a lot of material off the end, you'll get a wedging action from the chisel.

And it'll actually push the chisel past the line in, and we don't want that, so I'm going to go ahead and take care of the rest of the mortises on these legs.

Then we'll head over to the table saw and cut a taper on them.

So, I know I said we were going to cut the tapers on the legs over at the table saw, but as I was setting this jig up, I realized that the blade won't go high enough because these legs are too thick when you put them on top of the sled.

But that's okay.

In woodworking, there's many ways to do stuff.

So we're going to cut the tapers here, add the bandsaw using the same tapering jig that I would use at the table saw.

So, I've started by marking the taper on the legs.

I've marked where it starts up here by our mortises and then where it kind of ends down here at the foot.

Setting up the taper jig is pretty simple.

We're going to align the cut, where it starts, with the edge of the sled.

And then the same thing down here by the mortises.

Then I can just slide this fence in place.

Lock it down.

And then I want the leg to stay in this exact spot, and I want it to stay in this spot when I switch between legs, so I'll just use a stop block that has some double-sided tape on it.

And we'll put that up here.

There we go.

And then I can slide this clamp that's held in a little dovetail groove in, lock the workpiece down.

And then it's a simple matter of making the cut.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ While we're here at the bandsaw, we might as well take care of our tenons, as well, for our base because cutting tenons isn't only a table-saw job.

We can do it perfectly well here at the bandsaw.

I set the fence up to be the right thickness of tenon for the mortises we cut earlier.

And I've also set a depth stop here.

So what we're going to do is we're going to make a pass with the workpiece up against the fence into the blade until we just contact the stop block.

And I taped this guy in place, so it's not going to go anywhere.

Then, after we've touched the stop block, we'll back out of that cut, flip it around, do the opposite side, making sure to keep the same face against the fence.

And then after I've cut the tenon length on all of our workpieces, I'll move the fence, readjust everything, and we'll use a miter gauge to go ahead and cut the shoulder on there.

So, now that we're done with everything at the bandsaw, we can come back here to the bench and kind of put everything we just cut together, but we do have a little bit of cleanup to do first.

So the first thing we need to do is tackle the legs.

The bandsaw blade leaves some scar marks on there, and it's particularly where the blade finishes.

Its cut on the shoulder can sometimes be a little rough.

So I just come in with a chisel, remove any high spots, just paring across.

And then to get rid of those bandsaw marks, I'll just grab a plane and hit them.

Then once those are cleaned up, we can turn our attention to the stretchers.

So, after we went ahead and cut the shoulders and the cheeks of the tenon, I went ahead and nibbled away at the waste at this top edge.

And that's so that will fit right into that mortise, and the top of the leg and the top of the stretcher will be flush.

Now, I did that with a series of stop locks, like we cut the tenons with, but I left a little bit of waste in here, and I did that just so they don't all fall next to the blade.

Can kind of cause a mess while you're cutting them.

And then the final thing I did at the bandsaw was cut this decorative kind of angular curve on the front of the stretcher.

And we left a couple marks on here, some bandsaw marks, so I'll just go ahead and clean that up with a -- I think just a sanding block will do on that.

So now we can go ahead and get everything put together.

Okay, so, now that we have everything cleaned up, we can go ahead and do some assembly.

And there's no real trick here.

Just have to get glue on all of the tenon surfaces and then put the stretchers in in the right orientation.

There we go.

Brought in a couple more clamps to help hold everything tight.

So, now while the glue is drying, we can go ahead and tackle these fillers.

And the fillers are just little strips of birch, and they're cut to fit in between the legs, both in the front, back, and sides.

And, quite honestly, the length on these is not terribly critical.

So I'll just hold one up in place... mark it with a chisel... and then cut it by hand.

And then I'll screw and glue these into place, and then we'll tackle the spacers.

The last thing to take care of on our base is to add the spacers.

Now, in the original plans, we had the spacers the same material that we built the rest of the bookcase out of.

But with this one, we thought it might look good to do a darker spacer.

It kind of lends to that shadow-line look.

So, here I have some walnut.

These things are pretty straightforward.

I've just cut some butt joints, and they're positioned so the back spacer is flush with the back of the case, and then that creates about a 3/4-inch recess all the way around.

Once that case is installed, it just makes a really good-looking shadow line.

There's no trick to attaching these guys.

You just hold them in place with a clamp... ...and then attach them with a couple screws.

The drawer itself is going to be a pretty simple affair -- Tongue-and-groove joints on the corners and the bottom will be held in a plough.

Now, making the drawer is pretty easy, but there are some things you need to watch out for.

One of them is check your lumber to make sure it's not warped.

If your lumber is warped, it's going to impart a twist on the drawer, which will make hanging the slides very difficult.

Another thing that can go wrong is that you need to make sure all your machine setups are accurate and true, because if they're out a little bit, once again, we're going to see a twist in the drawer.

And that, once again, will make it very hard to hang the slides.

Last thing is, when we go to assemble the drawer, do make sure it's perfectly square.

If it's not, you may end up having to spend some time with a hand plane in order to get the false front to seat true relative to your cabinet.

Our first step in constructing the drawer is going to be to cut the ploughs on either end of our sides.

When I'm done with that, I'll cut the plough which will hold the bottom.

Then I'll move to the front and back of the drawer and cut the plough there.

Once that's done, we'll retool and cut the tongues on the front and the back.

Well, it's time to glue up our drawer.

I've dry-fit it together, so I know it will go together.

And, for once, I remembered to drill the holes in the front of the drawer which will attach the false front before I glue it all together.

So a glue-up is simple enough.

I just need to apply a little bit of glue into these dados.

And I'm also going to apply a little bit of glue inside the plough which holds the drawer bottom.

And that'll really give the drawer some stiffness and rigidity.

And, of course, I want to make absolutely sure that this drawer is square.

And it is.

So I think I'm ready to just let the glue dry, and we will move on to installing the drawer guides next.

There's no great mystery to installing full-extension drawer glides.

The first step is going to be to secure the inner slide to the side of the draw.

Sometimes we can just place the glide directly against the side of the drawer and mark screw-hole locations through the entire glide.

In this case, I'm going to extend it out and mark screw-hole locations.

With that done, I'll go ahead and attach the inner glide with screws.

The next step is to separate the glide and go over to the cabinet, and I'm going to be installing this glide.

To install this portion of the slide, I've put a 1/4-inch shim inside my cabinet.

I've also made a mark on the inside of the cabinet, which is 3/4 of an inch in from the face, and that 3/4 of an inch represents the thickness of the false front of our drawer.

So, I'm going to position the slide with that line, and now I'll make some pencil marks to indicate where I'm going to place screws.

With that done, I'll pre-drill and attach that portion of the slide.

And with that done, I'm ready to install the false front on the drawer.

With the drawer box installed on its glides, I went ahead and slipped the back of the cabinet in place and pinned it in position.

With that done, I turn my attention to the drawer false front.

So, the false front has been sized for length and width.

And I went ahead and cut this notch here which will act as a handhold.

To temporarily position the false front on my drawer box, I have two strips of double-sided tape.

So, I'm going to carefully position the false front where it needs to go.

And with that done... Push down and secure it in place.

Now, of course, I still need to add some screws to it, but while the cabinet is on its back and on my workbench, I think it's a good time to add the base.

Once I'm done with that, I'll pick the cabinet up and place it on the floor, then I'll pull my drawer out, clamp the false front to the drawer box to keep it from moving, drill, and add my screws.

There's a lot to love about this particular bookcase design.

I like that the stand raises it up off the floor and gives it a lighter look.

And using light-colored materials like birch or maple can make it feel a little bit more contemporary.

The addition of a drawer at the bottom for some hideaway storage is the perfect solution, too.

If you'd like to make your own version of this bookcase, you'll find the plans at our website, WoodsmithShop.com.

It's also the place to find even more great furniture projects and videos and tips and techniques to help you become a better woodworker.

And then we'll join up right back here for another episode of "The Woodsmith Shop."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ If you'd like to get more video tips and techniques, sign up for the free weekly Woodsmith eTip.

Every week, you'll receive an e-mail with a video tip to get more out of your table saw, router table, and more.

Sign up at WoodsmithShop.com.

Everything in today's show comes from the newly expanded Woodsmith Guild Edition with shop projects, plans, tips, and techniques.

To get a free preview issue of the Woodsmith Guild Edition and a free Woodsmith book, go to WoodsmithShop.com.

In addition, past seasons of "The Woodsmith Shop" are available on DVD, or you can watch them online from your computer, tablet, or mobile device.

For more information, go to WoodsmithShop.com.

Announcer: Major funding for "The Woodsmith Shop" has been provided by... Old Masters -- offering wood stains and finishes for the woodworking enthusiast and professional.

And by... Kreg -- from the first cut to the final assembly, providing woodworkers with products that help to simplify woodworking challenges.

Kreg.

Additional funding provided by... Titebond Wood Glues -- the pro's advantage.

And by... ♪♪ ♪♪ And by... Inventables -- tools for designing and building your products.

Inventables.com.