The project that we kicked off way back in October of 2021 is finally coming to completion! We now have a full home library, eight full bookcases and five extra shelves in retrofitted closet-nook. Was it more expensive than buying eight higher-end bookcases? Yes. Did it take longer than just buying them? Also yes. I’m glad we did it though, we learned a ton about woodworking, project planning, HVLP spraying of paint and lacquer, and gained a ton of confidence for tackling big projects in the future. At the moment only a fraction of the library is catalogued, something I’ll address in the weeks and months to come, but it’s already our favorite room in the house. One detail not captured in the photos; the lighting has been upgraded to Philips Hue bulbs and a light strip is recessed in the nook to keep the books legible and looking good even after dusk.
As with any project, I have to force myself not to pick up on all the wonky mistakes made along the way, but I’m genuinely happy with how it all turned out.
A little section here for important things we learned along the way.
- "Brushing lacquer" can be sprayed in an HVLP gun by diluting 1 part of it to 2 parts lacquer thinner, and 40 psi is a good pressure. We saved a ton of money just buying the tool rather than using dozens of aerosol cans.
- That same HVLP sprayer can do paint, incredibly even layers of it, just clean it thoroughly afterwards.
- Don't trust that your router bit is at the center of it's base plate - measure that!
- 3/4" thick plywood isn't precisely 0.750", don't make it a critical dimension when designing. Same for the width and length, you usually get slightly more than 4' x 8' in a sheet.
- Think about the direction of gravity during the glue-up, this is where you can accumulate skew across a large piece depending on how you orient it.
- Keep track of your measurements; are they center-to-center, inner-edge to inner-edge, something else? Be clear in sketches.
- If you're making more than one of something, build a jig, but really make sure its the right jig before you get cutting.
- Don't stress the small stuff, wood filler can work some real magic, and big mistakes teach you something important (make scrap for the next project).
