Basic Woodworking: Assembling A Custom Book Shelf With Pocket Screws

By Bruce W. Maki, Editor

I had some old 1x12 knotty pine lumber in the basement, which a previous owner had used for some inexpensive shelving. Since we are always in dire need of storage space for books and magazines,  I decided to build a small 2-shelf bookcase.

In fact, there was enough material for three small book shelf units. This was the first one.

Cutting And Finishing The Components:

My first task was to cut the 1x12 planks to length. As with a lot of my wacky ideas, I designed the project to fit the material available. I started with a selection of boards that were around 5 feet long. I made 2 sides, 2 shelves, and one top. Each piece was just about ½ the length of my available planks.

The top was different from the other boards. I bought a few feet of 3/4" shelf cap molding, made from poplar. I glued and nailed the shelf cap to the front and side edges. I also bought a sheet of 1/4" thick lauan plywood, which will provide enough material to make the back panels for three shelf units. This lauan plywood was soft, and I found that I could cut it with a sharp knife and a drywall T-square. No saw required.

I also ripped a small strip of pine for the front toe-kick, and some small scraps for shelf cleats.

After the boards were cut to size, I sanded them with a random-orbit sander, and stained them with Minwax No. 215 Red Oak stain. I finished the wood with 2 coats of a satin oil-based urethane. Except for the shelf cap, there was no glue used in assembly, just screws.

The shelf components after being stained and finished. I normally stain and urethane woodworking projects after assembly. But that approach has some drawbacks, such as difficulty getting into corners. I just wanted to try a different approach to see if it worked.

Needed: A Good Work Bench

Assembling any large woodworking project requires a sturdy work surface. I often use a pair of folding metal sawhorses and a home-made table top (7/16" OSB screwed to a 2x2 frame). I laid a piece of carpeting remnant on the work bench, to protect the finished woodwork.

The Secret Ingredient:

The key to this project was the Kreg Rocket Pocket Hole Jig kit.

The kit came with a special Vise-Grip clamp to hold the jig in place.

You just position the jig at the end of the board (on the back side) and lock the Vise-Grip in place.

The kit also came with a special step-drill bit, which makes a large diameter flat-bottomed hole with a smaller pilot hole

The step bit has a stop collar that stops the drill at the desired depth. Setting up the stop collar took a few minutes, but does not need to be done often.

I bought the Kreg Rocket Pocket Hole Jig kit for about $55 from a woodworking catalog. I have also seen this jig, and several other variations, in Rockler's woodworking catalog, stock number 22446.  (Rockler: 1-800-233-9359).

With the jig clamped in place, I just drilled away. This was too easy!

The resulting holes were uniform and precise

Looking into the holes, you can see the flat-bottomed part where the screw head rests.

On the underside of the bottom shelf I made three pocket holes.

On the back side of the toe-kick I also made some holes directed up to the bottom shelf. Here I drove in the special screws to attach the toe-kick to the bottom shelf. The long square-drive screwdriver bit was supplied with the Kreg kit.

The Kreg kit came with a couple dozen of these special screws. They have a self-drilling point and a pan head. Kreg says to avoid flat-head screws (such as this drywall screw) because it may split the wood. But I did use these drywall screws in other places.

The bottom assembly, which is just the bottom shelf with the front and back toe kicks.

The front toe-kick was inset about 1 inch. Note the pocket holes in the bottom of the shelf. These will connect with the sides of the bookshelf.

On the side panels, I measured the location of the middle shelf. I made the lower shelf space a little taller than the upper shelf (about 13") to accommodate large books.

I secured two cleats to each side panel. These are just 1x1 scraps of pine. I used 1¼" drywall screws in pre-drilled and countersunk holes.

I attached the bottom section to the side panels. It can be quite a trick to keep the large components even and square while the fasteners are installed. A flat workbench helps. Sometimes I do assembly of large components on the garage floor.

The assembly so far.

I installed the middle shelf next. If I did this last, it's possible that I might not have enough room.

Since the side panels were slightly warped, I used a pair of pipe clamps to squeeze the sides together.

After installing the middle shelf, I installed the top shelf using 1¼" drywall screws. I held the top in place with a C-clamp to prevent it from slipping. Note the contoured edge of the top shelf. This is the shelf cap trim that I mentioned earlier.

Almost done.

I set the assembly face down on the carpeted workbench. I laid the back panel on the shelf unit. I discovered that the back panel was not big enough. There was a gap at the top (red arrow) even when the panel was not quite overlapping the bottom shelf.

This flaw was my own fault. I originally planned on using 1x4 for the toe kick, but I later decided to just rip in half a piece of lumber that I found in the shop. The result was about ½" narrower than my original plan required, so I ended up with more shelf height, but the back panel (which was cut earlier) was too short.

My solution was to install a piece of 1x1 pine along the back of the underside of the top shelf. It was nearly impossible to see this piece of wood when the shelf unit was done.

I pre-drilled about 20 holes around the perimeter of the back panel, and installed small sheet metal screws (#6x3/4" long).

The completed shelf unit.   The bottom shelf's height is a little more than the shelf above. This is to accommodate large items like this portfolio, which doesn't fit in most of our other book shelves.

I rather like this little project, considering it's made mostly from junk wood that almost got thrown away. It's not quite "making a silk purse from a sow's ear", but close.

I think next time I build such a shelf unit, I will assemble everything except the back panel, do the staining and finishing, and then attach the back.

Copyright © 2001, 2005  HammerZone.com

Written June 1, 2001
Revised January 24, 2005