Handmade Bookshelves

Styles

• The most basic style of handmade bookshelf constitutes the sturdiest style of bookshelf and the easiest to construct -- the basic rectangle. Making a rectangular bookshelf entails nothing more than obtaining two long pieces of wood to serve as the sides of the shelf, two short, sturdy pieces to serve as the top and bottom and however many pieces you'd like as shelves to place in the middle of the unit. Rectangular bookshelves with thick, ornamental bottoms provide additional support for the unit as a whole, increasing longevity.

  Though the rectangular bookshelf is the standard among handmade bookshelves, skilled bookshelf makers can create units in an array of shapes, including ovals, triangles and more. Others simply adhere single pieces of wood to a wall in various patterns and place books on those pieces of wood, creating abstract bookshelf designs.

Types of Wood

• Choosing a type of lumber to build a handmade bookshelf is an important decision. Common furniture woods in the United States include oak, pine, beech, cherry, maple, birch, ash, chestnut and walnut. Each of these woods exhibits unique characteristics. Oak, for instance, is a hard, light brown wood and is relatively easy to work with. Cherry, a medium hard wood, possesses a rich, reddish-brown color and also proves easy to work with. Hardwoods may be difficult to work with given their lack of malleability, though soft woods such as beech may be worse for inexperienced woodworkers because they break easily.

Other Materials and Tools

• Though wood bookshelves make up the bulk of handmade bookshelves, materials such as plastic and metal can be used in building shelves. Putting pipes and pipe fittings together in a shape similar to that of a rectangular wooden bookshelf works, as does assembling pieces of plastic in a similar shape.

  Tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, drills and saws are required to cut materials to size and affix them to one another. A ruler or tape measure helps ensure that all pieces fit the dimensions of a bookshelves, while a planer and angle finder helps in achieving flat surfaces and correct angles. Other materials useful in bookshelf building include sandpaper, nails, screws, work gloves and a dust mask.

Purchasing Handmade Bookshelves

• Boutique furniture stores throughout the Untied States sell handmade bookshelves, as do various online retailers. These retailers maintain a collection of products for sale and stock bookshelves that represent the basic designs of the company. When buying in person or online, retailers allow clients to choose a type of wood for the desired design, as well as specify things such as dimensions, number of shelves and types of ornamental designs. Some handmade bookshelf manufacturers build units completely from scratch as to the specific needs of the customer and price pieces according to labor hours and materials involved.

Building from Recycled Materials

• Various resources on green living and sustainable practices suggest creating handmade bookshelves from recycled materials. The most basic unit of this type constitutes milk crates stacked atop one another to form bookshelves. The authors of "Green Home Computing for Dummies" recommend building a handmade bookshelf from sturdy pieces of cardboard. Writing for sustainable living resource Mother Earth News, author Mariah Zabriskie suggests using two sides of an old wooden folding ladder to build a bookshelf by placing wooden boards between the ladder slats.