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Bookcase from The Anarchist’s Design Book

4 comments
8 years ago
ADB Bookcase     Videos

Community Pressure Made Me Build This


…And I had A LOT of fun doing it. I have a lot on my plate these days and my time in the shop is pretty structured around specific things for this site and for The Hand Tool School. This means I don’t have a lot of extra time for unplanned project. However when a few community members in The Hand Tool School started talking about doing a group build on a bookcase and the excitement started to build as more folks started jumping on board to build it; I kinda felt obligated to join in on the fun.

So rather than disrupt my entire calendar I decided to build this bookcase live on YouTube. Christopher Schwarz said in his book, “The Anarchist’s Design Book“, it could be built in about 6 hours, so it seemed like it could be fun to build it this way over the course of 3 live streams.

This is my not so subtle way of saying the above playlist definitely shows you how to build this bookcase by hand, but it is a different style of production than the edited and polished videos you normally see here. There are some technical gremlins where sound cuts out and stoppage in the action as I fix them or basically stand there with a vacant look on my face as I try to figure out how to fix something. But based on feedback from the live viewers there is some good woodworking contained in these videos too.

The great part is that taking a break from my schedule to knock out this bookcase was such a positive experience and really energized me. Its a great design that is very forgiving and an outstanding project for hand tools.

Techniques Related to this Bookcase

I make mention of a video I did on that dado saw several times. Check out my original video review of it from several years ago.
You might also be interested in my series on using a rabbet plane

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Dave S

I enjoyed the build and look forward to the next time you may do it.

I was rather confused by the tip you spoke about regarding the stair saw. You said something about setting the fence for the first cut with the saw and then using the shelf to position the saw for the next cut. At least, that is what I thought I heard. How do you account for the saw blade thickness?

Regardless of that, it was good to see that Murphy visits every shop resulting in the things that usually get edited. It is also good to see that you really do get good with the tools the more you use them, correctly, and that it isn’t just the multiple takes and edited content that makes it look that way. Meaning, it doesn’t just happen to me and I have some hope for improvement.

Great job.

    Shannon

    Dave, I actually talk about this exact thing in my latest shop update. That technique does not account for the saw blade and you get a loose kerf.

    I forget how much all of us just assume that what we are seeing is heavily edited. Its a bit of honest skepticism that I think everyone has. I know that I don’t edit out a bunch or have a lot of extra takes, but rather I edit out useless stuff and lulls in the content. But I forget that most people just assume there are lots of edits to make the whole thing look better. So yeah, I really like the live medium just so that I can show how these tools actually work in real time.

james maichel

I got the wood last year to build two ADB bookcases but realized it was time for a real workbench first. That’s what led to the current workbench build. Hopefully, I will finish the bench soon and can knock out the bookcases.

Thank you for sharing!

Andrew Baker

Shannon,
I just came across this video series last night and I’m enjoying watching this build. The multiple camera angles is a great idea to give more views. The lapel mic isn’t doing its job. You probably already figured that out since this has been out a couple months, but you asked during the video, so I thought I’d give you that feedback. Additionally, when you’re using the alternate view of the job, there’s a delay for the audio.
Please keep up the videos and informational lessons. You’ve helped me understand this craft.

-Andrew