Create this project yourself with sheet material cut to size by TOSIZE.ie!

Matthijs

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2 minutes

For Matthijs's extensive book collection, a sturdy bookcase was a must. He made it from custom-cut birch plywood! Curious about how he did it and what the end result looks like? Keep reading!

Matthijs's Sturdy Bookcase

Matthijs has a lot of books and a lot of books need a lot of space. Ideally, you'd like to store them all in one big bookcase, but then you risk sagging if you use the wrong material. To reduce the risk of sagging, Matthijs used Birch Plywood, a sturdy material that bends less easily than MDF or chipboard. To support the plywood, Matthijs used matte black scaffold tubes, giving it an industrial look. Because the scaffold tubes go through the material, the shelves are well supported, resulting in a sturdy bookcase!

Why Use Birch Plywood?

Cabinets are made from many different types of sheet materials. MDF, chipboard, timber panels, and even OSB and plywood are used in furniture making. So why choose birch plywood when making a sturdy bookcase? Firstly, plywood is aesthetically pleasing, especially birch plywood. With its natural wooden appearance and light color, it fits many different interior styles. Additionally, it's very strong due to the construction of the material. Plywood is made from multiple layers of thin wood veneer. These layers are glued together in a cross-grain pattern, giving the material the strength it's known for.

View Birch Plywood in the Webshop

The End Result

After some DIY work, a sturdy bookcase was created that offers enough space and is strong enough for an impressive book collection. Curious about how it was done? Matthijs would be happy to tell you:

Together with matte black scaffold tubes with a diameter of 21.3 millimeters, I made a bookcase with space for our skis. There's still a door missing for the left side, but as a ski enthusiast, it's also not bad to just see them 😉. The birch plywood is sanded and finished with 3 layers of varnish. The back of the shelves is fixed to the wall with long dowels made of 8mm round wood.