Elegant Bookcase, Top to Bottom
A profiled top and splayed base add style to this piece, and the aprons and feet pack a lot of curves into a small space.
If you read and appreciate books, as I do, then you probably appreciate the functional aspects of a bookcase. If you enjoy beautiful materials and elegant, understated design, as I do, then I hope the design of this piece will appeal to you as well. I built it with a matched set of curly maple boards, which I purchased from Irion Lumber. I paired the maple with sexy, straight-grained bubinga for the base. And I used East Indian rosewood as an accent.
There is a lot of exacting joinery in the carcase, which has sliding dovetails joining the shelves to the sides and half-blind dovetails joining the sides to the bottom. That’s all spelled out in the drawing. But for this article I’ve chosen to focus on the base and the top molding. These two components might not be the first things to catch your eye, but they are vital…
Start your 14-day FREE trial to continue reading this story.
Plus, access more than 1,900 in-depth articles and more when you try membership.
Start Your Free Trial NowAlready a member? Log In
Get the Full-Size Plan
Bookcase with Drawers
Careful wood choices enhance the design of this bookcase by Mike Korsak. He chose to pair beautifully figured maple with a bubinga base; your wood choices should be just as careful because even loaded with books, there is a lot of wood visible in this piece. The shelves are joined to the sides with sliding dovetails, and half-blind dovetails join the sides to the bottom. The aprons and feet are curved, and the feet pack a lot of curves and challenging joinery such as gunstock miters into a small space. A cove molding adds a final bit of elegance to the top.
I found the foot of this bookcase to be very hard to get square. I have to wonder why the feet weren't just built from one piece that was shaped? Why all the miter cuts on curved pieces? I scraped the first try and did it just that way. It looks the same, only much simpler.