Right after I got married, I made 8 pine bookcases to house the many
hundreds of books that we both brought along. Not knowing better, they were
made of lumber-store (nowadays it would be Home Depot) pine shelving, all
butt-joined and screwed together (no glue) with drywall screws and no finish
of any kind, just a couple of passes with 100-grit sandpaper. I figured
that when they got loose and fell apart, I'd have the tools and knowledge to
build better.

Took me an afternoon to make all 8, mostly 5 feet high, 2-1/2 feet wide,
shelves spaced every 12 inches with a 1x2 support along the back of each
shelf, very simple. A couple from 1x8s, a couple 1x10s, a couple 1x12s.
Not at all what you'd call fine furniture.

Four houses, three moves, three kids, many thousands of books in and out,
absolutely no maintenance or care... and 23 years... later they still are as
tight as can be, with no sagging to the shelves. I've made much nicer
looking bookcases since, but these have been in rough and constant use for
that long... and hold up the books just fine.

Yeah, I'd say that pine works just fine for bookshelves.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI


"Pawel" wrote in message
...
So i got my first router and after few plays with making garage shelfs i
want to make a real bookcase.
I was thinking of starting with pine, but am afraid that it may be to soft
to last as a nice bookcase.
Is douglas fir a reasonable compromise? or maybe i can make it with pine
and make surface harder by
finishing. Or shall i take it all in stride and make it from oak: oak
plywood with oak boards for walls and shelf edges. Any advice is welcome.

Pawel