Ted Drain asks:
The original plan was to build a case out of 3/4" walnut plywood with
a 1/4" walnut plywood back. The shelves would be 3/4" walnut plywood
with solid walnut trim piece on the front. The shelves are going to
be attached to the walls and spaced about 3" apart from each other.
I'm planning on covering the 3" gap and the face of the case with a
solid walnut face frame and some decorative trim.
After hunting around, it looks like 3/4" sheets are going for almost
$100 and 1/4" sheets for around $60. I started looking into pricing
the hardwood portion and found Advantage Lumber
(http://www.advantagelumber.com/main.htm) which has 4/4 walnut for
$3.60/bd ft and will also sell thinner pieces. That started me
thinking about making the whole thing out of solid wood.
Plywood:
Pro: fast, easy construction - no panel glue ups (I know I can do
these but w/o a jointer it could take awhile)
Pro: no movement - probably not a big deal for this project though
???: How will the shelves look with a 3/4" thick trim piece on the
front of the plywood? Will it match well or will there be a noticable
difference in the woods?
Hardwood:
Pro: it's hardwood - just feels better, cooler, etc...
Pro: allows me to do interesting things with the back panel like
v-notching 4" wide pieces which I think looks fantastic.
Con: long, potentially difficult road to glue up all those uprights
and shelves.
Con: probably more expensive - though w/ Advantage's wholesale prices
for thin stock, this might be OK.
Sorry for the big quote. Almost certainly, the plywood will be cheaper and a
good bit faster. How much cheaper is hard to guess, because a lot depends on
cut planning, bookcase size, positioning of backer boards, planned width,
similar things...you say 30" wide, which tends to waste 18" out of each 1/4"
sheet (there are often other uses for the scrap). 8' tall works nicely with the
plywood, of course. Plywood is also less likely to create wood movement
problems after you finish the job.
The use of solid wood for edging is common and looks pretty good. If done
right, it's hard to tell from solid wood. Or it can be made decorative and
obvious.
Solid hardwood does look better, and IMO feels better as well. But at price of
$3.12 per bf in plywood and $3.60 bf for solid wood you're going to see a real
price differential. That solid wood bf has to be edge jointed, maybe have to be
face jointed and planed to final size, has to be ripped to get the second edge.
You say you have no planer and no jointer and you don't sound as if you have
hand planes to use for clean-up otherwise.
You can do the solid wood back panel even with plywood shelves, of course.
Personally, I love the V notch look on old bookcases, cabinets, etc.
I wouldn't bother creating my own plywood. You're going to pay 2-1/2 bucks per
sf for the veneer, then probably close to a buck a square foot for the plywood
base. Where's the savings over the $3.12 you'd pay for walnut ply?
Basically, I'd say put the three ideas (add my ply with solid back) on 3 sheets
of paper, tape them to the wall, pick up a dart, stand back 6 feet or so, close
your eyes and toss. Use the one you hit, or the one you come closest to.
Good luck and enjoy.
Charlie Self
"Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal."
Alexander Hamilton
http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html