2 Hour DIY: Book Stand Display

This quick DIY was to practice working with plywood. I grouped together books that have inspired me to build and create, and made a quick display stand for them. The idea for this DIY came from here.

TOOLS

Jigsaw or Circular Saw

Need a way to cut the plywood to size

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES

Plywood

The plywood I used was 1 inch thick. You can use thinner sheets and glue them together to match the width of the different books you’ll be displaying

A Set of Books

The tops of the books are level – creating a more stylized look. So you need a set of books that you’d want to keep in this display stand.

Ruler

Wood Glue

Clamps

Polyurethane

This is what I used to finish the plywood, and give it a little gloss

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: Measure your books

Line up your books so that they are all aligned at the top.

For the 2 end side panels, I wanted them to go high enough to hold up the books. The height I went with was 13cm.

The tallest book will have a 2cm piece of plywood for it’s base.

The top white book I am measuring in the picture below is 3.5cm shorter than the tallest book. I added 2cm and the plywood piece for this white book will be 5.5cm. Next I measured the difference between the other books and the tallest book – and added 2cm to each one. I needed to cut 2 pieces (which will be glued together) for the base of The Beach since it was a really thick book.

You now have a list of the heights for each piece. For the depth, I went with the widest book – which was 18cm, and cut all the pieces the same width.

STEP 2: Cut the plywood

I used a jigsaw to cut the plywood strips

STEP 3: Glue the pieces together

Glue the plywood pieces together using wood glue – making sure it is all aligned in the front and at the bottom.

STEP 4: Clamp the glued plywood

Once the pieces are glued together, you’re going to need to clamp them together to make sure you have a solid bond between the pieces of plywood. I used scrap pieces of plywood to hold up the overhanging part of the book stand. It takes 30 minutes for the glue to dry.

STEP 5: Sanding down the plywood and adding a coat of gloss

If your cuts, like mine, at not absolutely aligned, take a piece of fine grit sandpaper and sand the pieces of plywood level. Then apply 2 coats of polyurethane to finish off the plywood.