A sturdy bookcase for a large collection, by Mathijs

Of course, Matthijs' large book collection needed a sturdy bookcase. He made it from custom-sawn birch plywood! Curious how he did that and what the end result is? Then read on!

Matthijs' sturdy bookcase

Matthijs has a lot of books and a lot of books need a lot of space. You would prefer to put them all in one large bookcase, but then you run the risk of sagging if you use the wrong material. To reduce the risk of sagging, Matthijs used Birch Multiplex, a sturdy material that bends less quickly than, for example, MDF or chipboard. To support the plywood, Matthijs used matte black scaffolding tubes, which gives the whole an industrial look. Because the scaffolding tubes pass through the material, the shelves are well supported and you have a sturdy bookcase!

Why use Birch Multiplex?

Cupboards are made from many different types of sheet material. MDF, chipboard, carpentry panel and even OSB and underlayment are used in furniture making. Why would you then choose multiplex birch making a sturdy bookcase? First of all, plywood is beautiful to look at, especially multiplex birch. The natural wooden appearance and light color make it suitable for many different interior styles. In addition, it is also very strong due to the structure of the material. Plywood is made from several layers of thin wood veneer. These layers are cross-glued together, giving the material the strength it is known for.

View Multiplex birch in the webshop

The end result

After some work, a sturdy bookcase was made that offers enough space and is strong enough for an impressive book collection. Curious how that was done? Matthijs is happy to tell you this himself:

Together with matte black scaffolding tubes with a diameter of 21.3 millimeters, I made a bookcase with space for our skis. There just needs to be a door for the left side, but as a ski fanatic it is not wrong to just see it 😉 . The birch plywood has been sanded and finished with 3 layers of varnish. The back of the shelves are secured to the wall with long dowels made of 8mm round wood.