Arranging books in my now-reorganized basement, it occurred to me that I
could use a couple of those 1 foot x 1 foot x 6 feet tall bookcases, also
known as "tower" bookcases.  Maybe even three or four of them to fit into
various corners.  Ideally they would be wood, finished in black, enclosed on
three sides, with adjustable shelves, very sturdy, easy to assemble, and
cost $30 to $40 or so.

These used to be commonplace in many stores, but to my surprise they
seem to have gone out of fashion.

    - Office Max has an 18 inch by 12 inch by 6 feet tall version,
      in black, for $49.99.  That's a little more than I wanted to pay;
      on the other hand it is 50% larger.  But before I went home to
      measure the spaces to see if I could fit in 18 inch wide towers,
      I asked how many they had available.  Oops -- they're out of stock.

    - Office Depot has none

    - Home Depot has none.

I'll be checking Meijer's and Target some time Thursday.

Any other ideas as to where I could find a few of these at a good price?

53 responses total.

Gibraltar Trade Center (nowhere near Gibraltar)
Kiwanis?

Are you a total klutz and unable to make your own from cheap lumber?
You can put in metal strips with little clips to make the shelves adjustable
(at both sides).

Ok, Sindi, that WAS rude, which is surprising for you.
 
I'm not unable to make my own from cheap lumber. I could either buy the wood,
find room in my basement or garage to cut it, measure it, learn enough about
carpentry to know how to weight it, how to attach the pieces together, finish
the wood, and so on, or I could go to Meijer or Office Depot, buy a $50 kit,
spend an hour putting it together, and throw away the box.
 
Valerie calls it "The curse and swear factor."
 
If YOU want to live in a DIY universe, Sindi, go for it, but some of us don't
mind paying a little bit more to avoid the screaming. I have things which
interest me more than carpentry to spend my time on.

My post buried a response to your question, Larry: The only reliable sources
I've found have been Meijer and Office Depot. I didn't like Target's
selection.

I'm not a total klutz, and I couldn't make my own from cheap lumber without
them looking like shit.  Yes, I could go take carpentry courses, and then make
a whole bunch of stuff to get my skills to the point where I could make
bookcases I don't mind people seeing -- but all in all, it's probably more
cost effective for me to focus on the things I like doing and the things I
earn money for doing, and buy cheap bookcases that look okay instead.

Ikea. com

Re 1.  In my experience, bookshelves and filing cabinets are so valuable
to the people who prowl used furniture stores that (if they are in
reasonable shape) they are priced very high and/or sell out very quickly. 
And naturally the selection is take-what-you-can-get. 

Yes, I have been to the Gibraltar Trade Center, a fascinating place.

Re 2.  Yes, I *am* such a klutz.  I have built a few things -- I am very
proud of the cat staircase -- but it was a long and labor intensive
process.  Most recently, I thought I could build a porch handrail to hold
up our mailbox, but I couldn't even get it to stay together.  I ended up
hiring an experienced person to finish the job for me.

Also, I can just visualize trying to install those metal strips so that
the shelves sit nice and level.  It gives me the willies just thinking
about how awful and time-consuming that would be, and how unsatisfactory
the results would be.

Re 3.  Yes, I also have a lot of demands on my time, and I don't have all
the proper tools.

Re 4.  Already been to Office Depot.  I will get to Meijer's this
afternoon.

Re 5.  Very much agreed.

Re 6.  Ikea's narrowest shelf unit is 24 inches, for $69.

It's different in the store - I know I saw smaller stuff there.

Okay, but their web site doesn't list any stores in Michigan.

I have a great set of bookshelves in my living room. I went and bought 
not too cheap lumber and then helped my Dad cut it up. Then I started 
to put it together but got frustrated and went home. I left everything 
in the garage where my Dad usually parks his car. The next day when I 
returned, it was magically built. Clearly, Larry, what you need to do 
is get a bunch of lumber and put it into my Dad's magic garage and it 
will automatically turn into bookshelves. It worked for me!

        Paul, if it helps, you can borrow some of the terms my team used -
starting with the good old "sub-optimal" for anything that is really horrid,
up to "high-invective procedure" for anything that's enough of a pain in the
ass that it causes you to swear out loud.

there's also the 60s/70s route for cheap bookshelves: Some finished beams and
some stone supports from Frank's.

        I resemble that remark.  3/4 inch construction plywood, oddly 
painted, covered in a green burlap with staplegun, with grey bricks
to hold it up.
        I also built myself a record self for myself.   More from
the point that usual shelfs will not hold up, and 2) I had a spot
just right for it.

A roommate once made me a bookshelf which still works well, out ofabout 16'
(two boards) of plain pine 1"x10", using as tools a handsaw, something to mark
a straight line on the wood perpendicular to the long dimension to cut along
(a right-angled object of any sort would do, plus a pencil), a small hammer,
and a few thin nails.  To put in the little metal strips you only have to
additionally have something that will cut metal strips to length and measure
up the same distance on each side before putting in the first nail.  You can
finish this all with a coat of shellac, or boiled linseed oil, both easily
washed off (with water or detergent), with a rag.

I asked about being a total klutz not as an insult but because many people
would describe themselves that way, and it gives some idea of where to start
in explaining how to do something.

I can ask Jim if he would be willing to help plan out a couple of these and
cut the boards to size.  He just made a similar piece of furniture for his
housemate.

... after the shellac, the tools, the wood, the nails, the swearing, the
abortive attempts, the scrap, the sawdust, the cleanup, you wind up with
mediocre-looking bookshelves where the combined cost based on parts and labor
exceeds how much it would cost to get a kit at Office Depot, where you get
a much better looking bookself.
 
My time is worth $30/hour. It takes me about an hour to put together one
bookshelf from Office Depot. These shelving units cost $60. Parts + labor (not
including transit and installation): $90.
 
If it takes me three hours to put together a bookshelf from scratch, Sindi,
that's $90 in labor. That's assuming the parts are free (which they aren't).
 
Putting things together from scratch may be entertaining, or fun, or what have
you, but some of us have other things we'd prefer to do with our time.

A friend got a kit which turned out to be particle board, expensive particle
board, and the shelves are now sagging.  Fingerle sells 8' knotty pine, 12"
wide, 3/4" thick (1x8), for as little as $1.08 per foot, or select grade for
$3.17 per foot.  A 6' high tower with two sides and top and bottom and a shelf
every 12" would cost as little as $18 for the wood.  The metal strips might
be a few dollars.  Say $40 for two of these for materials, if you bought all
new.

Jim offered to show Larry the large bookshelf that he designed and made (for
free out of boards that used to be in his closet and salvaged metal strips),
and then help design and spec (tell him what to buy and where) and even cut
the boards for him.  He said he can't cut boards better than anyone else and
I said yes he can cut a lot better than someone who has never used a saw.
So in essence Jim is offering to put together a customized kit.  We can
provide nails and possibly the metal strips, and a hammer if you want to build
it while Jim watches (at our house).  Jim likes to build things with screws
because they are stronger and you can take them apart for storage.  

You can buy 'select' grade pine (few or no knots) for $3/foot.

You can put a thin sheet of plywood on the back to make it stiffer - we have
some you can use, I think.   

Black paint should hide the knots.  IF you want to pay more fo the wood and
show it off, you can use black stain.  
I have not noticed my shelves sagging, even though I have piled two levels
of milk crates full of LPs on top of the bookcase.

Prices were current as of Jan 9, 2002.
You can make the sides with expensive wood and the shelves knotty.

Yes, I am familiar with storebought shelves that eventually sag under a
real-life load of books.  We have one such unit in our living room.

Some of the newer ones have better reinforced shelves that are less likely
to sag.  But in any case, it's not a problem with the "tower"  design,
where each shelf is too short to sag. 

I have also built bookshelves from bricks (or concrete blocks) and boards.
Problem was that the masonry units took up a lot of space and shed grit.
Also, bare wood shelves from conifer lumber can ooze sticky sap.

Meijer's no longer carries tower bookshelves, I was told quite
authoritatively.  What they do still have are "closet organizers".  You
can take two 3-foot-high units and stack them.  They didn't have a display
model, but from the picture, it appears that the two units are linked with
plastic pins.  Not too sturdy.  Also, the stackable ones are available
only in white.

Target also had the white stackable closet units, but no simple tower
shelves.  The big thing at Target currently seems to be tapered shelves,
which are quite costly. 

In other words, simple 1 foot square by 6 feet high bookshelf units (as a
single integral piece, not two stacking units) are not to be found
anywhere I looked.

Based on all this (and before I saw the last few responses), I went back
to Office Max and ordered two of their (still out-of-stock) black 18x12x72
inch units for $49.99 apiece.

#17> Sindi, you're not informing me of any facts I am not aware of, except
Jim's altruism. I have several bookcase kits of varying ages in my home, and
while the one with the dictionaries on it sags, the rest are fine.

I would likely build the shelves myself, but my priority parameters would 
be light weight, strength and stability, then finished aesthetic.

Stability is really easy for any shelf unit which is placed against a 
wall.  Simply put a shim of some sort under each of the front legs, 
thereby forcing the unit to lean against the wall.

I have had for years now a design in my head for a shelf unit which I 
would like to build, but which I will not build out of wood because I 
will not be able to achieve strength and stability and still get the 
resulting clean line aesthetic I'd really like.  I have to learn to weld.

Particle board also gets shabby faster than wood, and either looks like what
it is or like vinyl 'veneer', which peels off.  And it is much heavier than
wood and the fasteners don't hold as well in it.  It outgasses.
You can fasten a shelf to the wall to make it more stable.

We are working out the details of how to convert the space over the stairway
between two upstairs rooms into two cabinets with movable shelves.  The slanty
part on the bottom will have one or two fixed shelves.  I asked Jim how
builders usually frame this space.  They don't, they leave it open, easier.
We have to following rules about firestopping in this case.

we bought one recently at target, but it is only 4 feet high and 8 X 8 inches
square.  Makes a real nice lampstand.

You might want to check with Organized Living (14 mi & Orchard Lake Rd.) or

even Bed, Bath & Beyond.  Organized Living has more stuff, but they're more
expensive.  It's one of those stores I could spend all my money in, so
I don't go there often :).

I buy my bookshelves.  Cutting, sanding, and varnishing wood isn't very
practical in an apartment.  For starters I'd probably pass out from the
varnish fumes, which are about a million times worse than any outgassing a
storebought set of shelves will do.

Shellac does not outgas.  Linseed oil only smells a little and is safe.
I would never paint or varnish anything indoors.  Oil/alkyd paint does all
its outgassing within a day.  I did not need to sand my bookshelf before
shellacking it.  A handsaw can be used in a very small space.  If that is too
great a challenge, Fingerle can make the cuts for you for a small fee (they
cut me a masonite desktop once to size, and I recall walking home with it in
a strong wind).  All you really have to do is choose the wood, decide on the
height, and hammer a few nails.  I cannot think of anything easier to build
from wood than a bookcase.  You can nail some narrow strips under the end of
each shelf to make it stronger.  You can nail some thin plywood, or
crisscrossing strips, on the back to make it stay rectangular and keep the
books from falling out the back.

There are people who are inept at using tools, even something as simple as
a hammer or a screwdriver.  There are those that could do it, but simply don't
have the time.  I can, and often do, make my own, but the last few bookshelves
that have walked into our lives have been purchased.  With working 1/2 to 3/4
time and taking 8-16 credit hours (computer classes which require 2-4 hours
out of class work for every hour in class) I just don't have the time.  It
rapidly becomes cheaper to buy them than to make them.

To be exact, shellac, lacquers and oil-based paints are solvent-thinned
paints, and the first thing that happens is the solvent evaporates:
alcohol from shellac, various solvents from lacquers, and petroleium
distillates from oil-based paints such as enamels. "Outgassing" is
not a correct term for what occurs. 

Latex paints work differently.  They stink for at least a month.

The solvent for latex paints is, of course, water. But various additives
to maintain dispersion and modify their rheology do have odors, although
not major constituents. 

A lot of people are allergic to the things that evaporate from latex paints.
They make me sick.  Oil paints don't bother me as much.

I've never been able to cut a straight line with a handsaw.

That is why I suggested having Fingerle make the cuts, cheap.
There is also a miter box for cutting straight lines with - you put the board
in and it guides the saw to cut at 90 or some other number of degrees.

I built shelves from plywood.  I had Lowe's cut the plywood into 8" 
strips, which cost a quarter a cut, used 4 2x8 boards for supports with 
small angle brackets, and put up 66' of shelf space (4 foot, 3 foot, 4 
foot sections; 6 shelves high) in my living room in a weekend.  It cost 
me about $125, I think.  I did need to use a power saw (which I bought 
for the purpose) and power drill for driving screws (which I already 
had).  I'm as unhandy as anyone.  This was not a difficult project.

It would have taken a little longer and more money if I'd stained the 
shelves or painted them, but I just put them up as natural wood.  They 
look all right, and I have 1000 books on shelves instead of in boxes 
for the next several years.

Miter boxes are just for trim or other small pieces. Good work on larger
pieces can be done with hand power saws, using guides and other jigs. 

I built a lovely pair of pine bookcases some years ago. Seven feet high
and three wide: shelves housed into the uprights (set into grooves). 
Backed. Pedestal and cornice. I painted them fire-pink. I lost them in my
divorce, and now live in a no-sawdust home. But I can reminisce.... 

A lot of high quality furniture was built before power saws were invented.
It just takes a little longer to cut by hand.  I cut a 2x8 once, with frequent
rests when my arm got tired.  A 1x8 is not nearly as difficult to cut as there
is much less friction when you back up the saw.

I cut an access door for my attic with a hand saw. It turns out that it 
is pretty easy to cut crooked lines with a hand saw and my access door 
looks like crap (but it is in my roommate's room where I dont have to 
look at it).

Re #35: those carpenters that do precision work with  hand tools have
usually apprenticed with a master carpenter for some years first. It
is necessary to not only cut a straight line, but to make a square cut.
The latter is harder because you can't see the squareness of your cut
as you proceed. An option is to fully lay out the cut, cut wide, and
then plane to form. But using a plane optimally also requires a lot
of experience. 

How staight and square were your cuts of 1x8s and 2x8s, Sindi?

You folks can't use a ruler or square to draw a line on some wood and
then follow the line with a handsaw?

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