DIY Industrial Bookends
VIDEO
My mom loves books. No, I don't think you understand...she LOVES books! I wanted to giver her something related to a passion of hers, so I made some industrial bookends. For more details, take a look at the video below or keep reading.
BACKGROUND
As I mentioned above, the onerous of this project was to bless my mom with a gift pertaining to something that she loves dearly...books. I had seen some photos here and there of industrial styled bookends. I wanted to try my hand at making some.
I looked in the scrap bin to see if there were any interesting pieces that I could use. Turns out, there were! I found this cool piece of maple that had a large crack in it, but it looked awesome.
TOOLS & MATERIALS
Table Saw - http://amzn.to/2s8JpAD
Jointer - http://amzn.to/2suPzMd
Wood Glue - http://amzn.to/2s93w1K
Miter saw - http://amzn.to/2ruEfLs
Forstner bits - http://amzn.to/2sFZBIU
Plug cutters - http://amzn.to/2sgUP4j
Flush trim saw - http://amzn.to/2sFTqVh
Cordless drill/driver - http://amzn.to/2runtMh
Kreg Jig Mini - http://amzn.to/2sfE8nk
STEPS
Assemble the black iron pieces so you can figure out exactly what dimensions your pieces need to be. This is a simple way to visualize the finished product, and they are not hard to screw together and take back apart quickly.
Take all of the pipe pieces back apart and clean with acetone. There is often a greasy residue left on these, and the acetone will remove it and any stickers nicely. I have also just used some dish soap and a hose to rinse the grease off of these in the past.
Mill your lumber to the size you need. In order for these to look uniform with each other, run each of the boards through the table saw at the same setting. That way, they will all be exactly the same width.
I used a forstner bit to drill out some holes for the decorative walnut plugs I wanted to put in. Lay out some lines with a bit of simple measuring so that they look nice and planned. You won't regret it.
Drill out the pocket holes in the piece that will become the bottom/horizontal one. Drilling these on the bottom will help hold it all together, but they will never be seen. Use a bit of wood glue and attach the vertical piece and the horizontal piece using pocket screws.
Assemble all of the pipe pieces again, and attach to your wooden base using some small, 1/2" wood screws. Be sure to pre drill your holes where the screws will go. Even thought they are small screws, this will help your now finished material to not split as you put in the screws. I was going to go back and paint the heads of these screws black to match the pipes, but after I got it done, I didn't think the silver screws looked bad, so I just left them.
Use some spray lacquer to put a few coats on everything, including the pipes. Lacquer is a nice finish for metal and wood. I used some satin lacquer, because I didn't want these to be shiny. In between coats, I sand lightly with 320 grit sandpaper.
That's it! Sit back and enjoy whatever books you'll be holding up with these new bookends! I hope you make some of these and I'd love to see them or see any twist you put on the design. Tag me on Instagram @Brudaddy if you do make them.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments down below!
