where to buy wood for large bookcase?

hi all. this is my first foray into this part of askaboutmoney.

i've decided to build a large built in bookcase (about 9 foot by 8 foot) as a diy project. i've done the design and planned how to put it together. now i need to buy the wood. originally, i'd have gone for a poke around woodies or homebase but some of the english web sites i've read recommend going to a joiners who offer various grades of wood and will do most of the cutting for you (you supply the dimensions) and can finish (i.e. sand) the wood so it's ready to varnish. it seems such joiners are common enough in england and are happy to supply diy quantities. anyone know of such places in or around dublin?

Hi Darag,

I take it you don't mean something as simple as Brooks Thomas cutting the sheets to smaller sections or B&Q have this service also? What type of wood do you intend using?

It sure does @ 8x9 appear to be very big. Will it be secured to the wall?

If you are looking for real wood, as opposed to manufactured boards (MDF, chipboard, plywood, etc.), have a look at Lisnavagh Timer Project. They sell native Irish hardwoods and can do some (perhaps all?) of the preparation for you too. They list their current stock, and prices, on their website (www.irishwoods.com) and I have found them to be very good to deal with. They have an ethical approach to sourcing wood too (they only sell wood from windblown trees, or trees that have had to be felled out of necessity), which appeals to me. Their site also has a fairly new discussion board, and people on that might be able to direct you too.

There are suppliers of hardwoods listed in the Golden Pages too, but some of them will only sell in large quantities, and I don't know if any of them will prepare the wood for you first.

If you are looking for manufactured board, and are based in or near Dublin, Woodworkers (www.woodworkers.ie), in Terenure, are worth checking out. They'll give you prices over the phone, and they'll deliver (for an extra charge). I have made fitted shelving (8' high, about 4' wide) using 1-inch thick birch plywood from them before. They sell this in sheets of 8'x4' and will cut it for you too (they used to charge about £1 per cut). They don't sell much hardwood though, and their prices for hardwood were very high last time I checked.

ya suellan, it'll be big alright - i intend it to cover an entire wall of a room. i've always wanted a big bookcase like that. it most certainly will be secured to the wall (three walls and the floor in fact) - i don't want to be responsible for someone's death if it fell out on top of them.

some background; i'm happy enough doing diy - even plumbing and minor wiring and i have installed things like a utility room worktop with shelves but this will be my first big woodworking project so i'm a bit green when it comes to wood if you'll excuse the pun. for previous small jobs i'd just buy planks in those homecare/diy places without knowing the type of wood and sand and varnish it.

hi askew, thanks for the tip, lisnavagh look great. i'm trying to study a bit more about types of wood before i contact them but they look like exactly the sort of supplier i was looking for.

i'm certaily going for real wood for the shelves and uprights but i think i'll have to use plywood for the back. as for a specific type of wood, i'm not sure actually; i'd like a reddish sortof colour - neither dark nor light to go with the existing skirting and floorboards. i thought beech was what i wanted but i looked at the samples on this site and the beech looks very dark. besides colour (and cost obviously) are there any other major considerations when going for a particular type of wood?

also i'm assuming i'll be able to get the plywood at the back to match?

If you don't want to use ply for the back, try using tongue and groove boards, which look very good as backing for a bookcase
cheers,
Diziet

darag, you may already know this stuff, but here are a few things to take into consideration when using real wood:

- it is not "stable" i.e. it'll expand and contract with changes in the humidity and temperature of the room. Man-made boards don't do this to anything like the same extent so you don't have to allow for it when using them. It means that you have to be careful how you attach the wood to the walls, etc. - if your fixings don't allow for movement of the wood, the wood might split. Some wood is less prone to movement than others and might be a better choice - I have come across some useful websites which give such details about individual woods in the past (e.g. but the supplier may be able to offer advice too.

- The wood should be stored in the room where the bookcase is to go, for at least a few days and possibly for a few weeks, in advance of using it so that it adjusts to the normal room conditions. Normally this should be done before the wood is trimmed to size, so it might not be an option for you.

- Kiln-dried wood should be more stable than air-dried wood as it has less moisture in it, which is something to bear in mind when sourcing the wood. Kiln-dried wood will be a little more expensive.

As regards the back of the bookcase plywood, as you say, can be useful for this. Thin birch-veneered plywood is readily available at Woodworkers, and they might have other varieties of wood veneer too. When I did my bookcase, I left the wall exposed behind it as I didn't want the wood to dominate (the frame and shelves were birch plywood while the walls were painted orchid white, so the two colours worked well together and the bookcase "blended in" fairly well) - it's all a matter of personal choice but it is worth considering whether a wooden back might be too dominant or dark in the room.

I like beech as a wood myself, but there are a number of different varieties of beech which vary in colour. Also, many of the websites that show species of wood tend to be American and so they show American varieties more so than European varieties. At the end of the day you may well be constrained by what your supplier has in stock, so you might have to talk to a number of suppliers to find what you want.

Good luck. Like you, most of what I have done to date has been with man-made boards, with the odd bit of hardwood here and there. Some of what I have written above is based on advice I have received/read rather than on personal experience, but hopefully it will prove useful.