Bookshelf Cut List (3/4 Inch Plywood)
A worked cut list for a tall 72 x 36 x 12 inch bookshelf, with verified sheet counts and grain notes.
Open this project in the optimizer
The bookshelf
This bookshelf is 72 inches tall, 36 inches wide and 12 inches deep. The carcase is 3/4 inch plywood: two sides, a top, a bottom and two fixed middle shelves, which makes four horizontal shelves in total. The back is a 1/4 inch panel set into a 1/4 inch rabbet along the rear edges of the sides, so the shelves are 1/4 inch shallower than the sides (11 3/4 inches) and stop at the back panel.
Cut list
| Part | Qty | Length (grain) | Width | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side | 2 | 72 | 12 | 3/4 inch ply |
| Shelf (top, bottom, 2 middle) | 4 | 34 1/2 | 11 3/4 | 3/4 inch ply |
| Back | 1 | 72 | 36 | 1/4 inch ply |
Shelf length is 36 inches minus two 3/4 inch sides. If you use dadoes, add the dado depth to each shelf length. All sizes are inches; the back is cut slightly oversize in practice if you want to trim it flush after assembly.
How many sheets?
Using 4 × 8 foot sheets (96 × 48 inches), a 1/8 inch kerf and no edge trim, the Kitebyte solver places all six 3/4 inch parts on one sheet with about 27 percent waste. The two sides lie along the 96 inch length, and the four shelves fill the remaining space as two rotated pairs: two shelves stand upright beside the sides and two lie flat below them. The 36 × 72 inch back needs one sheet of 1/4 inch plywood, about 44 percent waste, so the leftover is a useful offcut for drawer bottoms or jigs. In total: one 3/4 inch sheet and one 1/4 inch sheet.
The fit is tight. Because the fourth shelf only just fits, making the shelves a full 12 inches deep pushes the solver to a second sheet. The 1/4 inch rabbet is what makes the single-sheet layout possible.
Grain notes
- Run the grain vertically on the sides (lock the grain on the side rows, which keeps the 72 inch length along the sheet's grain).
- Shelves are structural and hidden by contents, so letting them rotate is fine; if you prefer the grain to run along the shelf, lock it and check the sheet count again.
- The back panel's face grain should run vertically; lock it as well.
Using the optimizer
The optimizer handles one material per project, so the link below holds the 3/4 inch parts (it opens with a 96 × 48 inch sheet, 1/8 inch kerf and inch units). Run the 1/4 inch back as a second project.
Open this project in the optimizer
Open the 1/4 inch back panel project