If I have the skill. All I have so far is a file full of notes and advice. I have yet to see whether I can put the same techniques into practice without Dad to tell me what I'm doing wrong :-) He says that when he started making bookcases himself he "only" made one that was completely unusable and had to be thrown away.

I also lack several of the tools he used, so the first one I make myself will involve a considerable tool-shopping trip and hence be fairly expensive compared to this one...

But when you have the tools and a couple of bookcases, you can move on to bigger things! Like wardrobes.

My favourite bookcase was made by someone in Suffolk who gave up IT programme management and went into making furniture out of reclaimed wood (mostly pine). He wanders the countryside looking for demolition projects, collects the wood, and makes sturdy and useful things out of it.