Billy Is Not Slop

Some woodworkers really dislike Ikea furniture. You assemble it, but you don't really make it. If you build 1,000 Billy bookcases, you've not really developed any transferable skills to make other things. You may get a little faster at understanding the wordless manuals. You may even become less likely to misinterpret an ambiguous illustration. But you don't develop many skills that translate beyond assembling Ikea furniture. There's no expertise to unlock. I've seen images online where people cut into the odd table or shelf to reveal it's not even particle board, there's paper products supplying nominal structure to the most disappointing Kinder Egg ever. I like Ikea for some things. I've never had need to cut into any of mine. I understand that they aren't built of solid wood and most attempts to repair them are doomed to fail. They do solve the problem that I purchased them for. The plastic totes are as adequate as any other plastic tote. Billy is as sturdy as it needs to be to…