1. The raw edge goes to the back
Each side panel of the bookcase has one unfinished edge. It faces the back, where the back panel hides it. Put it the other way and the raw edge faces the room for as long as you own the bookcase. That is why step 1, before any hardware, asks you to lay both side panels raw-edge up. It is also Mog's most quoted line:
"Flip that board. Raw edge faces the back."
Panels have an inside, too. In step 2 the 8 cam bolts go into the inner face, the one with all the small holes. If you are looking at a plain face, flip the panel. The desk has the same trap twice: both foot bars go threaded column holes up (step 3), and both top crossbars go screw holes up, toward the desktop (step 5).
2. Cam locks: arrow first, then clockwise
The bookcase is held together by 8 cam locks, part 118331, each 15 mm across, gripping the 8 cam bolts from step 2. Before you turn one, its arrow points toward the side panel. Then turn it clockwise until it stops. Turned the wrong way, it locks nothing (step 4).
Check that both sides sit flush at the front before you turn the cams on the second side (step 7). A 2 mm overhang there becomes a wobbly back panel later. And 14 days after the build, give every cam a quarter turn clockwise, because particleboard settles in the first fortnight. A wobble that comes back within a week usually means a stripped cam. Replace it rather than turn harder.
3. Dowels go in the ends, not the faces
The 14 wooden dowels are 8 × 34 mm. In step 3 they go into the ends of the bottom panel, the fixed shelf and the top, two per end, plus one in each end of the plinth: 4, 4, 4 and 2. Tap each one gently with the hammer until it stops. X-ray in the player shows them inside the joint once the next panel is on.
4. Square the frame before the first nail
The two back panels are 3 mm hardboard, 80 × 96 cm each. In step 9 they go on with the bookcase lying face down, flush with the bottom and both sides. Before the first of the 24 nails, measure both diagonals. Equal diagonals mean the frame is square. The back panel locks in whatever shape you nail, so a frame nailed out of square stays out of square. Nail every 15 cm along the sides and along the fixed shelf, lower panel first.
5. Anchor it, even if it looks stable
The last step of the bookcase is the wall anchor, and its warning is the one to read twice:
"Tip-over hazard. A tall bookcase can fall on a child in seconds. Anchor it, even if it looks stable."Step 12, the bookcase
Screw the bracket to the top rear edge, then to a stud or a wall anchor, with the strap tight. A 202 cm bookcase looks steady on a flat floor, which is why the warning says "even if it looks stable". The re-tighten check after the build asks you to confirm the strap is still tight.
6. Two-person steps mean two people
The standing desk is 120 × 60 cm, and three of its ten steps are marked for two people. In step 6 a helper holds the legs upright while you bolt in the crossbeam. In step 7 you lower the desktop onto the frame together, face up, with the same overhang at both ends. In step 10 you lift the finished desk to where it lives. Never drag it or pivot it on two legs: that bends the frame and can snap a foot.
Two more desk rules ride along. Every frame bolt stays hand-tight until step 9, then all 20 get tightened diagonally, like the wheel nuts on a car. And only the 16 mm wood screws go into the desktop. A longer one comes out through the top.
Even the one-person bookcase has a moment for a second pair of hands: standing the first side panel up in step 4.
How the manuals catch them
Each of these is a warning or a tip on its step in the blueprint. It shows on the step card, the co-pilot reads it out when the step begins, and on a warning step the face in the margin offers "Want me to watch this one?" With the camera on, these are exactly the mistakes Mog looks for: a panel upside down, a raw edge facing out, a cam lock not turned, a missing dowel.
One more, from step 10: count the shelf-pin holes from the bottom on both sides and pencil the row number. The manual's tip calls uneven pins the number one cause of a wobbly shelf.
Every step, with its parts and sizes, is on the bookcase page and the standing desk page in the library.