Is there any sort of engineered material that can be easily used (without breaking the bank) for shelving that will be more resistant to sagging than using regular one-by? I have purchased bookcases in the past that seem to have steel running through the shelves, but I don’t have the technology to do that.
I need to build a bookcase for about 5000 books.
Edited 2/16/2007 11:10 am ET by FLSeminarian
Replies
Dear FL;
You didn't mention what the span of the shelves will be. 3 ft or under usually doesn't need reinforcement, but a longer shelf can be reinforced by adding a piece of 1x2 along the front edge up to 4 ft., or a wider piece for longer shelves, with 2x material under the front edge, hidden by the trim.
Alternative methods would be to make shelves that "interlock" with uprights, or simply to place a piece of your material the depth and height of the space between the shelves to support the weight.
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I just bult some with a product marketed by Winsor One. It is all glued and regluesd fingerjointed pine all prepainted 5/4 x 12. I tested at a 48" span and had less than 1/4" deflection with me standing on it- about 185#
Havent had books loaded on for a season yet though.
Normally, I try to design my bookcases to have less than 36" spans
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Here is the first of many for our homeschooling needs. I still need to trim out the closet and doors of course. I also need to add crown moulding to the book case. Anyway, this used 3/4" maple veneer plywood for shelves, which are dadoed into the sides. The edges are trimmed with hard maple about 3/4" wide. Sides are plywood also. The countertop portion that juts out is solid maple.
This stuff is still expensive. I got it through a wholesaler at about 2.70/square foot. I can get hard maple at $3/bdft KD from a sawmill, but the plywood is more stable. I still haven't made the raised panel doors on the lower section which will be solid wood. The maple plywood is plainsawn veneer, which looks nicer than rotary cut, but not as nice as quartersawn. Expect to pay over $3 per sqare foot for good veneer plywood from a lumber retailer.
Here is a link to a calculator for shelf deflection.
http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm
Get a copy of the most recent Fine Woodworking magazine -- there's an article on this same subject.
Then look up the 'sagulator' --- its an online calculator that can tell you lots about shelves and sag.
Then build you cases with a structural back, and a face frame, attaching the shelves to both. And don't ever even think of making bookshelves (for books) longer than about 36".
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Sorry...
*****A***** bookcase for 5,000 books?
Whew. That's some bookcase! And here I've only got 1,200 or so books. And about 15 bookcases.
I'm young yet. I'll catch up. ;-) I told DH: "Don't think of them as BOOKS, darling. Just think of them as very thick wallpaper."
Edited 2/17/2007 5:47 am ET by Reyesuela
BTW, to actually be helpful for a change, if you're desperate for CHEAP shelving, you can do metal track shelving at 2' OC. Something that's cheap and attractive and durable but does not involve bulding (and is a cheal as you can make a nice bookcase, anyway) is this:
http://www.afo.com/Sauder-Libraries.aspx?XnPath=4&Vid=B968F41375004
They're made to stand directly one next to the other.
I got these, and a carpenter thought they were real (I said something about "putting them together" and he thought I build them from scratch!) until I told him and le looked really closely:
http://www.afo.com/1795-100-Library.html?XnPath=4,43&Vid=B968F41375004
I haven't yet had the time to build shelves for my real library.