First, thanks for all of the replies and ideas. Just to clarify, I had a box of books, 20" wide (lots of text books, reference books, and woodworking texts), and it weighted 40lbs. So, i used 50lbs in the sagulator. I used an evenly distributed load.
The shelves are adjustable, so screwing them in place, or dadoes aren't really an option. I did go back and look at the drawings and think I a can beef up the edge banding to 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" and still keep the same look. The angle iron idea is good, but I am using transtint to dye the piece and not sure how well i can hide that material.
Ya know, Chris, I have learned that the adjustable feature always sounded better to me in theory than in practice. By that I mean that after a couple trial placements, I would select the final placement, load up the shelves and............they never again got adjusted.
So - now what I do - mostly- is figger out what will be going in the case - not everything, just some of the key items that are definitely going to live there, plan for those, and just fix the shelves accordingly. Whatever else comes home to roost over time fits in there somewhere with the designated residents. And - as before - the shelves never get moved - that part hasn't changed.
For example, I have twin Stickley/Ellis repro bookcases side by side. One holds history, biographies, etc. The other holds LOML's art books. My history + bio books are all your standard hardcover size. Her art books, however, are mostly oversize - you know the type. So one bookcase has three fixed shelves, and it's twin that sits beside it has only two fixed shelves. Dado + glue into the case sides, dado and screws in through the ship-lapped back [shiplap boards aren't glued, and the screws are in the center of each board to allow for expansion]. 3/4" QSWO shelves, and these are absolutely fully loaded to the gunwales, with zero deflection after 8+ years. Just sayin'. 'Course, Gus and Harvey had adjustable shelves in theirs, but - what the heck did they know?
In fact - the bookcases sit directly over the very end of the floor joists below them - 90 year old house with notched full 2" joist framing - and that load concerned me so I put a 4 x 4 beam and some floor jacks under the bookcases. Floor never deflected, and neither did the shelves.
Don't mean to sound contrarian.....just relaying my personal experience. Also - and this may be nothing more than my skill level - it has always been easier for me to put dados in the case sides with the TS or a router than it ever was for me to get alla them doggone adjustment holes lined up. In fact, I have made 4 bookcases/shelf units in the past few years that do have adjustable shelves, but I used the sawtooth-and-cleat method of adjusting the height. I don't like them doggone holes.
Post some photos when yer done..............
When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.
Chris, when I enter your info into Sagulator it says you're fine with just adding a 3/4" square hard maple front edging strip aded to your plywood shelf. Why do you believe you need more reinforcement?
Originally Posted by Chris Atzinger
Hi guys,
First, thanks for all of the replies and ideas. Just to clarify, I had a box of books, 20" wide (lots of text books, reference books, and woodworking texts), and it weighted 40lbs. So, i used 50lbs in the sagulator. I used an evenly distributed load.
The shelves are adjustable, so screwing them in place, or dadoes aren't really an option. I did go back and look at the drawings and think I a can beef up the edge banding to 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" and still keep the same look. The angle iron idea is good, but I am using transtint to dye the piece and not sure how well i can hide that material.
Again, thanks everyone for all of your input!
-Chris
Scott Vroom
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
My local library has shelves built of the birch ply similar to what you are using. The shelves sag bad, and I built some new shelves for the kids area, and I used solid oak boards. The oak is much stronger than the plywood.
Well...I'll be buggered.....I would have sworn that the deflection was .04! I must have had a decimal in the wrong place. I cut the shelf boards the other day and they seemed stout enough. I'll still probably beef up the edges. I have the material, and there isn't a strong reason not to do it.
I did strongly consider cutting dadoes, for all of the shelves, but I have 4 cases, so 8 sides, if I don't do the backs. They are tall enough that doing it on a table saw is not an option, so it would have to the router, and I was concerned about alignment issues. For the moment, the bottom shelf will be fixed, the others adjust able, with just 3 sets of holes, as I didn't want to turn the sides into swiss cheese.
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Originally Posted by Chris Atzinger
