To: WSFAlist at WSFA.org
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 22:37:39 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: book shelving
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:29:15 -0400 "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> writes:

> A 4' span even with Oak is probably too much if we are talking about
> 3/4" thick and something more than paperbacks.  Standards say 36" for
> that.  To get to 4' or more you need reinforcement of some kind or it
will
> sag eventually.
>

Agreed.  I was actually talking about a 4' _nominal_ span, measuring from
block center to block center, which with 8" W blocks on 4' centers makes
for 40" actual spans - which is not much more than the standard 36" for
3/4" material.  In practice, with a single piece of 8' stock held up by
8" W blocks in three places, evenly spaced with the two ends each getting
the full 8" W support, the two actual spans end up being precisely 36".
This was all based on the original premise of 8' stock, divided into two
spans, hence the choice of words describing the span as 4'(nominal).  I
should have been more clear.

> I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "pressboard"...there are
> several artificially made sheet products that are often lumped under
that
> term. There's "particleboard", "chipboard" (also known as oriented
strand
> board, or OSB) and Medium Density Fiberboard (known as MDF).
>

I was warning against particle board, which someone might choose for its
low cost.  It didn't occur to me that someone might choose OSB, as it's
pretty rough.

> Particleboard is often used in cheap manufactured furniture of the
> "knockdown" variety.  It is the weakest of the three and is
> basically sawdust glued together.  It is certainly not a good choice
for
> shelves, though it is used that way in some bookcases I've
seen...usually
> laminated with wood veneer.  If it ever gets wet it will swell and will
not
> return to it's prior state even when dried out.
>

I think even prolonged humidity will serious weaken particle board, and
it's already too weak to begin with (absent extra support).

> Chipboard, or OSB, is used for subflooring and roofing.  It is made
> from larger shavings of wood, glued together under pressure.  It's
> stronger than particleboard, but fairly rough and not what I'd choose
for
> shelving.
>

Nor would I.  But I have used inexpensive 1/4" plywood, dark stained,
bolted to metal shelving to function as backs and sides, to make
bookcases.  It's so much work assembling the metal shelves, cutting,
sanding and staining the plywood and bolting it on, that I wonder if it's
worth the effort, compared to just spending the money for ready-made book
shelves.  But the result is wonderfully rigid, more space-efficient than
block and board, and the backs and sides make it easy to stuff small
paperbacks and other small books and pamphlets two layers deep, for
compact storage.

> Plywood can make decent shelves, but you need some way to hide the
> edges (unless you like the look I suppose) and stiffening it in some
way
> is wise.
>  Adding a bit of solid wood glued and screwed to the edge does both,
> but requires some tools to do properly (a pocket hole jig is very good
> for this as it lets you hide the screws on the underside of the
shelves,
> behind the edge strip).  Other methods involve mitered joints using a
bit of
> the same plywood, glued on veneer edge banding, or edging of other
materials,
> such as aluminum (I have a shelf unit in the garage made from old store

> shelving from a grocery store that was made this way...3/4" plywood
covered
> in Formica (tm) and edged with aluminum).
>

Even 1/4" plywood could be used for the surface upon which the books
rest, if properly supported.  But the work involved might not justify the
material cost saving over 3/4" solid pine boarding, and it's difficult to
make the result look good in addition to being functional.

> That reminds me...another method of making simple shelving is that
> unit in my garage.  I made it with a hand drill in my first
post-college
> apartment.  Cut shelves to length (mine already were), drill a 5/8"
hole in
> each corner.  Run a piece of 5/8" threaded steel rod (hardware store,
> comes in 3'-5' lengths) through the holes, with 5/8" nuts placed above
...

That's clever.  It's adjustable and can be disassembled if necessary.

The lowest cost book shelving I've ever seen is in Keith's apartment.  He
has made an absolute science of getting the most for the least.  In one
case, uniform sized paperback books climb up along a wall, layer upon
layer, the layers separated only by cardboard strips.  No wasted space.
Individual books can be extracted and re-inserted one by one without
disturbing the integrity of the pile.

Ron Kean

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