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Joe Barta
 
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Default Best wood for long shelves

Murray Peterson wrote:

I am building a 6 foot long shelf that is going to be supported at
the ends (no option of support in the middle). The shelf needs to
support about 50- 70 pounds of weight (stereo equipment), so the
"sag" (or deflection) in the center is going to be a problem. I
plan on building the shelf as a hollow box, and using steel angle
iron on the inside as a stiffener.

Just out of curiosity -- what commonly available wood product is
best for resisting deflection under a continuous load (i.e.
shelving)? The easily available ones at my local lumber store
a laminated pine, mdf, playwood and particle board, I am
assuming that the laminated pine would be best, since all the
grain is running longitudinally. Is my assumption correct?


You could make the shelves a torsion box. Think hollow core door.
Lightweight and very strong. 1/4" ply top and bottom, hardwood edging
and pine innards. No steel needed.

Joe Barta