DIYbanter - View Single Post - Floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookcase advice....

J. Clarke[_2_]

In article ,
says...

"The Henchman" wrote in message
...

Tight budget, and I'm a novice diy'er.

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Thanks to everyone for the advice. I really wanted to avoid MDF but my
wife's family were fanatical about me using it so I had to investigate why.
thanks for the firepower. I work for a fastener and cutting tools company
so I appreciate the concerns raised on fastening.

I invested $25 into Taunton's Built-Ins book for some ideas and and standard
sizes to consider.

Still not decided on lumber or plywood but Birch is very paintable and Maple
is very stainable correct? Lumber would be popular right? Do all of these
have to be finely sanded before primer?

Nobody's mentioned the sagulator
http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm. If you don't want your
shelves to sag, use it. Read all the instructions.

You can make it out of solid titanium and it will still sag and fall
apart if you didn't get the structural design right.

Maple is not the best choice for stain--it tends to blotch unless you
use a pretreatement on it.

For a finish take a look at ML Campbell Magnamax precatalyzed lacquer.
Comes clear or you can get it in opaque colors. Really good stuff.

As for MDF, the only _real_ problem is has is that the edges need to be
protected or they get bunged up easily. It works fine if you understand
it. Take a look in any Scandinavian furniture store and you'll find
some rather expensive items made out of veneered MDF with solid edging..
Got a Danish bed in 1979. Other than one spot where I managed to mangle
the veneer, it still looks pretty much like it did when I got it. No
swelling, no sagging, none of the other horrible things that MDF is
supposed to do.