On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 15:49:08 -0400, Bill Leonhardt wrote:


"bf" wrote in message
oups.com...
Just to clarify on my other post.. when I say to add a 1.5 inch of
hardwood to the front of the 3/4" shelf, I mean that the top 3/4" of
the edging will be fastened to the shelf, and the bottom 3/4" of the
edging will hang down. This helps resist sagging.

After you glue the hardwood to the ply, you can put a 1/4" roundover on
the on the hardwood edging. I do this because I think it looks nice.


I like the suggestion to add a 1x2 (3/4x1-1/2) piece on edge to the shelf
front and I think it's a great way to go because:
1. It covers the plwood edge of the shelf.
2. It adds quite a bit of stiffening.
The part I don't like is that it stiffens the shelf in an asymmetrical way,
therefore as the shelf is loaded, you may encounter twist, etc.

It seems to me that if the books can clear a 1x2 on the shelf front
(assuming you don't insert them horizontally and rotate), they can clear a
1x2 on the shelf back as well. The second 1x2 will increase the stiffness
even more and the "C channel-like" shape will be loaded more uniformly.

Opinions???

Bill Leonhardt

Bill is right on the money here. SWMBO bought a particle
board shelf with 40 inch wide shelves 5/8 inch thick.
It was my job to make it work. I added a 1.5 inch front
rail to all the shelves, then added a 1.5 inch stiffener
both front and back on each shelf. With a 1.5 inch face
frame all around the case painted up nice, the shelves all
look good and you don't really notice the stiffeners.
She loads this thing up with heavy notebooks and it
deflects just a bit (maybe 1/4 inch).

A good rail both front and back on each shelf and perhaps
some kind of stiffener would work. There are also shelf pins
that are inset into the shelf so they aren't seen. These
could be used along the back.

DGA