Book Shelves

[Hpps]

I have a home library to quote for. It will be wall to wall bookcases, floor to ceiling and around 300mm deep. The customer has requested it be made of pine due to the quantity required and cost of materials, so I was wonderring the best approach for making such wide boards to minimise cupping etc.

I have a finger jointer which I've not used yet. Would narrow strips of around 50mm finger jointed with opposing grains be the right way to go?

Thanks

 

[Doug71]

I would look at the ready made pine shelf type stuff, some people call it furniture board, will probably work out easier and cheaper than joining it all up yourself.

 

[Hpps]

I would look at the ready made pine shelf type stuff, some people call it furniture board, will probably work out easier and cheaper than joining it all up yourself.

It's too expensive and a bit on the thin side. Also kind of defeats the object of having a workshop full of tools

 

[niall Y]

It depends on what look you are after, @Doug71, is offering pretty sound advice, re buying furniture board. Years ago I used to make all my own worktops for kitchens until I farmed out that part of the process . This allowed me more time for the actual build and gave me more space in the workshop.
You will need to take into account the thickness of the boards and their ability to support the books over a set span I had a commission for a library in an old country house, which was to be painted , so I was able to use whitewood, Something the equivalent of a stair-string. gives fairly robust shelves, that finish about 25x270mm

 

[Doug71]

It's too expensive and a bit on the thin side. Also kind of defeats the object of having a workshop full of tools

I did some bookshelves in pine last year, can't remember if the shelves finished 22mm or 27mm. Anyway I remember I bought some unsorted 6" wide timber and cut it down the middle so I could flip each piece to avoid cupping similar to what you are talking about doing. I'm sure once I had planed it all, joined it all and sanded it all I would have been better off buying some 600mm wide laminated boards and just cutting them down the middle.

I did used pine veneered MDF for the uprights/carcasses, I know some people don't like MDF but I like the fact it doesn't move!

 

[recipio]

If you mean finger jointing 50 mm strips end to end I doubt it would have to strength to carry books. It also looks a bit cheapo cheapo like all that rubbish furniture from the ' Far East ' In my view it's a mistake to make furniture ( including bookshelves ) with construction grade pine - it begins to look a bit crude after a while. Assuming you have a P/T I might suggest trying to source some Eastern White Pine which is virtually knot free or even poplar and finish with a water based varnish to keep the ' pine ' look.

 

[Hpps]

Thanks for the replies. I'll price with construction grade pine and white wood and see what the customer says. It was their request to go with pine due to the size and cost of the job. I did suggest other types of timber but they didn't want it.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Thanks for the replies. I'll price with construction grade pine and white wood and see what the customer says. It was their request to go with pine due to the size and cost of the job. I did suggest other types of timber but they didn't want it.

Be wary of construction grade softwood for an internal piece of furniture. This material is dried to a target of 20%MC ±~2% so is almost certainly going to continue drying after the piece is manufactured and installed, and therefore likely to distort. You ought to acclimatise the material to a lower MC before you use it for your project.

You would probably be better, if you can source it, of specifying pine intended for furniture making, i.e., better quality and milled stuff dried to furniture grade MC of about 12%. Of course, this material, again if you can source it, costs more than construction grade softwood. Slainte.

 

[Hpps]

I've spoken to a timber suplier who has suggested amongst other types, ash as a good timber to use. Has anyone else used ash for a similar project?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Ash is an excellent material for internal furniture of all types, including bookshelves. I can't recall how many pieces of furniture I've made out of ash, either American and European, with a number of those pieces being shelving of one sort or another, including book shelves.

On the other hand ash is generally a poor choice for external artefacts as it's non-durable.

Appropriate design considerations are the key for any furniture project taking into account such things as aesthetics as well structural requirements to account for stress that will be a applied to the piece, e.g., the expected load a shelf has to carry and the likely deformation (or failure) of the shelf or shelves under that load. For standard books a typical load is roughly 11 kg per linear 300 mm: I think I've remembered that correctly, and the designer and maker needs to allow for that load. Slainte.

 

[Jameshow]

I built some floor to ceiling bookshelves using 1" par pine (slow grown) from my timber supplier and mine were only 150mm deep though. You could also put a lipping to make them look thicker and for greater support?

You could use biscuits ) dominos to join the together. They haven't warped as far as I can see.

I put supports of the same at 1m intervals. 5bay iirc.

 

[Yojevol]

I've spoken to a timber suplier who has suggested amongst other types, ash as a good timber to use. Has anyone else used ash for a similar project?

Here is my ash shelving. Made from floorboard material.

Brian

 

[recipio]

If your clients are willing to consider hardwoods the cost will triple at least . Did you consider using 25 mm Baltic birch ply which I suppose is a compromise.? I like to use it with a ' Queen Anne ' edge - a kind of modified bullnose..

 

[Hpps]

I did considder ply, but working it on my own in my small shop would be too difficult, especially the amount needed.

 

[johnnyb]

lipped mdf/ply is your friend here. pine at 12 inches is a pain. if they can't afford a proper job it's time to bail. I've made decent ones using lipped b and q metsa wood pine ply.

 

[johnnyb]

you can have it cut at the big stores. into very accurate strips.(operator dependant) as you see its not got any knots and it finishes OK.

 

[Hpps]

I did suggest verneered ply, but the customer said no.

 

[thetyreman]

use housing joints to prevent cupping, the advantage of pine is that it will be very lightweight.

 

[recipio]

I did suggest verneered ply, but the customer said no.

Sounds like they going through a ' rustic pine ' phase. Why don't you make a small mock up with cheap construction pine and see if they like it ? It might focus their minds a bit !

 

[HOJ]

I have a home library to quote for

The customer has requested it be made of pine due to the quantity required and cost of materials

I'm not quite understanding your position here, you say you are quoting for the job, so how does the customer know how much it is going cost using pine?

I've spoken to a timber suplier who has suggested amongst other types, ash as a good timber to use

That changes the dynamic in pricing, and you'll have to either buy it in sawn boards of pay a lot more for PAR.

I did suggest verneered ply, but the customer said no.

Did you compare the costs, not only in time but yield? when its full of books how will they tell what it is.