chipboard bookcase

[John Rumm]

3/4" is about the minimum for decent looking shelves IME. If trying to keep the cost low, then you can get lots of parts out of a sheet of real wood veneer coverd ply or MDF, and then use just a small amount of real hardwood to make lippings or a "face frame" for the shelves. You would probably get a couple of large book cases out of a 8x4" sheet (say £45 for something with a decent finish).

(by comparison, those small 30" tall 14" wide bookcases I linked to earlier, were made from solid hardwood, and each used most of a 9' length at about £3.50 per foot).

[The Medway Handyman]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'The Sagulator' yet.

maybe they have & I missed it?

[Mike Clarke]

Just keep tapping in shorter sections one after the other until the bottom one is far enough down. But try to arrange things so that the screws won't be going in near the ends of any of the battens.

There's not much danger of the battens breaking through the sides of the panel unless you do something very drastic, they just follow the internal surface.

[Stephen]

Thanks. I didn't realise I could use short lengths. I thought I would have to go from floor to ceiling. Presumably the longer the better, as it would share the weight over a larger area?

Thanks.

[Stephen]

I thought they went into a radial arm saw, and since I don't have one of those, I didn't look any further into it. If I were to do any, I think it would be with a router. I assume you have to chisel the end to make the round end square?

Thanks for the long post, it has given me lots of options to consider. If you do think of any books, please let me know as I can ask for them for Christmas.

Thanks, Stephen.

[John Rumm]

You can use them in a radial arm saw, and also on a table saw (assuming its arbour is long enough to take the thickness - some EU models are knobled due to the elf'n'safety requirements for spin down time - and a short arbour that won't take a heavy blade set is cheaper than electronic breaking!)

If you are routing "stopped" dados, then you could - or alternatively just cut the matching bit of the shelf such that it is shorter than the dado by the router bit diameter - then you won't need the rounded bits of the slot.

Oops - never did that did I!

This is not a bad one: