Shelving...

[Marcus Fox]

Cupboard between two chimneys would like to put some shelves in. Dimensions are 11" x 28", and planning to have 8 shelves. Question is, where's the best place to get the wood? Ordinary pine would do, don't want chipboard or MDF, but at the timber merchants they say their widest pine is 9", but they will cut it to size (28") for about £4 per metre. They can do 11", but only in oak, whick as you've guessed, is obscenely expensive for what will just be cupboard shelves. Homebase do pine stuff that would fit when cut, but it's

12" by about 35" for £6-7 per piece and it would be a pain to have to cut each piece to shape with a handsaw (don't have powersaw).

Any suggestions, or should I just get the 9" stuff?

Marcus

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 25 May 2004, Marcus Fox wrote

Could you get the timber merchant to cut some 2" x 28" strips for use at the back of each shelf? Bit of a bunging-together, but nobody would see the join.

[Andy Hall]

The DIY sheds have laminated pine boards in widths of up to 600mm and lengths up to 2.3m. Wickes and B&Q have this at fairly reasonable prices for the application - about £18/m^2

This is made from strips about 50mm wide, edge laminated, finished and sanded. It also has the advantage that unlike a single wide width of timber, it is much less likely to cup and distort.

If you choose a DIY store with panel saw, they will cut it for you.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Grunff]

First off decide whether you want it in pine or in a hardwood. If you want pine then 9" is the biggest you'll easily find, but you can also get wider board from the sheds.

If you want it in hardwood, consider reclaimed oak. Ridiculously cheap - in fact cheaper than planed pine around here. I recently bought enough oak for 5x 1.2m window sills and 7x door saddles for £45. All you need to do is find somewhere local which does reclaimed timber.

[Michael Mcneil]

Is there a particular reason you can't use adequate grammar to help total strangers understand your needs?

Do you want 8 shelves 28 inch long, of 11 inch wide timber?

If so get a set of three cheap clamps from the local market and join some 6 inch facia panel. A mornings work including the shopping. Get a cheap belt sander and the job's done and dusted -including free fitting in 12 hours maximum.

You get to keep the clamps and the sander. You could make another set of shelves with them to store them on.

[Adrian Clark]

Unless the "total strangers" are either illiterate or totally blind, he couldn't really be much clearer than...

Adrian

[N. Thornton]

If I were thusly tool challenged I'd go for 5.5" pine and glue them together. Just measure with care to make sure 11" really will fit: a slight unevenness on the wall by one shelf might mean it doesnt go in.

You forgot to mention the thickness youre choosing, and what support they will have. People often get this wrong, resulting in bent shelves.

You could do with a circ saw and a planer for this, but it can be tortoised without.

Regards, NT

[Dave Plowman]

That's probably made out of strips of pine glued together, and would be a better bet for shelving than plain pine as it won't warp.

Most of the sheds sell it - have you not got one that will also cut to size? 35" cut down to 28" isn't too much waste.