Making bookshelves questions:

[Reteplav]

Question 1 ....Whats the easiest , neatest ( and cheapest ! ) way to cut a

1/8" ( 3mm ? ) groove along the end - grain of a length of wood? ( Can you buy cheap router cutters in this size?)

I intend to use " magic-wires" to fit wooden shelves into a bookcase.

Question 2 ... Does anyone know of a retail source ( in the UK) for "magic-wires"

note..They are very good but if you don`t know what they are , then take a look at the bottom of this US webpage.

bought some years ago from a local pine furniture manufacturer (now closed down ) but now need a few more .The local sheds (B&Q etc) and Screwfix don`t appear to sell them.

Any suggestions most welcome

TIA

[Peter Ashby]

Depends what you mean by cheap. Trend make them I know and others probably do.

OR

Or cheapest:

Though they are not a common size or an easy one to make being smaller than the smallest shank size. Easiest way to do the cut is with a router table though if it is more than a couple of mm deep you will need multiple passes. If you don't want the groove to show on the front it makes things trickier. I would rig up a jig if I had a few to do that clamped over the end giving you more width to keep the router steady and with stops to prevent going over the ends. The comment on multiple passes would still stand though.

Peter

[John Rumm]

Yes :-

Question 2 ... Does anyone know of a retail source ( in the UK) for > "magic-wires"

Woodfit -

According to my catalogue they do 4 sizes:

Order Size (mm) code

SS140 160 SS200 192 SS220 224 SS300 288

Price (from my out of date pricelist) is 27p for shortest up to 30p for the longest.

Note it says a 3mm wide by 8mm deep slot is required (which the above router cutter may not manage to the required depth!) - hence

be better....

[fred]

Isn't this a job for a biscuit type cutter, more stable than balance on end type options?

But they're 4mm . . . ok, and oooooh is that the price . . .

[Peter Crosland]

Beware using them for long runs of books: they are very heavy and can easily split the shelf.

[e-mail]

[mike]

It suggests using a circular saw on the page that you linked to. That would probably be as easy and cheap as using a hand-held router - clamp all the shelves together then use the fence - unless you don't want to cut all the way through... If you already have a saw and you don't have the correct router bit, then the saw would be cheapest!

[Reteplav]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I was considering the circular saw method but my blade produces a 4mm slot whichmight be too wide.

I hadn`t realised that you could use "straight" router cutters to produce slots as I thought that they would be too flimsy for such a tough job.

Biscuit cutters seem to be one solution but rather expensive and possibly too thick.

Someone suggested Woodfit to buy the "magic wires" from. I thought they had gone out of business a couple of years ago so I will have to investigate further.

I realise that there is a danger in splitting the wood using these "magic-wires" but I intended to insert vertical supports in mid-shelf to prevent any excessive strain.

Thanks

[Peter Ashby]

That was Woodcut which stopped trading, Woodfit are still going AFAIK. You could also try Isaac Lord who do a similar range of stuff.

Peter