I am planning a shelving project for a flat in Scotland. Her at home in the USA our 3/4 inch thick boards come in 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10" widths, minus 1/2 inch for planed boards. I didn't think to look at B&Q last trip over to see what widthsare common there. Can anyone tell me the common width closest to
8" sold in the United Kingdom?Thanks in advance.
Yup, same sizes, at least from a builders merchant. Most sheds will carry 2", 4" and 6", not sure about 8" and 10". I haven't been too impressed with softwood bought from sheds, and usually prefer a builders merchant.
All sizes are planed to about 1/2" less than the quoted width, and end up 18-20mm thick (~3/4").
No, that should be 6 mil less. The rough sawn is the full size, in inches, then 1/4 of an inch for the planer -in metric. Lengths are sold in metric too. (So that they can short change you or make you buy the next size up.)
England is indeed a nation of shoplifters.
By the time you're up to 8", and fer sure 12" (I know the OP asked about
10" but I've not seen it about) you're as well to go for laminated board, usually called "pineboard" over here (at least down in Bristol ;-). It's long strips of pine, each about 2" wide, glued firmly together to form boards of "arbitrary" width - common ones seem to be 6", 8", 12", 18", 24" (masquerading as metric sizes of 150mm, 200mm, 300mm, 450mm, and 600mm respectively), all at the "usual" nominal thickness of 18mm-that's-3/4". In some editions the corners are very slightly bevelled off.By using laminated board, your shelves are usefully less prone to cupping - in theory they alternate the grain direction in alternate strips, though looking at the end grain of the multiple shelves in my study the best that can be said for this batch is "the grain doesn't run the same way in adjacent strips very often"! It's also cheaper than the wider planks of one-piece wood, as you can make it from (quarter-sawn bits of - as if!) smaller-trunked trees.
HTH - Stefek
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