Shelving

Buy plywood from a timber merchant. It's much more rigid than chipboard. Comes in a great variety of grades and thicknesses. Sawn edges require no further finishing, over the staining/painting you do to the rest of it.

Pine wood is not that much dearer at the wood yard,theyll even cut it to lenght for you. A piece of 7"x3/4 will probably be about 65p a foot

It can also be supplied with a laminated veneer in a chosen hardwood. For a nicer edge finish, strips of hardwood can be glued to the front edge.

that sounds good - where would i get it from ?

is it stable, that is, does it warp when in centrally heated house ?

regards

mark

Here's one example

All sorts of things are available. Ordering through a local timber supplier might be and advantage if you have no means to cut the panels. Usually the large suppliers will deliver 2440x1220 sheets and that's it.

Generally plywood is very stable.

Look up timber merchants in yellow pages, phone/go see what they have.

Cheapest grades is used by builders for temporary work, probably warped before you buy it.

Good stuff will be the best option all round - probably about =A340 for a 1.2 by 2.4 metre sheet in 18mm. Red ply is mostly tropical hardwood, but is excellent. As is birch ply, which I think is mostly Siberian birch. Larger suppliers will have 25mm and thicker ply as well - if your brackets can take the weight.

I promise you'll never consider chipboard for shelving again.

Try IKEA if you have one nearby. They have a very good range at very good prices.

it depends what you want. half inch ply is much tougher than chip, and is good stability wise. Plain 3/4 redwood is nicer for shalves that arent too deep, and whats it called for deeper ones - pine cut into strips and glued together. All these are of much higher quality than veneered chip.

NT

Soffit board or just call it pine board if you can't see a bit of what you fancy and just point at it. The problem with that is that it will cup or curve as it dries. It needs a couple of slots routed underneath to check that.

A simple enough job with a small circular saw.

Barge board is bigger and wider and window board is the same thickness but made of MDF, nicely rounded though.

Then there are stair strings if you can find a supplier and after that, a visit to a timber yard might find you some very fine oddments for not a lot more.

========================= Apart from all the other suggestions you might look at B&Q's new range of

Cic.

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