Does anyone have any good ideas or patterns for creating a fairly
inexpensive set of book shelves? I need to make or buy some
bookshelves for our family room but my budget for the project is not
very large.
Thanks for the help!!
[email protected]
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Does anyone have any good ideas or patterns for creating a fairly
> inexpensive set of book shelves? I need to make or buy some
> bookshelves for our family room but my budget for the project is not
> very large.
How about the old college dorm trick of 1x10's and bricks?
No, seriously! My Dad did this at one point, only instead of the bricks
he cut up 4x4 redwood fence posts into 10" lengths, glued the blocks
into slabs and used that for the shelf supports. Every other (or was it
every third?) shelf was anchored to the wall studs with angle brackets.
A little light-tinted Watco Danish oil and the end result closely
matched the existing pine trim of our house. Worked well and was very
inexpensive, which was the primary consideration at that time.
CharlesJ
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On 5 Dec 2003 11:40:12 -0800, [email protected] (Scott) wrote:
>Does anyone have any good ideas or patterns for creating a fairly
>inexpensive set of book shelves? I need to make or buy some
>bookshelves for our family room but my budget for the project is not
>very large.
>
>Thanks for the help!!
>[email protected]
For the money, I could not make something less expensive than just
buying a used bookcase.
How inexpensive? If you can live with a painted bookshelf, then use MDF for
the carcase. A full sheet of 3/4" MDF is probably about $27. From this you
can create a very stable and well-constructed case, including shelves. If
you make a simple shelf pin jig, you can use shelf pins to have adjustable
shelves. The design is up to you. My point is, you can use MDF to make any
joint you want (dadoes, rabbets, pocket hole joints, etc.).
To this you can add wood moldings and a wood face frame. I would suggest
poplar, because it is fairly durable and cheap. After you attach the face
frame and moldings you can putty the nail holes or whatever and then prime
and paint and you're good to go. Adding an edge strip of hardwood to the
MDF shelves is a good idea to increase their capacity and avoid sagging. If
you can, make the shelves out of hardwood, as well as add the front-edge
strip.
Anyway, you could make a pretty good bookcase for probably around $50, maybe
less.
Mike
--
There are no stupid questions.
There are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.
"Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Does anyone have any good ideas or patterns for creating a fairly
> inexpensive set of book shelves? I need to make or buy some
> bookshelves for our family room but my budget for the project is not
> very large.
>
> Thanks for the help!!
> [email protected]