Plywood Book Shelves advice please

Jane , I`ve got a supplier from Peterbourough who will only charge me the petrol money for the delivery , but check on ebay or gumtree , is full time job it`s actually selling scaffolding board

 

It comes in different grades, the cheapest is a bit fluffy
Does your house have a roof.

I agree, solid is good depending on what you are looking for, your unit looks good, but scaffolding boards need to fit in with the rest of the house/room.

Solid polished hardwood would be expensive, I'm sure John is loaded, but it could come out costing and arm an a leg.

 

I am really surprised that you use orbital sanders. I find that on a natural finish they leave thousands of tiny marks where they go against the grain which bug the living hell out of me. Hand finishing in the direction of the grain is not hard work.

The biggest problem that I have using solid wood, even a lot of hardwoods that are available now, is the lack of seasoning. It tends to distort at room temperatures if I buy it and use it straight away.

 

Everyone uses orbital sanders these days, you need to go down the grades to about 180 or 240 grit before applying lacquer.
They are mostly random orbit sanders now, the older orbitals did leave "rings".

The reason the timber distorts these days is down to double glazing and central heating, the moisture content of kiln dried timber is much lower than anything you could get years ago, but its still not low enough for really hot dry houses.
What ever happened to the coal fire and the half inch gap under the door?

Must admit though timber quality is lower at the cheaper end, than it used to be, ie, more wild grain that will make it twist and bow.

 

Being limited here on the island I use Haldane-Fisher, they will cut to size and have various machines for finishing. They will also give you suggestions as to what you should use. I agree with Armandii and other members about using real wood, it's so much stronger for shelving.

I had this shelving made, it's oak and not as expensive as you may think.

 

MDF is awful. I only use it for making cake boards.

Nice one. Petrol could cost me a bit though

Can I just add with the scaffolding boards that they will need to be acclimatised to your house before you even build the thing. I'm assuming most scaffold boards are left outside in the rain, cold etc for years on end. You can't just cut them to length and sand them up and not expect the wood to react to your central heating/drier atmosphere.

I'm not saying don't use scaffold boards but like all solid woods they need to be acclimatised to their permanent enviroment. Even our shelves for our bookcases were acclimatised, (for a month I think but @Mr Jane will need to confirm this) even though this was newer timber and had been store under cover since it left the kiln. Even then though, some of it still gained splits over time as it adjusted to the atmosphere. People seem to think that wood is dead as soon as the tree is cut down, but it is still very much alive and reacting to it's environment all the time.

What do you mean by polished? Do you mean planed smooth? Also shelves can be made from softwood, all our shelving has been.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/p...wg&ei=tVSRVMiMN-TN7Qbk2YH4Ag&ved=0CJIBEKYrMAA

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2714...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

 

Here is a really good tutorial.

 

Please please don't use biscuit joints.