Plywood Book Shelves advice please

I can't comment about the type of ply John. The last ply I used was marine quality stuff that I was given.
As far as regards finish, I'd go for polyurethane satin finish varnish and apply a couple of coats. It will dry quite quickly and there's no chance of books sticking once dry. Although even 'clear' varnish will darken the final finish, if you want an even darker final colour you could first apply a wood stain.

 

You could put some wood moulding along the edges to cover them which could look very nice, you could probably cut this to length yourself, the books won't stick to the shelves once the varnish has hardened off properly, I wouldn't use coloured varnish which has stain added to it as it never gives a good finish, always streaky, stain first and then varnish with a clear polyurethane varnish. Should look really nice!!!

 

Birch ply is meant to be the better one to use so I have been told before in the past

 

I will ask Mr Jane for his opinion as he has nearly finished our bookcases.

In the meantime here is ours almost finished....

 

JWK , Birch ply it`s really expencive and you need a professional sprayer to have that look , I use loads at work and my boss will not allow anyone to have any offcuts due of it`s price .....

what I can suggest to you it`s something much more economical and easy to do .

why don`t you use scaffolding boards?



they are about £1 per foot , and you can easily brush paint it or stain it
at the moment I`m doing few table for friends



or you can destress the wood with few color

 

Jungle Jane and sal73, lovely woodwork!!!!

 

An 18 mm birch ply would cost you around £50 if you are a tradesman while the scaffolding board at a minimum of 38 mm thick should cost around £40 for the same surface usually the board coming at £8 per 8foot x 9 inches wide ....

 

A tool we used to design our bookcases.

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

 

Where do you get your boards from? I'm having great difficulties at the moment getting hold of some more for my allotment plot. Especially at that price.

 

I agree with all of this! Every time I use plywood I vow never to do it again! "Real" wood is cheaper, looks better, is easier to work with and is stronger in the direction of the grain. The only drawback compared to ply is the width available.

I'm surprised that 25mm ply is think enough over that length, our shelves are nearly twice as thick. You must have lighter books than us, JWK! If it has to be ply, I'd recommend sticking on an edge banding as suggested by Val. I've never had much joy getting a tidy edge on ply.