Question about corner shelves i made

**johnjohnmulley** · 14th April 2009, 07:09 PM

Been making these shelves to fit in the corner of the bedroom from an old fence under my mates house which had probably been sitting there for the last 10 yrs.

It's spotted gum
I wanted a contrasting timber for the legs but ended up with............. more spotted gum. It's quite a different colour though, must be the age of the old fence or...?

It's finished in 2 coats of organoil Danish Oil.

I've got a question though........

The bottom shelf as seen in the pictures supports the whole set of shelves. If someone carelessly leans the shelves forward, then the force created on the bottom shelf infront of the legs will snap the shelf ...

How can I fix this?

I've got a few solutions in my head

1)
Build a support base underneath the shelf so the shelves rest on a more structurally sound piece of wood, rather than all the grain going one way. I DONT want to do this because it will raise the shelves up and then the legs will not be touching the ground anymore and will look silly

2)
Cut out grooves (maybe 10mm wide and about 5-10 of them) going from the front of the shelf to the back (perpendicular to the grain) and glue thin strips of wood in the grooves, kind of making plywood with 2 types of grain direction. This will hopefully give enough support so that if someone leans the shelves forward the force will be supported by these extra strips of wood. Also will not be able to see them, and will not raise the shelves. But I dont own a router. I don't know how else to do the cuts accurately?

Any other ideas? Can anyone help me on this problem...

It shouldn't be a problem but I sort of want these shelves to withstand someones mistake of tilting them when moving them or putting stuff on them.

**artme** · 14th April 2009, 09:01 PM

Very nice looking timber and a well made set of shelves jjm.

I think you will have problems with all of the shelves. It looks to me as though you have simply edge joined the timber and you run the risk of any of the shelves breaking if excess weight or force is applied to the outer limits of the shelves.

You may solve the problem by using thin, good quality ply cut slightly smaller than the shelves an glued on underneath.

As for the bottom, Why not cut and attach supporting rails underneath that have a slight taper so the whole unit leans backwards slightly?

**johnjohnmulley** · 15th April 2009, 12:31 AM

Thanks artme

The other shelves will have the same problem if i load them enough, and load them infront of the 2 front legs, however they're pretty strong and i'd think it would take a fair bit of load (more than a few photoframes) to break them. They'll be fine.

The bottom one however takes a LOT of bending moment when the shelves tilt and it WILL snap at this stage

Either i can be careful, or i can fix it hopefully it will last someone accidentally tilting it...

Good idea about the ply, i'd only use it on the bottom one, what do you suggest? A 3mm thick piece? That would still raise it enough to notice the legs coming off the ground......... but would a 3mm thick ply be strong enough to withstand much bending force?

Any other ideas?

**orraloon** · 16th April 2009, 10:46 AM

If it is fixed to the walls then it cant tilt. Will require feet to get it above the skirting board however.

**johnjohnmulley** · 16th April 2009, 04:12 PM

Wont be fixed to the walls

I put soem 7mm 3 ply wood on the bottom shelf glued all over. Should be fine now.

Time to bring it upstairs

Cheers

**Sawdust Maker** · 16th April 2009, 04:23 PM

How about you flip it over?

then you could build a small plinth and have those uprights running to the floor!

**johnjohnmulley** · 16th April 2009, 05:59 PM

whats a plinth sorry?

That was another idea, I wanted the overhang of the legs ontop of the top shelf though..... and then i'd still have to make up a bottom shelf/extra front leg for the stability.

Anyway i'll chuck up some better pics in the pictures section and see what people think bout the final product... hopefully get some comments/critique...

Thanks for your help

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