Thread: Shelving Problem

Hi Michelle,

If the twist in the timber is only a small amount you may be able to straighten it by screwing it to the brackets. To make it sit snug against the wall, scribe a pencil line along the shelf while holding it against the wall and use a plane (hand or electric) to cut to the line and it should fit perfectly.

Hope this helps

Regards Barry

Originally Posted by michelle2008

Hi again everyone,

I am trying to make some shelves, 1.8m long, each shelf just 70mm deep. I bought some pine from Bunnings, but when I tried to use it on the brackets it turns out it's not actually perfectly straight - it's warped and doesn't sit snug against the wall. Is it possible to get pre-cut pieces of wood/mdf/melamine/anything for a reasonably price? Where would I go to get them? I don't want to do too much mucking about with this (would actually like to get it done by Monday).

Thanks again
Michelle.

More than likely your walls are not straight, walls very rarely are.
If the boards are twisting, there is not much you can do unless you have a jointer and a thicknesser.
Unfortunately, the timber you buy from Bunnings, Mitre10 et al is structural timber and usually very low grade, hence the cheap prices.
Shelves 1800 mm by 70 mm have no strength in them and are bound to bend unless they are supported by brackets closely together. Try and put one end against a wall, grab the other end with your hands and see how easily they bend.
Mitre10 sell premade pine shelves but I have never seen them only 70 mm wide, I am afraid you are fighting an uphill battle. Remembering Monday is public holiday I doubt you will be able to get anything made before then.
Wolffie

Is it a public holiday in WA too? or is it just for us in qld?

You could try and force it to sit there as suggested above and secure it, and put a small 1/4 round peice of beading along the back to hide the gap.

Donna

Donna,
Michelle is in Brissy
Wolffie

Your shelves will likely sag as you describe them. You could try doing something like these.

Pic 1 nail and glue (or screw) the shelf to a back piece and put in three supports (just cut on a bit of an angle rather than the fancy profile), one at each end and one in the middle and you won't even need brackets!

Pic 2 a little harder. nail a cleat on the wall, build your shelf as a box and push it over the cleat and nail/screw it on. Looks good but a little harder.

If you want easy, do pic 1

Hope it works out!

Chipman

Thanks for all your replies!

Yes it turns out that the problem is more the walls not being straight. Only a couple of the bits of wood were warped, so that was ok. I ended up using 63mm metal brackets every 40cm along (or however far apart the studs are, about that anyway). They don't need to hold too much weight so I am hoping they will be ok. I am thinking of doing something like Donna said, putting something along the back to hide the gap. But it's not that noticable really. I'll road test them with some weight on them tomorrow. Hopefully they wont bend, break or fall down

Thanks again!
Michelle