Can anybody advise me on the simplest way to edge bookcase uprights?
I am in a new house, and have to create about 70m of book shelving, split across 4 rooms, all fitted. This will involve about 17 bookcases around 500mm wide and about as tall as the rooms i.e. 2100mm or so. So that's 34 uprights. About 2/3 will be adjustable using bookcase strip, the other 1/3 will have fixed shelves.
The last time I did this was 25 years ago, and I used 18mm blockboard for both shelves and uprights, edged with 18mm half-round obtained from DIY store stripwood/moulding racks. But that was finished with dark stain. At the time both the blockboard and half-round were a pretty precise 18mm, and it worked out fine with minimal sanding, the dark stained half-round naturally providing a forgiving flush-ish join with the dark-stained blockboard, and between adjacent bookcases. This time we want white-painted, with a more modern square edge look, which will reveal lack of flushness much more, I think.
For the shelves, I will use 18mm birch ply (my timber merchant says that far eastern ply won't be stable enough, and I certainly don't want to use MDF for the shelves, because of sag), as blockboard is essentially no longer available (certainly within delivery distance of my house) - very costly, but I think there's no other realistic choice. The shelf spans are short, in order that I won't have any problems with shelf sag. I will edge them in softwood stripwood, 18mm by about 9mm or so, glued on. I will try to get 18mm milled exact from the timber merchant, then sand - fill - sand to achieve a flush join. If this doesn't work I will get the stripwood milled a bit over-width, and flush trim with a router.
But for the uprights I am puzzled. The approaches I can think of:
1. As for the shelves, use 18mm birch ply, edged with glued-on softwood. Unless I get very lucky with the stripwood, that will make for a very big and difficult routing/filling/sanding task, on some quite unwieldy boards. At the moment, this is the way I plan to go.
2. Same as 1, but use 18mm MDF for the uprights, just because it's a lot cheaper, will paint easier, and it's strong enough for that task.
3. Use over-width stripwood (maybe 6mm over width?) i.e. don't even try to get a flush edge. I am very reluctant to do this - it's a bad design for a bookcase as the books at the ends can't be withdrawn, and of course the upright edges would be proud of the shelf edges, rather than flush with them - I quite fancy having a fully flush front. But it would be very easy to do and if added after the bookcases are installed, it would neatly conceal the join between adjacent bookcases.
4. Use iron-on paintable edging. My timber merchant says this won't work on ply, because however well the plywood edge is sawn it will not take the edging well, which will show at the corners, and will come unstuck relatively easily. That's why I will use stripwood edging for the shelves. But maybe iron-edging would work for MDF uprights. I do want the bookcases to last but of course the edges of the uprights won't get much wear and tear. But I am still nervous about spending the next 20 years watching 70m+ of edging slowly pull off or chip away. I've only ever used iron-on edging on melamine chipboard, which was durable enough, though it's a delicate business getting a really a good corner. I've have never used the paintable edging.
5. Fill and sand the edges with something e.g. wood filler. I've never tried this. I assume it would be easier in either ply of MDF, but I don't know which! I wonder how easy it would be to achieve a good flat square edge on either material, though of course the painting would hide some sins. And I wonder how durable an edge like that is, even with little wear and tear on the uprights.
Does anybody know how the pros do this? The web is full of photos, on professional carpenters sites, of this style of bookshelf that all look fine (in low resolution, photographed when new - it's hard to tell what they will look like up close, 10 years down the road), but I can't work out how they are made.I think they probably mostly use oversize edging, and don't care much that the lip that's left is a continual niggle when the bookshelves are in use. For those that go for a flush design, I assume they use MDF, as from what I can tell the pros always use this for painted bookshelves, but I have no idea how they finish the edges.
I am in a new house, and have to create about 70m of book shelving, split across 4 rooms, all fitted. This will involve about 17 bookcases around 500mm wide and about as tall as the rooms i.e. 2100mm or so. So that's 34 uprights. About 2/3 will be adjustable using bookcase strip, the other 1/3 will have fixed shelves.
The last time I did this was 25 years ago, and I used 18mm blockboard for both shelves and uprights, edged with 18mm half-round obtained from DIY store stripwood/moulding racks. But that was finished with dark stain. At the time both the blockboard and half-round were a pretty precise 18mm, and it worked out fine with minimal sanding, the dark stained half-round naturally providing a forgiving flush-ish join with the dark-stained blockboard, and between adjacent bookcases. This time we want white-painted, with a more modern square edge look, which will reveal lack of flushness much more, I think.
For the shelves, I will use 18mm birch ply (my timber merchant says that far eastern ply won't be stable enough, and I certainly don't want to use MDF for the shelves, because of sag), as blockboard is essentially no longer available (certainly within delivery distance of my house) - very costly, but I think there's no other realistic choice. The shelf spans are short, in order that I won't have any problems with shelf sag. I will edge them in softwood stripwood, 18mm by about 9mm or so, glued on. I will try to get 18mm milled exact from the timber merchant, then sand - fill - sand to achieve a flush join. If this doesn't work I will get the stripwood milled a bit over-width, and flush trim with a router.
But for the uprights I am puzzled. The approaches I can think of:
1. As for the shelves, use 18mm birch ply, edged with glued-on softwood. Unless I get very lucky with the stripwood, that will make for a very big and difficult routing/filling/sanding task, on some quite unwieldy boards. At the moment, this is the way I plan to go.
2. Same as 1, but use 18mm MDF for the uprights, just because it's a lot cheaper, will paint easier, and it's strong enough for that task.
3. Use over-width stripwood (maybe 6mm over width?) i.e. don't even try to get a flush edge. I am very reluctant to do this - it's a bad design for a bookcase as the books at the ends can't be withdrawn, and of course the upright edges would be proud of the shelf edges, rather than flush with them - I quite fancy having a fully flush front. But it would be very easy to do and if added after the bookcases are installed, it would neatly conceal the join between adjacent bookcases.
4. Use iron-on paintable edging. My timber merchant says this won't work on ply, because however well the plywood edge is sawn it will not take the edging well, which will show at the corners, and will come unstuck relatively easily. That's why I will use stripwood edging for the shelves. But maybe iron-edging would work for MDF uprights. I do want the bookcases to last but of course the edges of the uprights won't get much wear and tear. But I am still nervous about spending the next 20 years watching 70m+ of edging slowly pull off or chip away. I've only ever used iron-on edging on melamine chipboard, which was durable enough, though it's a delicate business getting a really a good corner. I've have never used the paintable edging.
5. Fill and sand the edges with something e.g. wood filler. I've never tried this. I assume it would be easier in either ply of MDF, but I don't know which! I wonder how easy it would be to achieve a good flat square edge on either material, though of course the painting would hide some sins. And I wonder how durable an edge like that is, even with little wear and tear on the uprights.
Does anybody know how the pros do this? The web is full of photos, on professional carpenters sites, of this style of bookshelf that all look fine (in low resolution, photographed when new - it's hard to tell what they will look like up close, 10 years down the road), but I can't work out how they are made.I think they probably mostly use oversize edging, and don't care much that the lip that's left is a continual niggle when the bookshelves are in use. For those that go for a flush design, I assume they use MDF, as from what I can tell the pros always use this for painted bookshelves, but I have no idea how they finish the edges.
