Bookshelf, wood choice?

On Mar 15, 6:34=A0pm, "dan" <> wrote:
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.
>
> --

You may want to use plywood but you will have to face the edges, in
othe words place stip of hard wood along the edges. If you use oak ply
wood you will need to face with oak.
If you do this you should be able to stain as dark as you like. And
the piece will look good. The oak face will help keep the shelves from
sagging which can happen with plywood shelfs depending on the length
of the shelve.

Pine can be tough to stain light or dark. tends to sploch.

Randy
http://nokeswoodworks.com

<dan> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.
>
> --
>Dan
I just finished 2 bookcases for my church each one is 6' tall and the
shelves are 46'' wide. I used red oak and butted the edges up and glued
them with Gorilla Glue to get my width 12''. Books weigh anywhere from 20
to 25 lbs per foot. So I used 13/16'' thickness. I you want to check the
sag properties of many woods check out this site.
http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm this is a very useful site. And
as far as a dark stain, I recently discovered the use of steel wool and
vinegar, this makes a very dark stain especially on oak, do a google search
and you'll find loads of info. on this stain. I used it and put 3 coats on
red oak and it looks as dark as mahogany.

bill

On Mar 15, 4:34=A0pm, "dan" <> wrote:
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine?

Plywood for the case uprights is a good choice, it's tough
and stays straight. Shelf length of only a couple of feet means
the shelves needn't be topnotch straight lumber (only
a very very bad twist would be noticeable on a short piece),
and I'd go with solid softwood.

As for finish, pine and some other softwoods have stain-uptake
anomalies. Shellac for primer and a dark tinted varnish should
be a safe combination. I did a full clean/condition/stain/varnish
operation for bookshelves once, and it took over a week
(remember, you have to test on scraps first...).

"Father Haskell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:a2011584-2acd-4584-b4ea-ba75a93345f7@u69g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 15, 7:34 pm, "dan" <> wrote:
>> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
>> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room.
>
> Lauan or birch ply with poplar banding is cheap and can be
> stained to match anything.
>
If you know how to deal with the fuzz on birch as you try to stain it.

In article <[email protected]>, "dan" <> says...
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.

If you use A plywood you won't have to worry about shrinking
and expansion. You will have to deal with framing the rough
edges, but that's not too tough.

Staining pine really dark can be a total bear to get right.

Good luck.

s.

<dan> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.

If you use plywood, the edges can be covered with an iron on material, or
you can glue on wood strips to make a nice finished edge. When you say
"furniture grade" the price of pine goes way up. Clear boards are expensive
but if you don't mind a few knots, (especially on shelves) #2 pine is good.

Plywood is sturdy, stable, and would make a good bookcase. Wide pine is
prone to warping. Plywood edges must be finished (not hard to do)

If you want a very dark stain, check out Minwax Jacobean or Ebony.

On Mar 15, 7:34 pm, "dan" <> wrote:
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room.

Lauan or birch ply with poplar banding is cheap and can be
stained to match anything.

> It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.
>
> --

Birch plywood.

General Finishes -- Java gel stain.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=5555

dan wrote:
> I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
> I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
> shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
> furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.
>

On 15 Mar 2008 23:34:30 GMT, "dan" <> wrote:

>I'm building a bookshelf. It will be about 6' tall by 2-2 1/2' wide.
>I'm trying to match some furniture in the room. It will have adjustable
>shelves. What type of wood should I use? AA Plywood? Pine? It should be
>furniture grade and able to take a dark, almost black colored stain.

A good grade of 3/4" ply might be your best bet. Trim the front edge
with a 1.5" x 1/2" solid wood, poplar is a good choice. Or, you can
use solid wood (no trim needed). You can fasten the front lip with
finish nails or biscuits. For safety sake, secure the bookcase at
the top with an L-bracket screwed into a wall stud.