Shelf depth question

[Dave Aronson]

OK, after telling myself I need to put up some shelving in my garage shop for 4 years, I have come to the conclusion that I'm not going to build the system I have designed and am going to use off the shelf heavy duty angle brackets for the shelf support.

My question is for a bracket that is 12" depth, what is the maximum reasonable depth of the shelf? Am I nuts to think that I can go 18" deep?

[Kevin Guarnotta]

Why not get deeper angle brackets?

I am using a bracket system in my garage. I have different depth brackets depending on where in the shop I have put the shelves...they vary from 6" near my work bench to 18" on the wall where I store my lumber.

[Dave Aronson]

mainly because of the cost I suppose. I can get some very good quality 12" brackets cheap. about 1/3 the cost of 18" brackets. I know that is a somewhat lame excuse.

I have a lumber rack system already, These shelves will be holding lighter items that I was planning on putting in plastic tubs because they will be 10' up the wall and I would need a ladder to get the stuff up or down.

[Kevin Guarnotta]

ok...I use a plastic tub system for part of my shop. I swear by these two types -
Sterilite 6 quart Clear-view latch box, 12-pack, good for smaller items
and these
Sterilite Ultra Storage Box, White lid, see through base w/Titanium latches, 6-pack (these are good for larger items, and are heavier duty plastic)
Your shelf does not necessarily need to be the same depth as your plastic tubs, ie your plastic tubs could overhang a bit. I wouldn't build anything deeper than 16" on 12" brackets. Especially if they are high up the wall.

[Harry Hagan]

12" wide bracket for a 12" shelf. 18" wide bracket for a 18" wide shelf.

[Michael W. Clark]

The other benefit to using 16" is that you can get three rips out of a single piece of plywood. I added a 3/4"x1" edging to my shelves in the garage. I didn't get too fancy, ripped down 1x material, glue and brads. Sand the edges or round them over if near a door way. It hurts when you stumble and rake your back across the sharp edge.

[Dave Novak]

12" wide bracket for a 12" shelf. 18" wide bracket for a 18" wide shelf.

I don't quite buy that. I have 12" brackets with 16" (or whatever's left from a 4x8 sheet of ply ripped into 3) shelves and they flawlessly hold very heavy tools; all my festool systainers, other plastic cased tools, whatever. Before I went to vertical lumber storage, the same system held many hundreds of pounds of lumber without issue.

[Ole Anderson]

Unless you are keeping your weights on the front of the shelves, you will be fine with 12" brackets and 16" shelves, 4" of cantilever is no big deal. But be sure to secure the shelves to the rear of the brackets so they don't tip forward. I ditto Mike's comment on edging except I would go with 3/4" x 1-1/2"-2" to get a little more rigidity. Plywood shelves can get a little bendy over time with weight on them, depending on the span between supports..

[Dave Aronson]

thanks guys, I think I'm going to go 16" depth. I like the ideas of clear tubs, I was going to have them black with labels. I'm not planning on putting too much weight, and I was thinking of a support ever 32"