Asking for advice on shelf edging

[rudy de haas]

I am regretting the words " I can do that" spoken in haste when she who must be obeyed asked about remaking some closets.. Turns out I can only sort-of do that. Oh well; the specific problem is this: both closets will have 93 inch shelves above the main clothes hangers (1 5/16th chrome bar in one 4' and four 2' lengths.) The shelves will be quite high, about 82" above the floor and only about 11.5" below the ceiling. As a result I expect that people putting stuff up there, and taking it down, will be dragging stuff across the boundary between the edging and the shelf surface.

I am planning on making the shelves themselves from baltic birch plywood (I think its 18mm, 0.7"). So the question is: what's the best way to put a (non flat) mahogany face molding on the edge?

For the front hall closet I did two years ago I cut a dado in the plywood and a tongue on the back of the edge molding. It is holding, but the fit is not what it should be - so far I've been saved by bad light in the closet on this :) but have gotten better at woodwork and so could do this again if that's the concensus advice.

[Lee Schierer]

If you have a router, but a set of edge banding router bits. It will make the alignment process a lot easier. Your plywood is going to be slightly thinner than 3/4" solid wood, so you can use a flush trim bit or hand plane to bring the solid wood down to the thickness of the plywood.

[Jim Dwight]

I did a quick sagulator calculation (google it). Even with a light load of 10 lbs/ft it says a 1.25 inch edge piece (1.25 vertically) by 3/4 thick makes the shelf "borderline". I would use an edge like this, probably on both the front and back. You could cut it down to 1 inch if you did both. But if you will have a heavier load on the shelf, you may need more. It's easy to play with the sagulator to get a feel for what will work well.

To attach it, you could just glue it. If you don't have lots of clamps, you could use glue and some 18 gauge brads. Or screws and plug the holes (at least on the front). You don't really need a fancy joint. I might put some biscuits in it to help align things during glueup. A spline would be even better.

[Bill Adamsen]

Thanks Jim ... that "sagulator" is a fine instrument, amazingly useful. I wish it had poplar as a choice.

I think the dado and tongue is a fine solution. I would probably use biscuits or dominos.

[rudy de haas]

Sorry = forgot to mention. The shelf is supported at both ends, along the back, and at the front two feet in from each end. The issue here is how to keep the molding from being pulled off over time -not how to support the shelf.

[Jerry Miner]

The nosing can be attached in a multitude of ways. I usually cut a rabbet in the nosing, height of ply thickness and depth of 1/2 the nosing (usually 3/8" for me)

However you attach the nosing, the key to keeping it from getting chipped or pulled off is to make sure it is flush to the top of the ply. Router, block plane, sanding could come into play for that. (I usually block plane and sand).

[Ole Anderson]

All of my 3/4" nominal (read thinner than) plywood shelves have a 3/4" x 3/4" solid edge simply glued on, then trimmed with a flush cut router bit. Longer shelves get a thicker front edge to provide some beam strength. Good PVA glue is pretty much forever. I glue up using Bessy clamps, I wrap four or five layers of masking tape around the clamp beam to support the shelf with one layer to catch any glue squeeze out, that way I always have a proud edge for trimming. No biscuits or brads or splines, simply not needed. many times I use a 1/4" round-over bit to ease the front edges.

[rudy de haas]

Many times I use a 1/4" round-over bit to ease the front edges.

That I can do - and I'd bet it works nicely. Thanks!