My grandson's project

[Jim Allen]

My 18 year old grandson asked me if I'd help him build some shelves that he saw being built on YouTube, I looked at the video and said sure it looks like a neat project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wki3wMAbtLg&feature=youtu.be
He went way beyond what the guy was doing on YT. He wants to build 3 shelves, 2 of them 4' x 8" and one 8' x 8" made from 2" thick Myrtle wood. He knows it's a bigger project then what he saw so instead of the 1/2" dowels he bought 7/8" dowels. For the 4' shelves I thought 4 dowels would do it and probably 10 for the 8' shelf.

My question for you is do you think that will be sufficient, or have we bit off more than we should have?

[Edwin Santos]

Personally I think your plan will work just fine, at least as well as the YT guy's project, probably stronger because of the bigger dowels. I think it would take an enormous amount of leverage to snap a series of 7/8" dowels.

My bigger observation is how cool it is that your 18 year old grandson is interested in building things, seeking out projects, and just being creative. You must be proud.

[Jim Allen]

My bigger observation is how cool it is that your 18 year old grandson is interested in building things, seeking out projects, and just being creative. You must be proud.

Yes we're very proud of him, His father has a dune buggy and several years ago I helped him (showed him how) turn a shift knob for his dad's buggy.