Walnut and Brass... Bookcase?

I'm working on designing my next project and I'd like to get the communities opinion! I've got two versions designed currently and I'm curious what other people see and which they prefer. The plan is to use walnut ply with hardwood edging with the inlaid brass bar stock. One version uses more walnut ply for the standoffs between boxes, while the other uses more brass round bar. I'm thinking that I could drill and tap the brass and connect it with some nice looking hardware via through-holes in the corresponding box.
Other people might have questions, so please ask and I will try to answer!

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Right off the top of my head, I think the design has structural weakness. Books are heavy and the shelves are supported only at the ends except in one option that has a support to the stretcher which isn't very large and is also unsupported in the middle. The open sided boxes have little lateral support to resist sagging or racking. It looks, cool, but I don't think it would last very long in use.

Walnut and brass are a great combination. I prefer the one with the plywood supports. To me, the brass is best used sparingly as it distracts the eye in larger pieces. And I think Lee makes good points.

Lee, Stan, I appreciate the feedback! I'm wary of the structure, too. I'm contemplating bringing the stretcher in the base up to fully support the entire bottom surface of the shelves and potentially adding back panels. I think those things negatively impact the look though, but that might just be me.

I also meant to add that the whole thing only spans about 45". The longest shelf is ~35" and it's a little under 30" tall.

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Originally Posted by Jarod Johnson

Lee, Stan, I appreciate the feedback! I'm wary of the structure, too. I'm contemplating bringing the stretcher in the base up to fully support the entire bottom surface of the shelves and potentially adding back panels. I think those things negatively impact the look though, but that might just be me.

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A center leg all the way to the floor would take the weight of the books and might mitigate the need for a back panel as long as no one pushes on either end.

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Originally Posted by Lee Schierer

Right off the top of my head, I think the design has structural weakness. Books are heavy and the shelves are supported only at the ends except in one option that has a support to the stretcher which isn't very large and is also unsupported in the middle. The open sided boxes have little lateral support to resist sagging or racking. It looks, cool, but I don't think it would last very long in use.

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A Navy guy knows a thing or two about how heavy books are! You don't realize the weight of a book until you have to move and pack a box full of them. And if you don't move often, it's easy to forget!

So yeah, I agree that it needs more support, especially in the center. A center leg would probably do the trick. If you support the bottom row, then the top row will be supported, so however you want to do that would be fine.

I like the look of the second option, with the smaller brass parts. I like brass and think it can go well with walnut, but brass supports aren't really decorative here. And they'll work better as accents rather than main attractions. Use the brass to lighten the visual weight of the bookshelf. That way it looks more like the shelves are delicate and free floating than built to withstand the apocalypse. This is an MCM inspired design, after all. So take advantage of the strength of the brass and use less of it.

You will gain more support if you bring the stretcher up to meet the bottom boxes. Brass and Walnut are a great combo, but only if used in small amount. Nice design.

Thanks everyone for the advice thus far! Here is the next iteration... Obviously there is more center support now for the bottom boxes, but the bottom stretcher also got thickened a little bit to help carry the load out to the feet. I think this maintains the look I'm after while giving more sufficient structure. I'm also leaning towards including full back panels, again, in pursuit of strength.

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Looking good!

I think that should hold pretty well. I doubt you'll need back panels for that so long as you don't go too thin on the wood and use good, strong joinery. Go ahead and build it up and test it before applying the finish. If it turns out it wants to sag, you could probably sneak some additional, lateral support in there. You could always hide a center leg behind the bottom stretcher, and no one would see it without lying on the ground, if you needed to.

But I would be tempted to align the supports pieces in the middle of the stretcher bar vertically with the brass supports in between the top and bottom bookshelves above them. That should give it a little more visual order and provide a bit more support against sagging by spanning them out just a bit further towards the center of the boards above them. However, we're only talking about a few inches here, and I can see that you've got them spaced to respect the spacing of the feet on the ends of the bookshelf. But I'd be tempted to move them out and bring the feet further in, under the bookshelf, to respect the same distance from the edges all around. It won't hurt the stability, as tilting front to back will be the only concern here. But it's up to you. Opinions are like something that everyone has or whatever. And I'm pretty sure my opinion is one of the least important ones in this project.

And the earlier suggestion of removing the legs and just going with a full-length skirt all the way around would solve all of these issues, however, it would also be a significant design change, which is probably not what you want. But it might be worth a quick mockup just to see how it visually appeals to you, as from a purely structural standpoint, it would be hard to beat. And I think I would look pretty nice, as a lot of MCM furniture is built this way. But again, opinions are blah, blah and I think your current design looks good and should still be strong enough as is.

In any case, it's looking really nice and you should be proud!