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Large adjustable shelf span

7/21/25       
Revel Woodard  Member

Website: https://www.instagram.com/revel_woodwork

I am looking at a large span for 10 adjustable shelves of about 45" for an up coming bid. The finish surface for this job is to be a slip matched brushed European rift white oak which I plan to achieve using a 1/18" raw wood veneer (and brushing it in house which is its own quandary). To achieve this span I'm considering either a reversible 1.5" thick birch ply lamination with a hardwood edge, or making the shelves out of 1"+ solid rift white oak, and applying an edge + veneering the front for a good match. A third option would be to make a torsion box for these 10 shelves. I had also considered veneering a VG Doug fir board. The client has stated that they don't intend to load the shelves up with books, but we all know that a shelf this big should be able to handle that eventuality. Lastly I'm looking for any pointers re: adjustable shelf hardware. It would seem to me that standard shelf pins are not an option, though maybe the thick oak veneer mitigated wood deformation. Center span pins are also to be avoided if at all possible. I've included drawing of one of the units below. Thank you, -Revel


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7/21/25       #2: Large adjustable shelf span ...
Stu Douglas

You could use the swedish-type shelf supports in the standard 32 mm system. Bias the blind groove (or rabbet) towards the bottom and use a lipped edge to combat sagging. A more rigid glue might be a boon in this case, since PVA glue will probably creep over time. Mock the shelf up with different lip heights so see where to draw the line in diminishing returns. You may have to lip the front and the back, and you may have to sleeve your system holes to get the look your after. Sag in that span, even a tiny amount, will be very noticeable to the naked eye.

Then let us know what you found out.

7/21/25       #3: Large adjustable shelf span ...
Revel Woodard  Member

Thank you, Stu. I should add that there is a lipped face frame detail which I believe will make that Swedish system a no-go. I may however have to change that element of the design. Something has to give here!

7/22/25       #4: Large adjustable shelf span ...
BH Davis  Member

Website: http://www.bhdavis.net

If you went with 1-1/2" thick shelves you could embed a 1" T-angle in the front and back edges. I'd think you would want 3/16" thick steel. Then cap the edges with 1/8" to 1/4" solid wood and the steel is completely buried inside the shelf.

I've done something similar on a PVC porch rail system where we would have had significant sag between the posts without the extra support.

BH Davis

7/24/25       #5: Large adjustable shelf span ...
Leo G Member

What about torsion box construction.

7/24/25       #6: Large adjustable shelf span ...
Revel Woodard  Member

Leo G- yes, I'd reluctantly mentioned that as option 3 but now am leaning in that direction. I did a torsion box (well a skinned ladder frame to be exact) of sorts for this door last year https://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/aw.pl?read=871919. This was largely inspired by the way David Sochar builds slab doors, and if it were a larger than average door I would have gone with a proper egg crate grid. When I was building that door I made 2 test laminations of XPS foam, one skinned with 1/8" and the other with 1/4" marine ply using epoxy. Both assemblies are around 12" x 48" and rigid enough to stand on with very little deflection, the 1/4" skinned one more so. I figure with captured oak rails on all 4 sides, I could build torsion boxes for these shelves fairly efficiently. specifically, I'm thinking 1" XPS with 1/4" skins to net 1.5", or change the design to 2" thick, which would allow me to use 1.5" wood rails. I'm wondering about XPS foam's sag over time but I think it's negligible if suitably bonded to skins with epoxy. If I make blind dado for Swedish brackets in the middle, shelf will be reversible if need be. Now I'm overthinking it probably

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