Book shelving ideas

ESBlonde

I racked out my big shed with bought 2x2" uprights (you could use 1x2 flat against the wall) then add horizontals to form ladder parts and the shelves were reclaimed pallet planking. this gives you sections about 28" wide and as deep as you want. On the face of it thats very low cost and finish was not a priority. It could be nicely finished though. But taking apart a lot of (similar) pallets needs the right tools and then an electric planer once you have removed every last piece of metal takes more time and creates a mess. A belt sander gives a more rustic undulating finish. There is a decent portion of waste timber with pallets which needs disposal too.

If you already have the tools and facilities it's a great project. If you don't have all that Ikea stuff is often less that buying good ready to use planed timber. You can 'knock it about with a belt sander' to make it more rustic if straight sharp edges bother you.

underdog

Cheap reciprocating saw make taking pallets apart so easy, if anyone needs to split a load of pallets.

Musicwolf

Kittyfrisk said:

Judge me not, lest I be tempted to not give a shite.
But... this is a rather robust set of budget vintage planks.

I've spotted what I assume to be a design flaw.  I have the exact same shelves in my shed and it too looks like an untidy shit-heap.  Maybe this was why IKEA withdrew them?

Roland

It’s tempting to buy cheap shelving as a one off purchase. My experience is that decent quality stuff lasts. Our metal wall runners and wooden shelves have moved house. and also been redeployed in different locations. When putting up my workshop shelves I had to add a couple of runners and brackets, but most have been with us for years,

ESBlonde

underdog said:

Cheap reciprocating saw make taking pallets apart so easy, if anyone needs to split a load of pallets.

Indeed it does, but then you have to remove all the nail heads, and you can't use the bits of wood that had the other end of the nails in unless you carve them out. I've dinged planer blades and ripped belt sanders even when i thought i'd got everything out! Alternately cut the boards short and only have the middle nails to wory about.

There's no free lunch.

I did watch a yootoober say that he abandoned pallets as a timber source and visits wood yards/DIY stores to collect what he called 'Cull' wood. This is where it has warped, got dinged, or simply they haven't shelf room for it. You don't get to buy exactly what you want but over time can accumulate lots of nice timber then machine it to dimension.

PhilW1

Jason said:

I'm in the process of decorating my office and I've built a pretty large desk and shelving unit out of scaffolding. I thought it was pretty cheap for what I wanted. I just bought a sander (£40) to tidy up the boards and wax (£12).

I got it all from The Metal Store, might be worth getting a quote from them

https://i.imgur.com/C7lYOR2.jpg

Great idea, really like it and it fancy doing something similar, is it all free standing or have fixed it to the wall?

WezV

this was my <£60 compact desk for two... 2/3rds of the budget was the legs


I wouldn't even consider planing scaffold boards, hard to spot all stray nails... just sand them down and give them a wax to even out the colour, saw marks are part of the look

Jason

PhilW1 said:

Jason said:

I'm in the process of decorating my office and I've built a pretty large desk and shelving unit out of scaffolding. I thought it was pretty cheap for what I wanted. I just bought a sander (£40) to tidy up the boards and wax (£12).

I got it all from The Metal Store, might be worth getting a quote from them

https://i.imgur.com/C7lYOR2.jpg

Great idea, really like it and it fancy doing something similar, is it all free standing or have fixed it to the wall?

Its free standing, they supply feet which you can screw in to the floor, but now its full of stuff (today's job) its pretty rock solid