Expert: Jamie Yocono - 1/27/2007

Question
I am anticipating building a bunch of book shelves.
Is there a reference material that tells me what type of material (solid wood by type, plywood, mdf etc) will support a specific weight over what span?  I need to figure out what to use and how wide a shelf units I can build.
thanks!

Answer
Hi Ray,

I have a gem of a site to share with you, and I think it will do exactly what you want it to do- tell you the recommended span of various materials. I can't tell you how many times I've used this site since I learned of it.

I have a friend that recommended it to me. When he told me about it, I thought he was making the name up. It's called a Sagulator, and it "helps you design shelves by calculating shelf sag (deflection) given type of shelf material, shelf load, width, depth, and thickness."

Anyway, the website address is:  http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

This site does all shelf calculation for you! How cool.

OK, I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this. And if this answer was helpful... please take a minute and rate my service. Thanks!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com