Sag in a wooden shelf

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breckrider

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I'm building a set of shelves that will be inset into a space that was once a window. It's now in the interior of a recently remodeled building. It will be free-standing with the supports made of 1/2" black pipe with supports for the shelf boards on each end about 3 inches in from the end of the board. The boards will be cut to fit snuggly against the sides of the walls. The width of each board will be 44" with no support in the middle. They will hold books, maybe some artwork--nothing extremely heavy. At the most, a shelf of hardback books. Will a 1x be strong enough not to sag appreciably, or do I need a 2x for the shelves?
 
1X finished material will be .75" thick and IMO should be fine
 
On workshop shelves, I put an edging strip on the shelves to combat sag.

They were strips of 1/2" thick poplar attached to the long edge of each shelf. I used PVA wood glue (such as Titebond II) & clamped until dry. A few brads would work if you haven't the clamps.

For the shelves holding heavy tool room lathe chucks, I put the poplar on each edge. Those shelves are 1 x 8 #2 SPF and span 30" between supports. Some of the chucks weigh 80 pounds each. No sags yet.

If appearance & clearance allows, a strip of wood glued to the bottom lengthwise- centered front-to-back would help more.

Made also are shelves with steel inserts. Who makes them and how much they cost I can't remember.


Happy Building!
Paul
 
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