Fixed or adjustable shelf???

Re: Fixed or adjustable shelf???

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>Personally adj shelf's make me hurl. All those ugly holes.

I think they're ugly too

Jack Guzman from Maine

>It might be interesting to make a less modern design of adjustable shelf. Maybe less holes,handmade wooden shelf supports.Or even a series of permanent cleats at various heights.---Jack

Re: Fixed or adjustable shelf???

Kelby

>Has anyone ever actually adjusted an adjustable shelf?

I have them in all the "temporary" furniture that has infested my house over the years while I am getting around to building the real stuff. :) And I have yet to adjust a shelf on anything. The only thing the adjustable shelves have been useful for is convincing me that they serve no useful function and so I won't need to put them in any furniture I make.

Consider Birdsmouth

Christopher Schwarz

>Personally, I like adjustable shelves. I have a lot of books, and it seems like I reconfigure them more than you might think.

The shop-made birdsmouth adjustable shelves are fun to look at, fun to build and work great. Traditional, too.

Chris

Re: Consider Birdsmouth

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>I agree. I've also built adjustable shelves, and find them to be very useful over the lifetime of the case. I've made them with the little metal pins, punching rows of holes with a router and jig, and also with the birdsmouths. The pins are a whole lot easier and more flexible, but my preference would be to only use them when hidden behind doors and faceframes, or at least when mostly hidden behind books. The completely wooden adjustment mechanism, while providing somewhat less flexibility, probably gives enough for all but the most utilitarian cases.

I'm not familiar with the aesthetics of the Kentucky style. If Mr. May and others who defined the stile used them, then go ahead and do so without guilt. Otherwise, use the more traditional method.

Something else to consider: What are you putting in the case, how much weight must it support? Many cases, especially those that are somewhat taller than yours, benefit structurally from a fixed center shelf, to tie the case together in the middle {like a belt}, with additional adjustable shelves above and below it.

Thanks

jim_reed@marietta

>I appreciate your opinions and share the distaste most of you have with the unsightly rows of *woodpecker holes*. Because of the large amount of space (and because SWMBO likes it), I may test out some ideas I have seen on antiques.

Prototype and patterns

jim_reed@marietta

>Here is the working prototype and the full size pattern. Each side will have a set of brackets 2 1/4 wide x 14 tall. They will be attached on the long grain of the side. The little bracket moves from pair to pair and is held in place by gravity and the weight of the shelf. Since the brackets will be hidden by the door frames, it should look OK. Comments?

Here is the picture

jim_reed@marietta

>Picture of prototype and templates.