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Breadboard ends on shelves?

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Breadboard ends on shelves?

#1

Breadboard ends on shelves?

Stephen in Ottawa

>I'm in the process of adding an additional shelf to our hutch. The shelf is about 44" long, 13" wide and 3/4" thick and made of hard maple ( I did not make the hutch, this is a retrofit ). I have never seen mention of adding breadboard ends to shelves to control cupping or warping. I was wondering whether this is due to the fact that a shelf has all it's load placed at it's ends where it rests on the shelf supports, and a breadboard end may be too weak for this. Does anyone have an opinion? Would it be common practice to leave such a shelf without such ends? The wood has been sitting in my basement shop for about a year and a half.

Thanks

- Stephen

Re: Breadboard ends on shelves?

#2

Re: Breadboard ends on shelves?

R.J.Whelan

>Stephen .... if you glue up your shelf from two or more boards the chance of cupping is remote.

Breadboard ends are a nice touch, but they have one shortcoming: the crossgrain construction means they will have to be installed in such a manner as to allow for expansion and contraction (generally by glueing a couple of inches at either the center or one end or the other and pinning the balance through slotted holes); by allowing most of the wide board to float you are guaranteed to have a size mismatch for part of the year. It is possible to camouflage the mismatch when you're doing a tabletop but none of the methods for hiding the missmatch are really appropriate to a shelf.

Good luck ... rj

Re: Breadboard ends on shelves?

#3

Re: Breadboard ends on shelves?

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>Why not pin the end boards at the front of the shelf, and let them float at the back? It shouldn't be any more visible there than cross grain crown moldings, which are also done that way.

Re: Breadboard ends on shelves?

#4

A question

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Does the shelf rest on its ends? If so, keep in mind that the entire weight of the shelf will then be resting on the tenons fitting into the breadboard end - thus, only 3/8" thick or so, rather than 3/4" thick. If you're putting much weight on that shelf, you could be challenging the strength of the wood.

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