Making Wide Plywood Shelves

Shelving is an easy and economical way to add extra storage space in almost any part of your home - along walls, inside closets, and even in the basement or garage. Building shelves doesn't usually require a lot of skill or specialized tools, so this is one project just about any do-it-yourselfer can handle. And unless you decide to use hardwood, which looks great but costs a bundle, it won't cost a lot to install them either.

Solid wood shelving is the way to go when you want to show off the wood or your work. But the cost per board foot often rules out using classic hardwoods like oak, cherry, or walnut. Softwoods, such as fir or pine, are a better bet; they can be painted or coated with polyurethane to bring out their natural beauty.

Plywood and particleboard offer a couple of advantages when it comes to shelving, though. They cost less than solid wood, and can be bought faced with decorative surfaces. They also come in sheets, which makes them ideal for a really wide shelf. Inexpensive manufactured storage units ready for assembly are often made from melamine-coated particleboard.

Wood trim will help match your new shelves to the rest of the room or add some interesting detail. Trim is also a handy way to hide seams, gaps, exposed edges of plywood, and other blemishes. You can get trim in either hardwood or softwood. If you plan on finishing a project with stain or sealer, make sure the trim matches the wood you used for the rest of the project.

1) Rip the plywood
Use a circular saw to rip sheets of plywood into wide shelves. Stock lumber such as pine is normally no wider than 12 inches wide. (Fig. 1)