Shelves - The More the Better - Part I

It's about time to more on to another way to maximize space, your use of shelves. The shelves in my space have grown in a somewhat haphazard fashion over the years. Some were put up as needed while others just because I received some material free or at low cost. I have nothing against the high quality, and costly, shelving offered in many woodworking supply stores and catalogues. It's just I'd rather spend my $$ on good tools. Shelves in a work area are for use not for show, in my opinion.

The suggestions I would offer related to installing shelves are:

1. Plan to do one area at a time. Your needs my change over time as to height, depth, weight on the shelves, etc. If you do all your space at once the arrangement may not fit into your future needs.


2. Be careful to set the height of the lowest shelf such that you will not hit your head on it if you can get close to the shelf. I've avoided this by having tables,old cabinets, and old book shelves below most.


3. Assuming you use inexpensive shelves like I have, the shelf supports are critical. I'll address this below.

The first photo shows the shelves above my work bench. Since I have the advantage of an 11' ceiling there are three levels. The top two layers are the widest open wire shelving I could find at 16". These two shelves are spaced vertically to yield about 24" of height. The lower shelf is only 12" wide, so I will not hit my head if I lead over my workbench. Some other space saving hints:

• On the lowest shelf on the left you can see a small basket like attachment that adds a small additional shelf.


• If you look closely you can also see that there are a few long thin items that are positioned on the front shelf supports. I try to waste no room.

Now let's look at the back supports for the open wire shelves. The usual plastic clips are visible in the center. If you look closely you will see that there are 3 close together. Two, the outside ones, are attached in the usual direction where the open part of the clip faces up such that the back of the shelf is forced down onto the clips. After this is done I then force another clip, in this case the center one, on going in the opposite direction. This makes it impossible for the shelf to come loose in the back. On the extreme left you might also see a metal hook (an electric conduit clamp) that I used as well. One of the first shelves I installed only used the plastic clips all put on in the usually direction. One evening the whole back of the shelf came off the clips and then slid down. Luckily the front clips didn't come off.

The third photo shows the front open metal shelf supports. I generally place one at every stud position, that is the lower of the bar support which has one one hole in it will use a screw into the stud. My feeling is you never know what will go on the shelf at some future time so make it as strongly supported as possible. This last photo also shows another space saver. I've installed simple L brackets within the space created by the front shelf supports. This creates supports to store some lumber strips. They might be a little hard to get in or out but I have more space.

For smaller hardwood projects I often purchase short wood bundles from my supplier Wall Lumber in Mayodan, NC. The wood in such bundles is usually from 24" to 36" in length, cutoff from larger orders. The price is very attractive. Such lengths easily fit into the space under the supports.

I'll continue more hints about maximizing your space with shelving in the next few posts.