Solid Wood Bookcases

Solid wood bookcases and how they are built

Solid wood is stiffer along its length than board of the same thickness, and that is the whole argument for it on a bookshelf. The wider a shelf is between supports, the more it sags under a full load, and wood resists that for longer, so a wide case stays looking level rather than smiling in the middle after a year of hardbacks.

It also takes a knock without showing it. A dent in wood can be sanded and re-oiled; a chip through a printed surface cannot be repaired, only hidden.

Solid wood bookshelf sizes

Construction here is built sides and shelves in wood, and several pieces use a board back panel, which is normal on a bookcase and does not carry load. Where that is the case the product page says so plainly rather than leaving you to guess.

Heights run 24 to 91.1 inches and widths 17.3 to 71.7. Under 40 inches a case sits below the window line and reads as furniture. Over 70 it draws the eye up, and at the top of the range you are near ceiling height in most rooms.

Caring for a wood bookcase

Adjustable shelves let one case take paperbacks, folios and box files without wasting the gap above every row. Depths run 11.5 to 22.4 inches, and around eleven to twelve takes a hardback comfortably.

Wipe with a barely damp cloth along the grain and dry it straight away. Skip all-purpose sprays containing ammonia or silicone, which strip an oiled finish and haze a lacquered one. Keep wood out of the direct path of a radiator or a sunny window, since it moves with humidity and a steady spot is what keeps a shelf flat. Anchor a tall case to a stud before loading it, and keep the top shelf light.

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