#118: Chipboard rigidifier

Chipboard, especially that stuff that’s dressed up in plastic laminate, really is a dreadful material. Used to create cheap and cheerful furniture. especially (loosely) fitted kitchens, it’s sensitive to water, frays when a screw comes anywhere near and worst of all it warps under almost any load.

I’m thinking here particularly about the idea of using such stuff in the guise of bookshelves. Unless you are prepared to employ a support every 20 cm, chipboard shelves start to sag visibly the moment they are asked to hold more than a few copies of the lightest of lowbrow literature.

Today’s invention is for those people who have shelving requirements beyond their budget. When using those vertical metal ‘spines’ that bolt to the wall and into which slot triangular supports, buy one extra vertical per intended shelf (these are normally very cheap) and screw it to the (horizontal) rear edge of each one, using the holes povided.

Presto: you can accommodate even Encyclopaedia Britannica, without any unsightly shelf deflection.