Advice on Dark wood for shelving

redman

I am seeking to fit some bespoke shelves myself.

I need to source some wood boards to four different sizes and a total quantity of about 14.

They will be about 2" thick , just over 13" deep and four lengths from 3.5ft to 5ft.

Any of you got a recommendation of what wood to get, these will be a permanent fixture in the living rooms?

We want a dark brown wood, so wondering which type of wood to go for as it will probably need to be stained anyway. (e.g. Thinking if I went for Oak that it would be a waste of money if I go and dark stain it )? i.e. what is the best balance of economy and quality for a nice looking wood that will be dark stained.

Cheers

Redmond

JoeB-

If you're talking about solid wood it would be expensive. Natural planks are rarely above 10" in width and 2" thick planks will be expensive... 1 cubic foot would only get you about 6' long in those dimensions (12" x 2" x 6')... and some timbers may be €65 per cubic foot, before processing, i.e planing. (A very approximate price may be €500 or €600 all in for those few shelves, planing is quite labour intensive)

You could also cheat and use 1" timber with a 2" lipping applied at the front to 'fake' the thickness.

I'm not great on timbers but Walnut is obviously dark. You could use pine which is much much cheaper and more readily available and could be stained dark.

I think you should consider 40mm or 50mm Walnut venerered MDF or whatever is available.. it'll be much cheaper and virtually indistuingable from the real thing when used as shelves.

Cheers
Joe

edit: I may have got this wrong, my price of 500 to 600 was for FOUR shelves, not 14!!!!! (That was solid Walnut). I may also be wrong with the price but I don't think I will be off by much, maybe someone else can advise.