How to Make and Install Hungarian Shelves

First time I saw these shelves was in Budapest, at a friends apartment. I was told they had been designed by a physicist. That's why I think they are safe. The ones in the photos have been up for more than a year now.

Step 1 The model 240 cm by 240 cm

This is just one model. You can personalize the design to fit your needs.

Comments

[TashaDax]

Holy mother of Tesla! This is awesome and beautiful and I love it to bits! I have a question though (since I'm too lazy to look through the previous comments):
Would this hold up on drywall?

[wastubbs]

It would be far more secure if you affix it to the stud and not just the drywall. If you're going into the drywall alone, the amount of weight will depend on the surface area of where the shelf pulls on the drywall. So if you use something called a Hollow Wall Anchor (http://www.johsoncn.com/hollow_wall_anchor.htm) instead of plastic wedge anchors, you're going to be MUCH better off.

[juliofo]

Hi, Hi,

Yes and Yes.

There are solutions at the comments for drywalls.

Basically it consists in making to fit any (at least one) stick of the shelves with a stud of the wall.

Good luck (and post photos of your result).

[agent_orage]

Thank you SO MUCH! for sharing this! This has to be the simplest, and by nature, most elegant shelving designs in history. :)

[hottie_mchottson]

Freaking awesome! I'm totally doing these in my living room

[clbarko]

Do you have plans for this awesome shelving? I have a room that this would
work perfectly in.

[daemonkrog]

Wow, awesome job on that corner! That looks incredible!

[agent_orage]

Hallway Closet. Removed the ancient sliding doors and built a similar version of the book case. On the 24" run on the left, instead of running a third vertical support, i used some of the 1 1/2" trim under neath to support the ends. As with the other shelf project, all i used was a drill, miter saw and a router. To make the mortise cuts in the vertical supports, i make multiple cuts halfway down into the 2x4 with the saw between my marks for the shelves. It doesn't produce a squared off notch, but the imperfections are well hidden by the shelves themselves. I always ensure i leave enough of a gap to get the wedges in well. A little DAP and paint, and short of an over critical eye, the impression is usually ..well impressive. Thanks gain Juliofo!

[juliofo]

Wonderful!!! Again. But don jet crazy with it, otherwise yogur people aré gong to hate me.

[agent_orage]

Well Juliofo, given the ikea shelves i put up in the bedroom closet have begun falling off the wall.... i have a couple more places to implement this design. ;)

[janetcunningham4]

I like the way the the shelf was designed here in this photo. I love the finished product when books are up there and the lights too, nice! This will be a great idea too for children's room so that they would have an organized room and encourage them to look and read books when they are bored playing. Great idea here.

[agent_orage]

Thanks :) I used 2x4's with 12"x3/4" MDF for the shelves. I trimmed the front edge of the shelves with some 1.5" flat molding to square up the look. Also i did not mortice the shelves, which provides a 3/4" gap at the back which makes hiding wiring really simple. :) Props again to Juliofo for this awesome post.

[DIYerNeil]

You idea is really great and I would like these kinds of shelves installed inside my daughter's room, for her things to be more organized. In the living room, definitely. Oh and yes, how could I forget the small office I have at home. Thank you!

[juliofo]

Wonderful!
Thanks for posting the photos.

[jpollard3]

This is what I've built. As a first woodworking project in my life, it was bloody time consuming. I've never worked with wood or a jigsaw. Heck, I do not have a work table! Cutting was interesting to say the least. Two sawhorses, 2 snapped planks, some blood, lots of sweat and paint and I was done!

It took a while to get the vertical wood pieces attached to the wall then some more time to get the horizontals to fit in again. I can't believe how sturdy it is!

I can't even fit a piece of paper into my joints. I had to use a hammer and a lot of brute force to get the horizontals fitting the verticals, so I had to skip that step. The thing is going nowhere!

[juliofo]

Bravo!
Wonderful work.
I like much your low table solution for the shelve at the bottom. Is it on wheels?
Thanks for posting the photos.

[jpollard3]

Nope, no wheels. Everything is bolted to the wall. The only difference I made is to use 2400 x 76 x 50 mm for the vertical and 2400 x 300 x 22 mm for the horizontal, so all the shelves are quite deep, but that makes it look less crowded in my opinion.

[triumphman]

a dovetail joint would be nice , but not easily applied to the shelves.

[triumphman]

Are the wedges thin triangular pieces of wood? The whole thing stands without screwing the shelves to the sticks? And heavy books don't collapse it? Wow!

[mikola.tibor]

Hali! tuti polc! Ezt meg is barkácsolom :) köszi

[juliofo]

Thank to you for your comment but post pictures of your set up whenever possible.

[noeleonoel]

Wouldn't it make more sense to drill and screw from the back of the vertical rails through each mortice? This may even eliminate the need to wedge. Would make it harder to install though as you would have to lift the shelf weight as well as the vertical rails when attaching it to the wall. Also would require that the to wall screws be visible.

[juliofo]

Hi noeleonoel,
I am sorry but it is not a good idea. The whole desing is based on structural simplicity. And puting screws to hold the selves to the sticks would destroy this simplicity. Furthermore, mortices + wedges is much much stronger than screws.

[Hatredman]

If you are installing it in a narrow corridor (my house is small, the only space I have for a library is the corridor leading to the kitchen) you can't assemble the whole thing first and then hang it on the wall.

But yes, eliminating the need to wedge would be desirable. Wedging is rocket science for a clumsy dude like me.

[juliofo]

Hi Hatredman,
Unfortunately the desing does not allow to eliminate the need of mortices (which is the most dificult part of this construction). And the wedges are there because of the mortices. In a platonic world wedges wouldn't be needed at all because mortices and surfaces would be perfect (a.k.a platonic). Wedges are introduced because we all are human and then imperfect (as our constructions are), and wedges is a very efficient way (after Archimedes) of filling up gaps; (as when we put a folded paper under a table leg).

On the other hand I do not give credit to your statement of not being able to deal with wedges because "wedges are the solution to us, the clumsy ones".

Try again and post photos, please.

[leander37]

Built these in living room and kitchen. 2x3 CVG Fir uprights and 2x12 #2 Pine cut down to 11" for shelves. 3" wood screws in dado and 4" wood screws 1/2 way between each shelf. Heavy duty anchors at top of bigger shelf because it extends past stud into truss area...

Thanks for a great inspiration, this is a great design... You can see the %$#y IKEA shelf that I was replacing on the left - what an improvement!

So many dado cuts on my table saw and the balde got dull... on 2nd to last cut, it snagged and banged me hard in the chest. Watch out because dado cuts are like cutting 100s of boards, so replace the blade if it seems dull!

[juliofo]

great job!
Thanks so much for the pictures and info.

[mattolsend]

I used this design to build 2 bookshelves this month. One at my apartment, the other at a friends place. Both came out great. I used toggle wall anchors to hold the shelves to the drywall. I used a handsaw and chisel to make the mortices. Dimensions are aprox. 8' X 4' X 1'. Thanks for posting this instructable!

[juliofo]

Thank you! for sharing your experience. Wonderfull mount, wonderfull photos.

[Jedibowler]

Been wanting to build these for a while, I made mine from 18mm MDF from B&Q and they cost peanuts! £35 for two sheets of the stuff and they cut them to size for me, just the fiddly bits left to do...

With a little bracing they would probably work quite nicely as a freestanding bookcase too!  Mine need some touching up and sanding down where they have been bruised during installation but they are certainly solid!

Just need to get the projector mounted between the top-right uprights and I can relax for the weekend. :)

[gabrieljose]

Hi, I'm from Brazil and I found this very interesting project, so I sent a carpenter to build a bookcase with the right steps to my room. take a look:

[juliofo]

gabrieljose:

Moito bonito!
But next time do it yourself.
Thanks for posting the photos.

[holomorph]

Plenty of comments and examples on this great instructable already, but I figured I might as wall share mine anyway. These use 2x3s for the vertical pieces, and some 1x10s and 1x8s for the shelves.

[juliofo]

The more the better.
Thanx for posting the photo of your design.

[daveallen]

In response to adrian's comment about earthquakes, I actually think these are safer than most bookshelves for earthquake-prone areas (I live in Los Angeles). I built a set of these that pretty much covers an entire wall, and they are attached to the studs in 66 places(!) which is way more than the usual earthquake strapping. I also added half-round molding to the front of each shelf for a finished look, and because the molding is slightly wider than the shelf it provides a lip that should help keep the books on the shelves in the event of an earthquake. Although I hope I never get a chance to test that theory...

[jvercilo]

Hi. I know this guide has been here for some time, but I've just found it. And I have a doubt about step 4: do you fix all the screws in the mortices? I ask this because in step 5 theres a drawing of a screw above the mortice. So, which one is right?

Thanks a lot for the guide, I'll try to build one of these as soon as I move to my new apartment!

[Goedjn]

If you put the screws into the mortices, you can use shorter screws, and
the screwheads are hidden by the shelves. If you put the screws above and below, you pretty much eliminate any chance of the weight on the shelf
splitting the risers.

[Victor Neuberg]

If you're still wanting to do this, I screwed mine directly into the mortices.  Just make sure you have a long enough bit to get inside the mortice.  And I pre-drilled the holes in the mortice and used wide head screws so it doesn't stress the wood so bad.  Good luck!  It's really fun!

[juliofo]

Hi jvercillo

It is up tu you.

Your are rigth. Drawings do not match with the text. But the whole instructable is more a customizable recipie than an strict construction algorithm.

To me it makes sense to put the screws into the mortices but this makes it a little weaker than putting them on the surface. Even you could choose half and half.

Look at the photos and adapt the idea to your needs in your new apartment.

Have fun and post the photos.

good luck

[jvercilo]

Juliofo, thanks a lot for the reponse. I'll sure post some photos, but unfortunately it'll take a while until I actually get the chance to build it. Cheers!