dado depth for shelving

The depth of a dado is half the thickness of the material it is going in.

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

That was my assumption, but then I saw Norm build one that was like 1/3.

In retrospect, I’m wondering if it had something to do with the fact that he was using solid hardwood rather than pine plywood…

If you’re only using glue, then go half way. If you can use screws to hold it together, it can be as shallow as 1/8” deep.

-- Gerry, http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/index.html http://www.jointcam.com

I was planning to use finishing nails and glue.

I’ll probably end up going half-way, but this thing is going to be pretty monstrous in size when its all put together, so at some point I have to think less about the capacity of the shelves and more about the structural integrity of the piece as a whole.

If I remove too much material for shelf dados I think it would be in danger of failure by racking in certain directions.

• Face frames removed for clarity (but should add some structural strength when applied)