Are oak shelves 16mm strong enough?

[Miles]

Considering installing oak shelves in Ikea's Bestå bookshelf. Is 16mm thickness strong enough to hold some books on shelves sized 57x18 cm?

 

[Fotografen]

16 mm oak feels spontaneously sturdier than Ikea's coarse particle board?

 

[Miles]

Well, Ikea's own chipboard shelves are strong and good, but they don't go all the way to the edge of the side panels, which makes many books stick out beyond the edge. Plus, Ikea also charges 50 bucks each for extra shelves :-o

But maybe it's best to buy thicker shelves then ...?

 

[Miles]

Finger-jointed pine with 18mm thickness then? Will the shelf of 57x18 cm hold?

 

[lajsiiwan]

16mm oak over those measurements is guaranteed to be enough.

 

[Miles]

ok, yeah the oak is perhaps a bit stronger than pine.
cheers!