I thought about that but I'd probably have to buy more wood than I need. Although I don't need a piece that is the full 74 inches, I'd prefer the pieces to be at least 25". Most of the primed pieces I saw were at least 6' and usually 8' or even more. Their cutting equipment didn't look like it could cut a 6" board on the long side - but maybe I was wrong. I could go back and check. I'd still have to deal with the unfinished cut edge (possibly 2 on 1 piece). I didn't think to look for, say, 3" x 36" to cut into three strips.

I did have them cut some other pieces I needed.

I've had Home Despot and my local hardware store do this several times.

See my reply above

little slots on the plate. On jigsaws they tend to be kinda flaky, but can work if you are really careful.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milescraft-SawGuide-for-Circular-Saws-and-Jig-Saws-1400/100507166



I'd say 10 bucks well spent.

Lumber sizing basically sucks-- nothing is really 1" or 3/4" and a 2x4 isn't even close. If you're building from scratch you deal with it, but if you actually need something 3/4" thick you either go to some place that does millwork and pay though the nose or you get plywood. Last I looked, 3/4 plywood is really 3/4 and where ever you get it will cut it to your size. It's reasonably strong, too, but you can easily glue or screw a small strip underneath to strengthen it even more.

Option 2, of course, would be to just get some decent lumber and make the whole shelf from scratch.

If I had a real workshop/workshop like area I'd do just that (build it from scratch). I'd LOVE to have such a thing but I don't have the time to justify it (and haven't done any woodworking in ... 40 years? I got away with winging it with a circular saw and milk crates as saw horses (I wince when I think about it) at my old house but I don't have those milk crates anymore and I couldn't be comfortable doing something like that on a piece this long and narrow. I might be able to do something to make the 1 1/2" piece work better - I'm attaching something to it with a hinge and if I can get the right hinge, the extra 1/4" may not matter. But that's not my preference.

I agree about the lumber sizing - when we raised the soffit in my old house, it broke my contractors heart to cut the true 2 X 4's (although he kept them for another project!).

I needed a couple of odd-size slats for an antique bed and had a similar problem- the pre-cuts at the big boxes and hardware stores were too much, even if they'd cut them to size for me.

I went to a local lumber yard with the dimensions and the guy looked at them for a minute and said "yeah, I think we can do something like that" and hauled out a couple of pieces of scrap, cut them down and charged me five bucks.

Of course, I went at a time when they weren't busy, and I wasn't too demanding about the type of wood, since it wouldn't show. Just told them what I was looking for and asked if they could help.

creatively,
Bright

I'll look into that.

I would skip the shelf piece and just have a piece of poplar “ripped” (cut long way) to the size you need. I don’t think anyone in a store setting will rip a small piece of, say, 1.25 from a 1.5 piece.

Home Depot only rips large sheets of plywood on their big standing panel saw. They will “cross cut” boards and dimensional lumber but that doesn’t do you any good.


You need a “specialty lumber” store - not to be confused with a lumber yard. Specialty lumber stores cater to woodworkers and hobbyists. The will have just about any wood species you want. They will sell in random lengths/widths and usually rip/cross cut to size. It will be cheaper than Home Depot - especially if you buy one large piece instead of a shelf piece and strip.

You will have to prime it but you will save hassle of piecing it together. Plus it will look better.

Here’s an example of a specialty lumber store in the Chicago area. These types of stores are everywhere. You just have to look:

https://www.owlhardwood.com/

I did already buy the shelf. I'm looking for a piece 17" x 74" and I had the same feeling about whether Lowes or Home Depot would rip what I needed.

The reason I decided to buy a shelf is because all the pieces it will be connected to are all Melamine and I felt that having the shelf also be Melamine would be a better look. The additional strip is at the back, doesn't have to be attached to the shelf (I'll attach it to the cabinet below) and only 1" by 1" will show.

That being said, I figured out an alternative fix for my problem which might actually improve the over functionality so I'm going with the 1 1/2" strip.