Project Completed

December 5th, 2005

Filed under: Comics, General

After we moved into this house in August, I decided to build a shelf in the basement to hold all my comic books. It had to be big — I wanted it to hold 50 long boxes — and it had to be sturdy — the weight from all those comics accumulates quickly.

Despite working at the clinic both days this weekend, I was able to find time to build the shelves. They’ll hold at least 50 long boxes (51 I think) and they’re very strong. I added extra support and braces throughout. Each shelf can easily support the weight of a grown man.

The frames are constructed of 2″ x 4″ studs and the shelves are ½” OSB. Everything’s held together with 2½” deck screws, except for a few pocket screws on the facing that are 2″ washer-head screws. The shelf is just over 100″ (8′4″) long, 3 feet deep and the top shelf is 68″ (5′8″) off the ground.

Here’s the shelf empty:

My shelf, empty

And here’s the shelf full:

My shelf, full

There’s 34 long boxes, 2 short boxes up top (though 1 is empty, I bought it just for the cats to play in so they’d stay out of my comic boxes), and 12 Diamond-shipping boxes full of comics on the bottom shelves. I’ll find time to put them into long boxes some day.

Yes, my long boxes are beat up and covered with tape. I’ve moved three times in the past four years and the moving men do love to tape those boxes tight. As far as I’m concerned, the boxes are doing their job. They’re storing and protecting my comics. Looking pretty is not a requirement.

If you look closely at the boxes, you’ll notice the remnants of several old filing systems. When I just had a few boxes, I wrote the contents on each box. That system gave way to a numbered box system. That was followed by a letter code system. I still use a variant of that system today. Each box has a letter code and I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me in which box each comic series is located.

7 Responses to “ Project Completed ”

  1. David Oakes
    December 5th, 2005 at 11:36 pm

    “I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me in which box each comic series is located.”

    Do they remove some glad in medical school that makes simplicity impossible or something? A spreadsheet to track a variant letter code system? Could we possibly do that in Latin?

    (I am a math major. I am all for spreadsheets. But please, please, use common sense when organizing systems. Simple is better.)

  2. Jakanapes
    December 6th, 2005 at 7:26 am

    Any chance of putting those plans with a parts list up? That’s pretty groovy

  3. Aine
    December 6th, 2005 at 2:34 pm

    I used to have a spreadsheet that listed the date bought, price paid, artist, writer and story title and condition of every comic book I ever purchased. I stopped when i realised this was a sign of insanity. Now I just read them and then shelve them using some vague alphabetical system.

  4. Shane
    December 6th, 2005 at 3:33 pm

    Yeah I would love detailed plans too. I was just looking for some way to store my comics recently and haven’t come up with a solution. This is perfect.

  5. Scott
    December 6th, 2005 at 9:43 pm
    Official Comment

    I’ll post a parts list and detailed plans later this week.

  6. Nala
    December 7th, 2005 at 7:58 am

    I have about 15 long boxes that I need to sort, sell the contents of, or give away.

    I’ve been wanting to rid my life of this baggage.

    That’s the problem with comics for me these days. They just take up too much valuable physical space in my life.

  7. DougBot
    December 9th, 2005 at 9:52 am

    I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a database system to keep track of comics. It’s been kicking around in my head long enough that there are probably a bunch of good applications to do that now.

    Trades I keep track of as a subset of all the books and movies and games in Delicious Library. It’s oddly hypnotic.

    Those shelves are nice–I wonder if there’s room in our house for something like that?

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