Dadoes in top and bottom??

[ruffcutt]

Just curious, do you toenail from both the top and bottom sides of the shelf or just from one side?  If from only one side, do you nail upwards into the shelf?  My kids like to treat cubbies like a jungle gym so I'm wondering if nailing direction has any effect on strength.

Just one side. Sorta. I guess I need to be a little more clear. The shelves that touch the perimeter of the box get screwed from the outside of the box. The other end of that shelf get brad nailed through the upright into the end of the shelf.  The next shelf get toe nailed on one end and through the upright into the end and on down the line. When it's all done the shelves of the left and right are nailed/screwed on both ends the rest are nailed through the uprights on one end and toe nailed on the other . Hope that makes sense.

The back is stapled on which also helps hold the shelves. Made a ton of them and they are very sturdy.

[Steve N]

Just curious, do you toenail from both the top and bottom sides of the shelf or just from one side?  If from only one side, do you nail upwards into the shelf?  My kids like to treat cubbies like a jungle gym so I'm wondering if nailing direction has any effect on strength.

I would use a nailer to toenail, and just like Narm would do, I glue it first. I've always figured the glue did the heavy lifting, and the nails were just to hold it together while the glue dried. Maybe Ruff and I did it different, or for different reasons?

Just for clarification. I did butt joints of sides to top, or bottom, really sanded the open end grain, and then did a sizing with thinned glue and water (50/50) to allow the size to sink into the end grain, so when I did the real glue up, the end grain didn't sponge up the glue, and weaken the hold.

If you were really concerned about hold, you could make a router jig to cut finger joints into the end, but I think that is a huge step, and probably not needed. As stated earlier the ones I made years ago are still going strong, and I guarantee they have been climbed on, and generally abused.