Sten shelving — specs, repairing, expanding, ...
After years of service, the trusty Sten shelving in my garden shed needed to be repaired due to water damage.
It was horrifying to discover that long ago, Ikea had discontinued Sten in favour of a usurper, Gorm. Based on a some quick surfing, Gorm really does appear to be gormless — at least in terms of ruggedness and relative load-carrying capacity...
With the help of a tape measure, vernier caliper and micrometer, my old Sten gave the key dimensions. A few hours prowling the local box stores provided the material. With simple hand tools, I was able to repair my 12-shelf old-timer, and augment the system with additional uprights and a dozen new shelves.
You can do it too. My notes containing photos, key dimensions, and construction & assembly notes are here.
If time can be found, these will be improved, and expanded to add info on some of Sten's accessories .
Comments and questions welcome.
Lycka till! Ha en trevlig dag!
Keywords: Sten, Gorm, Observatör, shelf, shelves, shelving, section, sections, discontinued, cross-brace, upright, column, bolt, lag, carriage, fastener, accessories, bottle rack, untreated wood, solid pine, solid spruce, softwood, end cap, Regal, Regalboden, Fußkappe, Flaschenbord, Unbehandeltes Holz, Möbelstück,
It was horrifying to discover that long ago, Ikea had discontinued Sten in favour of a usurper, Gorm. Based on a some quick surfing, Gorm really does appear to be gormless — at least in terms of ruggedness and relative load-carrying capacity...
With the help of a tape measure, vernier caliper and micrometer, my old Sten gave the key dimensions. A few hours prowling the local box stores provided the material. With simple hand tools, I was able to repair my 12-shelf old-timer, and augment the system with additional uprights and a dozen new shelves.
You can do it too. My notes containing photos, key dimensions, and construction & assembly notes are here.
If time can be found, these will be improved, and expanded to add info on some of Sten's accessories .
Comments and questions welcome.
Lycka till! Ha en trevlig dag!
Labels: accessories, bolt, bottle rack, carriage, column, cross-brace, discontinued, fastener, Gorm, lag, Observatör, pine, shelf, shelves, shelving, softwood, spruce, Sten, untreated wood, upright
posted by RichC | 7:33 pm
9 Comments:
Hi there - this is fantastic info, thanks very much. I too have a load of Sten shelving which I want to extend; I've already some something along these lines but your notes and measurements are really helpful ;-)
Best Wishes from the UK, Jon N
Hi Jon. Glad you found some of the info useful. :)
Sten owners appear to be a fiercely loyal bunch! Any additional comments that you could add re UK-specific details or sources might be appreciated by our fellow Sten fans...
R
So happy to stumble across this information. I moved and all my shelves were disassembled by my brother, who put the bolts — where?? Good to get a refresher on what is needed, and I know now to take the extra time to see if I can find them, as it sounds like replacements will be hard to find!
And I just looked, and it seems Gorm has vanished as well. Just Ivar now. Ivar is not quite as sturdy, which is why I opted for Sten so many years ago.
The thick bed slats I used for shelves has also been replaced. Home depot it is I guess.
Steve O.
Great article and set of notes, plus good to see I'm not the only devotee of the Sten shelving!
Still using my sets from university days in the early 90's.
I've got a few of the older IKEA catalogues, so may be able to dig out more details as well as scan pages (if there would be any interest in such extra data?)
I love this. So devoted we are to some simple design and bits of pine...
This is fantastic. Thank you so much.
STEN fan here as well. I don't think Ikea realized how many people pair the STEN shelving system with the 68L Rubbermaid Roughneck Totes (you can easily fit 2 side by side with the 89 cm wide shelf). Unfortunately, the HEJNE system (latest) doesn't amount to much. I'm also lamenting the discontinuation of the Grundtal S hooks (11 cm) which fit perfectly (with a bit of persuasion) into the STEN / GORM holes to provide extra hanging power.
Oh, man! I came into possession of about 7 Sten shelving sets--all disassembled, so I had no idea where tab A connected to slot B. I'm lucky that one piece had a Sten label on it, otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue where to start. After a bit of Googling, I found your site--fantastic!
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