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I'm assembling shelving units as shown in the provided image, where I need to secure the vertical boards to the horizontal ones. My plan is to use three screws at both the top and bottom ends of each vertical piece to accomplish this.

Considering the wood is 3/4" thick sapele, would screws that are 1-1/4" in length be sufficient for a strong connection without risking them poking through the opposite side of the vertical pieces? I'm a bit nervous that I might drill at a slight angle and end up driving a screw through the side of one of the uprights.

Edit: Here's a link to the article where these shelves are found: https://blog.lostartpress.com/2021/07/05/covington-mechanical-library-shelves/

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    "I'm a bit nervous that I might drill at a slight angle and end up driving a screw through the side of one of the uprights." There's a neat trick (very old) for guarding against this and that's to drill viewing along the line of screws — we're not great at seeing a tilt towards or away from us but very good at seeing a lean to left or right. Any tilt in line with the width of the uprights doesn't matter unless the screws are too close to an edge :-) Re. screw length with 3 per joint honestly this should be perfectly fine (that's A LOT of screws) but if you did go with longer screws [contd]
    – Graphus
    Commented Dec 27, 2023 at 11:00
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    ....it would allow you to drop the number to 2 per joint, which will save a heap of drilling. Remember to drill properly sized clearance and pilot holes! And countersinks/counterbores as well needless to say.
    – Graphus
    Commented Dec 27, 2023 at 11:01
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    Trim head screws don’t have as much holding power as normal #8. If it was me, I’d use 3+3 of those.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Dec 27, 2023 at 20:08
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    A separate design consideration you should address is the tendency the overall unit may have to lean (in either direction) so it should be anchored to the wall at the end or behind near the top to secure it when it is fully loaded.
    – Ashlar ♦
    Commented Dec 27, 2023 at 20:47
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    I think you'll have to go with what's comfortable for you here rather than take another person's read on what will be sufficient. I presume you'll be building this up in height yes? One thing you could try is build up 2-3 layers, using two screws per edge (with the screws positioned as though a third would be in the middle) and check how solid it seems. If there's any play that concerns you by all means install the third screw for peace of mind..... it's rare to regret overbuilding something :-) However, do remember that one of the things about this and similar pieces is that they're [contd]
    – Graphus
    Commented Dec 28, 2023 at 8:32

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I'd use at least 1-1/2" and 2" would seem more natural. The forces acting on the screw aren't that substantial as long as you have it extremely well anchored to the wall using L brackets. ("Several L brackets" as understood by me, is nowhere near enough. I'd have at least 16 -- two per shelf, and you could happily go to 24. "Many" was the phrase in the original article.) If you haven't anchored it to the wall properly, no amount or length of screw will save you.

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