Floating Shelf Commission

[Bearcat1522]

Hello,

I have a commission that I’m not going to be able to work on (due to recent injury) and am searching for another local woodworker who is able to help me out and take it off my hands.

It’s for two floating shelves built and installed in a house in Cary (working with an Interior Designer). Stained pine, 3” thick, L shaped.

Please let me know if this would be of interest to you. If so, I can send you more details.

Thanks!
Jake

 

[Jeff]

How about simply posting some details to see if there's interest in doing it?

1. two floating shelves? Meaning how do they "float"?

2. Where to get 3" t pine and how wide are the boards?

3. How long are each of the 4 boards to make the L-shape?

 

[Henry W]

Hello,
I have a commission that I’m not going to be able to work on (due to recent injury) and am searching for another local woodworker who is able to help me out and take it off my hands.
It’s for two floating shelves built and installed in a house in Cary (working with an Interior Designer). Stained pine, 3” thick, L shaped.
Please let me know if this would be of interest to you. If so, I can send you more details.
Thanks!
Jake

Jake
I'm interested and would like more detail. Can you private message or e-mail me?
THanks

 

[ehpoole]

How about simply posting some details to see if there's interest in doing it?

1. two floating shelves? Meaning how do they "float"?

2. Where to get 3" t pine and how wide are the boards?

3. How long are each of the 4 boards to make the L-shape?

There are two common strategies for floating a shelf. The first uses steel dowel pins that bolt into the wall studs and then mate with corresponding holes drilled into the shelf. The more common solution involves routing a large mortise (or use a dado cutter in an interrupted cut) into the back side of the shelf then mounting a wooden cleat to the wall that is sized to just fit the mortise, then screw through the shelf into the cleat to lock the shelf to the cleat.

The rest of the details the OP would need to provide, but if you look around a bit you can find sources for 12/4 (3”) lumber, although if they need 3” milled and finished (and not rough) then you may have to look out for something closer to 16/4 (4”) and finish it to 3”. At those dimensions, though, if the board is heavy enough then one may need a stationary thickness planer if it’s too much for a benchtop planer to readily handle.

 

[Berta]

Actually, I have made a couple of different floating shelves. I make a rectangular box. Three sides, a top and a bottom, braced. A block to fit in the space where the space is in the back, that block is anchored to the wall, the shelf slides on it, then the shelf is fastened to the wood. I have also done it using crown molding.

 

[Jeff]

L-SHAPE floating shelves.

This system looks pretty simple with the drilling guide for the back of the shelf to slide onto the bars.

This item is unavailable - Etsy

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Floating Shelf Drill Guide/drilling Fixture for Drilling Perfectly Straight Holes in Floating Shelves. - Etsy

This Shelving item by SheppardBrackets has 166 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Menan, ID. Listed on Mar 24, 2024

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[Henry W]

Completed and installed project pic.

In process of installation. One long cleat installed for lower shelf, with a level on it; short cleat yet to be installed.
Upper shelf already installed. I used Berta's method of construction and hanging, described above.

Shelves before finishing - one pic showing the pocket for the cleat.

While this took my longer than anticipated, and I refinished it after first attempt was too light, I was pleased with the outcome.

 

[MarkE]

Nicely done.

 

[JimD]

Looks great to me! Thanks for posting good pictures.

 

[Henry W]

L-SHAPE floating shelves.
This system looks pretty simple with the drilling guide for the back of the shelf to slide onto the bars.

This item is unavailable - Etsy

Find the perfect handmade gift, vintage & on-trend clothes, unique jewelry, and more… lots more.

www.etsy.com

Floating Shelf Drill Guide/drilling Fixture for Drilling Perfectly Straight Holes in Floating Shelves. - Etsy

This Shelving item by SheppardBrackets has 166 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Menan, ID. Listed on Mar 24, 2024

www.etsy.com

Jeff:
While for a straight floating shelf, the system you link or similar is likely what I would choose. Thanks for the links.

For an L-shaped shelf, the cleat for the base (short side) of the L provides the stability and the resistance to tipping, so no steel posts are required.
In this specific case, the cabinets on the right side would have precluded use of the steel post system anyways - I could not have slide the shelf assembly onto the posts because of interference of the cabinet. As a bonus my costs for a 2x4 ripped in half for cleats and 6 3" screws into the wall were much less than any metal post system. I would want to test a similar cleat system for a straight shelf, but recognize that the tipping forces on that single cleat would be much greater for a straight shelf than for an L-shaped one.