Floating Shelf
Floating shelves look nice as you don’t see the mounting brackets. Why else would you call them floating shelves?
You can buy these for cheap but since that’s not that fun I decided to make one. If you like to try making one too here are the steps and tools you’d need.
How it works
If you look at the middle right picture you can see the shelf has a mortise cut into the back. A tenon mounted to the wall act as the invisible bracket. You can even buy these concealed brackets made from metal for cheap like the one below. I will use this type of bracket to explain the steps.
The one I made, however, uses a wooden tenon as shown below.
The design
This is up to you. Mine has roughly the following dimensions (not to scale).
Wood
There are so many choices you can have. I used cheap yellow pine like http://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-8-in-x-8-ft-2-Prime-Kiln-Dried-Southern-Yellow-Pine-Lumber-689238/202085941.
The choice of bracket
The wooden tenon approach I used requires carving a large tenon. What I did was to cut two symmetrical shelf pieces and carve the mortise half-half on each of them using a router. See the sketch below.
This approach is a bit tedious (but fun!!!), so the easiest would be to go with some sort of concealed bracket that you can buy. Usually, with these all you have to do is to drill holes into the shelf to insert the metal poles.
The steps
NOTE. Use appropriate ear, eyes, and face protections. I highly recommend safety eye glasses and face masks. Also, take extra precaution when working with power tools.
In short, buy a thick enough wooden piece that’ll cover the bracket of your choice. Then cut out the shelf design using a jigsaw. Drill appropriate holes in the back using a Forstner bit. If you need to have a decorative edge like the Roman Ogee I’ve used then use a router with a Roman Ogee bit. Then sand everything using 120 grit sand paper. If you have an orbital sander use that or a bit of elbow grease would do fine too. Then sand it down using a 220 grit paper. Blow all the dust and apply a thin coat of clear satin polyurethane. That’s it.
Oh! I forgot, you have to drill a few holes in the wall and put screw anchors to hold the brackets.
Tools
Jigsaw. I’ve a Skil jigsaw. I’d recommend using a thick blade, which is usually a rough cut blade, but it works fine. Also, the stock blades that came with the jigsaw were not good.
Drill and Forstner bit. A drill is a drill, so there’s nothing much to what brand you can use. Also, you may already have all the drill bits. Depending on the bracket’s pole diameter you may need to purchase a Forstner bit of correct size to drill the holes. Drilling straight into the wood would be a bit of a challenge if you are using a hand drill. See my previous blog post on drilling straight without any tools. If you have a drill press then there’s nothing to worry.
Orbital sander. Sanding by hand is OK but it tends to leave sanding marks on the wood. An orbital sander avoids this by incorporating rotation plus random movement. These are really cheap to buy and it’s worth investing on one. When sanding it’s highly recommended that you use a face mask to avoid inhaling fine wood dust.
Polyurethane. Once sanded you can apply a finish of your choice. I used a clear sating polyurethane. Use vinyl or rubber gloves when handling these finishes. Follow the instructions on the can. Usually, this involves applying a thin coat first. Then after a few hours sand it lightly using 220 grit paper and apply another coat.
I think this covers all the essential build steps. Have fun making your floating shelf!!
