A Shelf for George

Rennie Heuer

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A couple of weeks ago I began work on a wall shelf for a customer/friend here in Boise. He did the design work and gave me the dimensions he wanted, I had the choice of woods dependent upon some wood he already had in the house. He wanted the top shelf to match his bar stool/chairs in the adjacent kitchen, and the lower shelves to match a coffee table in the family room or the floor that runs throughout the house. The floor is a rather light, knotty wood that I think might be hickory. I felt this might be hard to match, as it would be so near the shelf that a comparison was too easy, so I went with the coffee table which I believe to be knotty alder. The chairs are an almost black surface coating on what might be poplar or maple - very hard to tell. However, they are devoid of any grain pattern, something he likes (note the floor and coffee table). So I decided to go with ebonized black walnut.

The lower shelves are 3/4" thick and dovetailed. They attach to the 1 1/8" thick (Originally planed for 7/8" but did not like the look) top shelf via a sliding dovetail (I was originally going to go with through tenons but feared the different movements in the wood might cause one or the other to split).

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I have completed the dovetails and just glued up the top shelf - will post pics soon.
 
I like it, but how does he plan on attaching it to the wall? I'm assuming what he likes is the clean looks, so wondering if there is some kind of hidden attachment?
 
I like it, but how does he plan on attaching it to the wall? I'm assuming what he likes is the clean looks, so wondering if there is some kind of hidden attachment?
That is indeed a problem of immense proportions on which to prob-osculate.

I considered pocket screws under the shelves, but there is only one stud to be found. I think I am going to go with a cleat, about 1" tall, attached to the underside of the top and bottom shelves and just screw through that into the stud and into an anchor. However, not cast in stone yet - open to suggestions.
 
That is indeed a problem of immense proportions on which to prob-osculate.

I considered pocket screws under the shelves, but there is only one stud to be found. I think I am going to go with a cleat, about 1" tall, attached to the underside of the top and bottom shelves and just screw through that into the stud and into an anchor. However, not cast in stone yet - open to suggestions.

You might consider an aluminum cleat, aka Zbar. It's thinner and not as bulky as a wooden cleat. Looks like the narrowest one these folks sell is 1 1/16", but that could be trimmed down pretty easily with a table saw and carbide blade. (I haven't done a lot of Googling for other sources, but there's quite likely narrower stuff out there.) You might also look at some combination of Zbar and J Cap, which is also shown on this site.

http://zbarhanger.com/index.html
 
Drill holes in edge of top & bottom shelves. Insert dowels. Drill corresponding holes in the wall and mount the shelves. The drywall will support a fair amount of weight, and from your drawings (with the Ipad on the top), the shelves aren't big enough to be overloaded with weight.
 
I have done what both Vaughn and Jim said. for these I vote with Jim. Z bar I think will be to big for this. And might go with dominoes if I had a festool.
 
I'm with Them Fellers. I like Jim's idea too. A few of those dowel center finders tucked into the holes on the shelf and a lite tap and you'd have the locations for the holes in the drywall all figured out.

Some strong glue and you're done.

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I'm with Them Fellers. I like Jim's idea too. A few of those dowel center finders tucked into the holes on the shelf and a lite tap and you'd have the locations for the holes in the drywall all figured out.

Some strong glue and you're done.

Glue isn't even necessary. If the holes are sized for a 'press' fit of the dowels, the friction fit will be solid enough. The dowels do need to be long enough to go completely through the drywall, though.

I have one set of display shelving that stayed put through several California earthquakes, including the Landers, Whittier, and the Northridge, and has now lived on the hall wall here in Ohio for over ten years.
 
All good ideas and worth investigating. Something to note, first, the shelf assembly is quite heavy. The top shelf is 16 x 32 walnut 1 1/8" thick. Also, this will hold a full sized touch screen computer on top and various charging stations and odds and ends below. I suspect it will get leaned on as one might lean on the edge of a bar when they are working on the computer. At 16" deep this will put a lot of pull on the mountings. I can see the dowels offering a good deal of shear resistance, but not being able to resist the pull along their axes. Also, this will get regular pounding and, as shown, is in a place where it is likely to get bumped. I trust Jim knows his business, but I'm thinking that the dowels might not be up to the job. They could be glued into the shelf and wall, but that would make removal (for paiting the walls, etc.) near impossible. I need to think about this a little more.
 
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All good ideas and worth investigating. Something to note, first, the shelf assembly is quite heavy. The top shelf is 16 x 32 walnut 1 1/8" thick. Also, this will hold a full sized touch screen computer on top and various charging stations and odds and ends below.

Oops! I change my vote ;-) I would modify the design to hit two studs but, have hung some serious weight from Roc-Locs when necessary. Maybe Roc-Locs and these?
 
That is a bit bigger than I thought from the picture.

I like the looks of those blind shelf supports, if you were able to hit 2 studs.

But then again, you've got 3 shelves, maybe the one stud would be good enough with 3 blind supports going down the wall.
 
The weight is one of the reasons I suggested Zbar. ;) You can get enough drywall anchors behind it to make up for the scarcity of studs. The other option would be slotted holes like Glenn showed (preferably the metal ones) but the Zbar would be easier to get mounted plumb, and you won't have to try to transfer screw locations from the shelf to the wall.

Oops...I just re-read your initial response to Brent, and you mentioned a square wood cleat under each shelf. That would work well, and pretty much disappear if painted to match the wall it's attached to.
 

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It has been a while since I posted to this thread so I think it is time I brought you all up to date. I decided to go with a sliding dovetail to hold the top to the first vertical. I feared the original plan (wedged through mortises) would result in one of the members splitting as the alder and walnut might move at different rates. Because of the location of the grove I could not see myself attempting this on the router table, so a jig had to be made. First order of business, cut a groove just wide enough for the colar.
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I went just a hair over on my grove so I lined it with some masking tape to take up the slop. I plowed the grove first with a straight bit taking 3 passes. Then the final pass with the dovetail bit.
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I made the dovetail on the router table using the same bit. Normally, you would use the table for both operations using the same bit height. I cold not do this so I use a digital depth gauge to measure the bit height in the router then set the bit height in the table to the same height - worked great.
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This is the top shelf with the ebonizing process complete.
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These are the lower shelves with the seal coat of dewaxed shellac.
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This is the top shelf after the first few coats of lacquer. It will get a couple of more coats, then sanded back with some 400 grit, then 1 or 2 more coats. After allowing it to cure (I usually give it 3 days), I will apply a paste wax with 0000 steel wool. Don't know if that is over kill, but it is a system that has worked well for me in the past.
 
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...Don't know if that is over kill, but it is a system that has worked well for me in the past.

I don't think it's overkill. Sounds like a pretty good finishing schedule to me. :thumb: My wax preference would be a microcrystalline wax like Renaissance Wax. I just like the way it performs on wood finishes better than more typical paste waxes like Johnson Wax.
 
The ebonizing looks great Rennie as does the other material with just the shellac. When I find a finishing schedule that works well for me and the recipient, I don't question myself :D. I think this piece is going to be a winner. The sliding dovetail is a very useful joint and I think it is under-utilized in many home shops. Once one does a few of them and gets a feel for them I think they would come to mind during the design phase more often. I can't wait to see the completed piece.
 
It became the victim of procrastination.

However, it is done and installed!!! Just installed it this morning as a matter of fact. I had problems with this and my interest waned a bit, so it went on the back burner for a while. But, now it's done and out of the shop.
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