Hey guys, was wondering if anyone has experience with floating shelves. The weight on them + the weight of the shelf is considerable, so I wanted to ask for advice before deciding anything.
I have attached a picture below of a layout of the project below. The shelves I am planning to use are 4/4 Wenge. Curious if 1” shelves are a safety concern for being too thin.
I have considered a few ideas like a french cleat from brands like Hovr, but I believe a 1 inch shelf is too thin to recess the male bracket into the back of the shelf. I have seen alternatives with bracket and bolts like this, and have even seen some directly drive lag bolts into studs to fit into mating holes on their shelf.
Does anyone have any suggestions for what they would do in this situation? Happy to clarify any questions. I know my picture is a bit jenky haha.
I’ve used aluminum french cleats on smaller shelves and the second style on some other shelves. I like the later for heavy shelves and plan to add some 1.5” solid floating shelves to my laundry area with that style.
My plan is to use the Shaper Origin to route a channel into the back of the shelf so the wood sits flush to the wall and also start the holes for that bracket with the Shaper. I’ll cut the full depth on the drill press.
This shelf in my pantry uses the latter. I laser cut some plywood to fit the brackets holes then attached three pieces of miter cut plywood to wrap around the laser cut core; the top and bottom might be mortise and tenoned to those center pieces, I can’t remember. I cut the outer pieces using the Laguna Swift CNC and I believe came from a Mozaik floating shelf util that I added mortise holes to in VCarve.
Hmm interesting, any complaints with the aluminum French cleat shelves? From what I’m seeing online, that’s best rated for heavy load.
The only similar route would be if you’re willing to weld a metal frame to the rods in the second option, and then put a wood enclosure around it to mimic a solid shelf.
