Hanging a hardwood shelf

[Peter Quadarella]

OK, my brain isn't working right or something, but I can't think of a simple and relatively good looking way to hang a hardwood shelf I'm about to make. It will have some triangularish wooden brackets - I'm thinking that countersinking screws right through them won't look very good, and it would be difficult to cleanly plug pocket holes with the shelf in place after it is hung. Anyone have a good solution for this?

[Eric DeSilva]

How heavy is it? Would keyholes work? You can pick up a keyhole router bit, but I wouldn't trust it for anything heavy.

I've got some shelves mounted that rely on a bar welded to flat plate--flat plate is bolted to wall with bar sticking out, shelf has hole cut into it and slides onto bar. Course, you need a fairly thick shelf to do that...

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Does the shelf have a back on it? That is, a piece that will be flat against the wall between teh brackets. If so you could screw through it into the wall and cover the hole with plugs or buttons. Also, when I made a lot of shelves sold at a craft mall I put hangers on the back, usually above where the brackets are. The hanger was exposed and I left it up to the buyer to put something on it so the hanger couldn't be seen, allthough if it was hung pretty high it was hard to see anyway. Another way would be to route a keyhole slot in the back of the bracket but that would necessitate having hangers spaced exactly right and protruding exactly the right distance out from the wall.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Use metal brackets to hang the shelf and then make the triangular pieces below the shelf to act as covers over the metal brackets.

[Kurt Bird]

Hi,
The keyhole slot is your best idea, and it's reasonably strong. It won't show from the front, so no buttons or plugs are needed. A suggestion, drill a hole first, then insert the keyhole bit and cut the slot. Hang on to the router, because it will want to walk. You might check Rockler or Woodcraft, because there is a keyhole slotted plate that you can buy, install it in a mortise with screws, and it is very strong and easy to install. Good Luck!
Kurt Bird

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=341&filter=Keyhole

[Lee Schierer]

Unless the shelf is really large or going to hold something extra heavy use a keyhole bit to make keyholes in the bake edges of the verticcal supports. That is how this shelf hangs.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/shelf.jpg
You can also buy metal keyhole hangers that can be inset in the back. I've also seen L-hooks set in small slots on the underside of the shelf used.

[Peter Quadarella]

Thanks guys, I had thought about a keyhole bit but wasn't sure how sturdy they were. I hadn't decided on whether I was going to add in the flat piece on the back or not.

It sounds like this should work for me though; I guess I should try to space my hole 16" apart to hit studs if possible? The size is going to be about 48" long.

[Lee Schierer]

Thanks guys, I had thought about a keyhole bit but wasn't sure how sturdy they were. I hadn't decided on whether I was going to add in the flat piece on the back or not.

It sounds like this should work for me though; I guess I should try to space my hole 16" apart to hit studs if possible? The size is going to be about 48" long. You can use dry wall anchors (either the plastic type or expanding metal type) if your supports don't fall on 16" centers.

[John Keeton]

Peter

I will email you a picture of some shelves that I did. They are hollow and I screwed a piece of 5/8" square stock to the studs, slipped the hollow shelves over the stock and pin nailed into the "concealed ledger." I will post the pictures as well in a few minutes.

[Danny Thompson]

Can you attach the brackets from above, prior to mounting the shelf? If so, countersink from the top, then set the shelf in place. You would want to screw into studs, I think.

[Peter Quadarella]

Thanks very much for the email John. You should post those, they look great.

Excellent suggestions all around. Now I have a half dozen methods.

[John Keeton]

Here is a pic of the shelves. They are walnut, planed to about 1/4", with a sandwiched 5/8" square rim on two sides, with applied edge trim. The open side and end are slipped over the "concealed ledger." They are very solid, and I imagine would be solid enough without the corner application with triangular supports underneath. Only problem is they are relatively permanent as removing it would probably damage the shelf because of the pins. Hope this pic posts OK, this is my first pic post and having trouble getting the image size/file size correct.

[Jesse Cloud]

When I want a really clean look, I use these:

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&cat=3,43648,43649&p=51933

They are totally invisible when installed and they can hold a lot of weight if you use enough of them.

[Norm Roberts]

This is going to be hard to explain, so use the drawing that Danny Thompson supplied as a reference. What I do different is to cut a dado in the board that mounts to the wall. You then set the shelf on the brackets, slide it back into the dado then attach the shelf with a finishing screw through the top of the shelf into the bracket below near the front of the bracket.

Now the benefits:
Before you set the shelf in place you screw through the dado to mount the back of the shelf to the wall. You can mount it to as many walls as you wish drilling a new mounting hole each time and no one will ever see the mounting holes as they are covered when the shelf is set in place.

Secondly, having the back half of the shelf setting in the dado helps to maintain the straightness of the board and keep it from sagging.

Lastly, if you are dealing with a hardwood, the board is fee to expand an contract as it is held in place by only one screw at the front. This also helps to keep the board from cupping as the screw holds the board firmly to the bracket in the front and the dado holds the board down in the back.

Just a thought. My shelf currently has two sets of holes in it now as a result of a recent move, but you will never see them unless you take the shelf off.

[Peter Quadarella]

Very nice solution Norm. Do your brackets but up against the board on the wall instead of the wall itself?

[Norm Roberts]

Very nice solution Norm. Do your brackets but up against the board on the wall instead of the wall itself?

The brackets are attached to the board which inturn is screwed to the wall. In this the case the shelf was made of oak with shaker pegs mounted below the shelf.

Tried to upload pictures, but my files are 10 times the size permitted. Not sure what to do differently. Sorry.