Maidie Floating Media Shelf
The media shelf, seen here mounted in the client's home, is over 9.5 feet in length and extends out a full 12" from the wall.
MAIDIE FLOATING MEDIA SHELF
Dimensions: 116″L x 12″W x 5″H
Finish: Hand-rubbed oil & wax — 5 coats of Danish Oil wet sanded up to 800 grit, followed by 2 coats of dark paste wax.
The shelf is crafted from a single slab of 4/4 Black Walnut that stretches over 9.5 feet in length. It features five Zebrawood butterfly inlays in the top, and a matching Walnut accessory drawer on one end that is accented by dovetail joinery and a unique/hand-cut Zebrawood pull. This shelf was crafted using traditional joinery techniques — no screws, bolts, nails or other types of hardware were used in its construction. The natural, unadulterated finish consists of several coats of hand-rubbed oil and wax. Overall, this piece will securely support 150+lbs of evenly distributed weight without having to be tied into wall studs. As the client has it configured, the shelf easily supports her 40″ flat panel HDTV, DVR, DVD player, and an assortment of picture frames & accessories…not to mention a drawer full of remote controls and cables. Also of note: this shelf was made to be minimally invasive in it’s mounting. It can be easily moved and reinstalled elsewhere if the client should ever decide to relocate the piece — be it to another room, or another residence entirely.
Thank you for your interest and for taking a closer look at my work. I’m constantly looking to improve as a woodworker, and would certainly welcome any comments or feedback you might have for me – on this piece or any one of my other gallery submissions here on FWW.
Additional photos on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SchefflerWorkedWood
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The media shelf, seen here mounted in the client's home, is over 9.5 feet in length and extends out a full 12" from the wall.
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One of the five contrasting Zebrawood inlays incorporated into the shelf - here, spanning a naturally occuring knot hole in the Walnut slab.
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Constructing the shelf's hanging drawer back at the shop. For the woodworker, the most rewarding aspects of a project are often found in the creation of details seldom seen or appreciated by the client.
Tight fitting hand-cut dovetails are just one of these accomplishmets that make work like this a joy.
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The hanging accessory drawer features a Walnut front, and is accented with a unique pull made from Zebrawood to match the shelf's top.
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Comments
So what's the secret? How did you mount it? Oh, and it's lovely too!
@mrossk, thanks! Kind of like the idea that the support mount seems a bit mysterious, but I'll go ahead and share (my description/explanation will be somewhat wordy, so bare with me)...
The shelf is supported by a series of 6 tapered/angled, low-profile red oak brackets the are secured to a thin 108" long red oak mounting board using some fairly aggressive vertically sliding half-blind dovetails for strength. The brackets were designed to be as 'transparent' as possible so as not to take away from the 'floating' look of the shelf - they're really only visible when the piece is viewed at a fairly low angle (...say if you were looking at the shelf while sitting on the floor). Assembled, the mounting board is secured to the drywall with 10 evenly spaced anchors, countersunk into the board and pinned with oak dowels to cover their heads.
Seeing how black walnut is a fairly dense/heavy wood, and knowing TVs & electronics aren't light either, I originally wanted to mount the shelf by sliding it onto several extremely long/flattened carriage bolts that would be screwed securely into the wall studs. However, to my dismay, I soon realized the client's intended wall for this piece lacked the stud support one would typically find every 16" or so in standard wall construction. Because of this I was forced to get creative with my engineering/design in supporting the potential shear load - without a visibly 'tacky' means of distributing the shelf's final weight across the wall's face. ...so there you have it - the mount's actually quite simple in its execution & appearance, but it did require a decent amount of thought and solid math, along with some precise joinery technique.
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