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Just redecorated our living room and opened up an old alcove. We are wanting to put some shelves in it that are a nice quality . There will be three shelves and they are approx 440 mm x 485 mm . I was thinking of hardwood but it seems difficult to get in these sizes , thought about cutting a solid wood worktop down but there would be a lot of waste. Struggling to come up with ideas , any help appreciated , thanks .
You could glue some planks together to get the depth if you want real wood. Some biscuits or dowels on the join for strength.
I made mine from plywood with real wood trim glued on the front. Stained the lot so it matched.
I'd agree with nickjb re plywood- good quality birch ply with hardwood capping strip of the same thickness and a reasonable depth say 20mm
Think I have some bits of beech that deep if you're South/Mid Wales.
You'll need to find someone with a large thicknesser planer though.
Rare to get wood that deep, planking as said above - use biscuits and alternate the planks.
Reclaimed scaffording boards, clean up, oil, look great.
Does the OP own a biscuit jointer ? and even then jointed boards nearly always need sanded, so does he own a sander too. Or sash cramps for that matter.
Veneer faced mdf. Veneer of your choice. Cut the entire shelf out the one board, no jointing, no sanding, no clamping required.
Where are you? Tansley woodyard near Matlock in Derbyshire is worth a visit.
Two jarabosky shelves/mantles on ebay.
Check their website to understand who they are/what they do before looking at the for sale listing.
They - jarabosky - won't supply what you're after; now it's furniture only.
Quality is superb.
I don’t own a biscuit joiner or clamps . I live in Wakefield, there are a couple of hardwood stockholders locally , I’ll give them a visit . I thought about veneer faced furniture board but wanted something a little thicker , scaffolding boards would still need joining .
You can fit biscuits with a router, or with careful drilling you can use dowels. Or for a shelf, glue alone will likely be fine. You will need clamps, but these are cheap. Probably a lot cheaper than large slabs of timber.
There will be three shelves and they are approx 440 mm x 485 mm . I was thinking of hardwood but it seems difficult to get in these sizes , thought about cutting a solid wood worktop down but there would be a lot of waste.
Thats about the size someone fitting a worktop would cut out for a sink 🙂 Maybe call a few local kitchen fitters and see if they can put some offcuts aside for you.
Given they're in an alcove though... what parts of a shelf made of hardwood are you going to see? Given they are recessed and will probably have stuff on them then thats potentially either a lot of expensive wood or effort investing in finding nice materials to only have one visible edge.
Where are you Timber? I always prefer to buy locally if I can. I'm near Brynamman.
Veneer faced mdf. Veneer of your choice. Cut the entire shelf out the one board, no jointing, no sanding, no clamping required.
Ban required for @dyna-ti coming on here and suggesting a solution that doesn't give the op an excuse to go out and buy new tools! Shocking and utterly unacceptable, you should be utterly ashamed of yourself 🙂
For an alcove, how about making chunky floating shelves?
Batten out the alcove on 3 sides with 2x1 or 1x1, then a length across the open front.
9mm to 13mm Oak veneered mdf on top and underneath, then a strip of solid Oak tacked on the front?
A bit like this but use veneered board instead of plain.
To get the shape and wall angles of your alcove, cut strips of fairly thin mdf at around 50mm wide, lay them along one wall at a time, planing/scribing to the shape of the wall, then glue gun together using short lengths diagonally across the corners.
It's a good way of getting a template of the inevitably wobbly walls.
You can get hardwood panels (ie joined strips). It's not cheap.
I got some oak from here for some shelving: https://www.slhardwoods.co.uk/products/sheet-material/furniture-panels
They cut to size
@Ambrose I'm near Brecon and trying to rationalise the work timber store.
Thanks for replies everyone . I managed to pick up an unused solid oak worktop , 2 metres long x 40 mm thick, should do the job nicely with a bit left over for a couple more shelves elsewhere . I was going to make a corrugated cardboard template as the walls are not perfect , then , hopefully get a mate to cut it , if not may have to buy a nice new circular saw .
The walls on both sides are nice solid brick , I planned fixing two concrete screw in fixings on each side , leave about 15 mm on and chop the hex head off . After shelves are cut I can sit on top , mark out and then drill and route some slots ,which will then give an invisible fixing. I am open to suggestions if anyone has a simpler idea .
@alongo - I think with that depth two fixing points would not be enough, but I’m not a carpenter 🤷♂️
Personally I would look at alcove fixing brackets and route the edges so you can’t see them from the top of the shelves. Would be bomb proof with a good length of support on each end and back if required.
Also let’s you get a nice platform for your template as it’s likely to be slightly different dimensions at each level.