today we're building finishing and installing two floating wood shelves with some basic woodworking tools the shelves are making today each measure approximately three and a half inches thick by six and a quarter inches wide by four feet long and they're made from clear pine which my son and I picked up at our local lumberyard if you want to build the exact same shelves here's the list of supplies you'll need to complete today's project before any cutting begins take a moment to look over the boards for any signs of defects that you don't want to show then mark the other side as the good side once that's complete it's time to cut the two front pieces for each shelf set your miter saw to a 45 degree bevel making sure that the good side is up and make your first cut right at the end of the board if you're making more than one shelf like I am and would like to get two pieces out of one eight-foot board measure down forty seven and seven eighths and make a mark flip the board in for end and make a second bevel cut in case you're wondering why forty seven and seven eighths which is an eighth inch under four feet it's the account for the kerf or the waist that the blade produces as it makes the cut moving on once you're happy with your bevel cuts set the two pieces aside with the remaining one by four material it's time to make the four sides with a Saul still set at a beveled angle make a cut this time measure down six and a quarter inches make a mark and turn the saw back to zero degrees and make a straight cut you'll need a total of four of these so repeat the process until you have them all complete at this point it's okay to do a little pre assembly so you can get an accurate measurement of the top and bottom pieces before applying any glue it's always a good idea to check how the miters are fitting up then once you're satisfied add glue to both sides and fasten with a few Brad's repeat the same process for the other sides then once you're done you can now take a measurement for the top and bottom pieces just make sure you're measuring right at the miter joint itself and not at the other end moving on square cut one end of the one by six then measure down the distance of your top piece and make a cut repeat this same process for all four pieces because you don't want the glue to dry in the miter joints before you're able to finish the shelves themselves you're going to want to move around Tivoli quickly so you can get the top and the bottoms on and nailed up you may also need to recut the top and bottom boards if they're too long and that's okay it's better to sneak up on it then the overshoot and believe it too short you may also need to use a clamp to help you hold everything together before attacking it with a few Brad's just make sure that you do your best to keep the joints flush and tight because the better you do at keeping everything flushed the less seaming you'll have to do later on after given the glue about 30 the 60 minutes to dry starts sanding by hand or with a random orbital starting with a hundred twenty grit sandpaper and working away up to about a 220 before moving on to staining and finishing inspect all the seams and joints to look for any small gaps if you find some a really quick and easy way to fill them is to make your own wood filler with a sawdust you've been creating simply add a little glue to the gap pressing it down into the joint and then sprinkle it with sawdust working it down into the joint as well with a sander sand the joint smooth once you're satisfied with all your work and everything is dry wipe all services with a tack cloth it's also very helpful at this point to put your shelves up on some scrap wood spacers to give you better control over the finishing process there are different ways to apply stain but I personally like applying stain with a good rag so that I can work it well into the wood once everything is coated well and after you've made sure that there's no drips or runs follow the manufacturers recommend a drying time before finishing with a top coat for projects like this a good water-based polyurethane works well applying three coats with a synthetic brush or cheap foam brush if you don't want to spend the money just make sure you sand lightly between coats with 220 or higher grit sandpaper once that's done go back and fill the Brad holes with a wood filler like Minwax wood putty which matches your stain color so now that everything is built and completely finished it's time to install but before we do that we have to make the cleats for the shelves and those are made from a simple piece of 2×4 the cleat a size to fit in between the top and bottom pieces and to get a good snug fit you'll have to rip the 2×4 down to around 2 inches the idea is to fill the space in width but leave a gap in its length for adjustments laid on once you've settled on your shelves locations Houston painters tape to locate the left and the right sides then make a pencil line in between the tape marks at the correct height next draw a level line that's a few inches less than four feet long and three quarters of an inch below the pencil line you just mark once that's done find the center point between the two tape pieces which would be two feet or half the distance of your shelf next use a stud finder to mark out all the studs that intersect with that level line from there mark the center line of your cleat then match up the cleat center line to the center line on the wall and then transfer the stud layout marks to the cleat then once you have the lines transferred to the face of the cleat pre-drill for two screws for each stud one on the top and one on the bottom lastly hold the cleat back up to the wall matching Center lines and level lines and secure it with 3-inch screws as a quick side note you may need to add more support to the cleat if the stud layout didn't work in your favor to do that simply pre drill through the cleat with a thin bit then once you remove the cleat from the wall you'll use those holes as a guide to pre-drill with a proper size bit for a pair of wall anchors with the cleat now back into its original position countersink the holes and then carefully and slowly drive the screws until they're secure now that you can park a truck on these cleats it's time to install the shelves it starts by pre-drilling a few small holes for set screws that hold the shelf to the cleat because of the snug fit of the cleat I personally have found that it doesn't take but a few screws to make it secure for this 4-foot shelf let's pre drill and countersink for three screws on the top and two on the bottom to install slide the shelf over the cleat and because we left a little room in the cleat you can make small adjustments to the left or to the right once you're satisfied with this position pull it firmly to the wall and at the same time drop the set screws home because my stain is dark and my screws are black I don't feel the need to cover
