Making Floating Shelves with Pallet Wood and Pine

For this project, I wanted to create a rustic look overall, so I decided to use pallet wood for the faces I needed for the shelves. I trimmed off one end of each piece and then cut them to length, using my table saw to knock off any rough edges. Then, I ripped down three pieces at 2.5 inches thick to make the face of each shelf, matching the thickness I needed.

To add some filler to the inside of the shelves, I cut down some 3/4 inch pine into strips about 1 inch thick. I cut enough so that I could chop down sections and fit four sections inside each shelf. Then, I added glue and laid them out; they didn't have to be placed very specifically, just not on the ends. I held them in place with Brad nails and then applied more glue to the other side. Once dry, I laid on the top panel to ensure all front faces were aligned. I connected it all together with some Brad nails.

Next, I covered the entire assembly with a clear coat of glue and added my actual shelf face. To add an extra layer of realism, I used a rasp to create uneven edges; previously, I had obtained them by running the pallet wood through my table saw. I then made dents and scratches on purpose to give it a worn look.

After staining the shelves, I was hesitant at first but ended up liking the dark finish that blended the different types of wood together – pine and pallet wood. My friends wanted a really dark stain for this, and I'm glad I tried something new because it worked out pretty well. The stained shelves turned out cool, with a rustic look that matched my overall design.

For the final touches, I created two more strips of pine for each shelf to serve as supports. Now that everything was complete, I was ready to install the shelves. To make this process easier, I used a new laser level from Leica; I finally got to try it out and found it super easy to transfer marks to both sides of the bracket.

To attach the brackets securely, I transferred marks onto a piece of pine, then drilled holes through the center of them using a masonry bit. On one side, where the shelves would be installed into brick, I used tapcon screws to anchor the brackets to the wall. The opposite side was drywall, and I used pilot holes and larger bits to attach anchors that could hold about 100 pounds each.

I screwed the brackets right into the anchors, ensuring they were snug and secure for both sides. Each shelf then slides smoothly onto its respective bracket – a little tight at first, but easy to adjust once in place. If yours weren't so tight, you could run a small screw down through the top of each shelf into the bracket to secure it further.

Overall, making these floating shelves was relatively easy and didn't require a lot of precision or expertise. The key is having strong cleats on either side to hold up the shelves and any weight placed upon them.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today we're going to make some inset floating shelves one thing Volusion for sponsoring this video Volusion has an all-in-one ecommerce solution if you want to start an online store they have all the tools you need to do it both they can help you build the site and they have a bunch of educational materials to help you get a business started Volusion is doing a really cool thing right now called stores and stripes it's for active US military spouses and veterans it's a way for you to get a business off the ground for $1 for a year you get an e-commerce store all the support all that stuff you give a $1 donation to Operation Homefront and they'll get you going be sure to check out Volusion thanks for sponsoring this video let's get to the shelves I had some friends who wanted some floating shelves that look like they were made out of a thick beam about two and a half inches I started with 1 by 12 pine for the top and the bottom but you could also use plywood for this for the faces I wanted to use pallet wood since it was going to be kind of a rustic look overall I trimmed off one end and then cut it to length and on the table saw I ran it through just to knock off one rough edge then I ripped down three pieces at two and a half inches to make the face of each one of the shelves to match the thickness of the face I needed to add some filler to the inside of the shelves I cut down some 3/4 inch pine down into strips of about 1 inch thick I cut down enough to be able to chop down sections so that I could put four sections inside of each one of the shelves then I just added some glue and laid them out they don't have to be placed very specifically here they just can't be on the ends I held them in place with Brad nails and then add a glue to the other side then I laid on the top panel to make sure that all the front faces were aligned I connected it all together with some Brad nails cover it all the front faces with glue and then added my actual shelf face I use lots of Brad nails to hold this in place this whole thing is going to look very rustic and it's going to be stained and so kind of the more damage you do at this point the more realistic it looks I used a rasp so just tear up this clean edge that I gotten from the table saw I made a lot of dents and scratches and just kind of mess it up on purpose and then I went back with an orbital sander and smoothed it out I left some of the dents and the imperfections there but I got rid of anything that would hurt you if you touched it and my friends wanted a really dark stain for this and I was hesitant at first but it ended up turning out really cool it blended the different types of wood together between the pine and whatever it was on the face from the pallet and I thought it worked out pretty well I'm not a big fan of staining usually but I like the way that these look the last thing to make were two more strips of pine for each one of the shelves then it was time for install we marked the center point for each one of the shelves I finally got to try out this new laser level from Leica I made my marks and lined up the laser with it and that made it super easy to transfer those marks to both sides of this inset normally an inset like this would be kind of a pain to get everything level but this device was really nice I'll put a link to it down in the description for each one of the brackets I transfer the marks on to a piece of pine and then I drilled a hole right through the center of it I made sure to transfer these so that I didn't accidentally drill through any grout lines I wanted to make sure I was drilling into brick I drilled the holes with a masonry bit and then I attached the bracket with some tapcon screws make sure you use the right size bit for the screws that you have the opposite side was drywall and I did basically the same process but I used the pine to drill some pilot holes then I used a bigger bit to make holes big enough for the anchors that I was going to use these anchors hold about a hundred pounds of piece so between two of them on one side and the brick on the other side these shelves will be plenty strong then I screwed the brackets right into the anchors each one of the shelves just slides right onto the brackets they were a little tight which is a good thing and I had to kind of jam them in place but that made it so that there were no gaps on the outsides if yours weren't so tight you could run a small screw down through the top of each shelf into the bracket to secure it so that's about it they're really easy to make in the size and shape don't really matter very much you could make these a lot thicker if you wanted to you could even make them skinnier if you really wanted to the big thing is making sure you have a strong enough cleat on the side to hold up the shelf and whatever weight you're going to put on top of it I hope you liked this one and if you did let me know in the comments down below or at I like to make stuff calm I'd love to see some stuff that you were working on so please share it with me on any of the social networks I've got a lot more projects and playlists and stuff for you to check out as well as a couple of other types of floating shelves if you like these videos and you want to help support what I'm doing patreon is the best way to do that you can click there and find out everything you need to know thanks to Volusion for sponsoring this video see you guys next timehey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today we're going to make some inset floating shelves one thing Volusion for sponsoring this video Volusion has an all-in-one ecommerce solution if you want to start an online store they have all the tools you need to do it both they can help you build the site and they have a bunch of educational materials to help you get a business started Volusion is doing a really cool thing right now called stores and stripes it's for active US military spouses and veterans it's a way for you to get a business off the ground for $1 for a year you get an e-commerce store all the support all that stuff you give a $1 donation to Operation Homefront and they'll get you going be sure to check out Volusion thanks for sponsoring this video let's get to the shelves I had some friends who wanted some floating shelves that look like they were made out of a thick beam about two and a half inches I started with 1 by 12 pine for the top and the bottom but you could also use plywood for this for the faces I wanted to use pallet wood since it was going to be kind of a rustic look overall I trimmed off one end and then cut it to length and on the table saw I ran it through just to knock off one rough edge then I ripped down three pieces at two and a half inches to make the face of each one of the shelves to match the thickness of the face I needed to add some filler to the inside of the shelves I cut down some 3/4 inch pine down into strips of about 1 inch thick I cut down enough to be able to chop down sections so that I could put four sections inside of each one of the shelves then I just added some glue and laid them out they don't have to be placed very specifically here they just can't be on the ends I held them in place with Brad nails and then add a glue to the other side then I laid on the top panel to make sure that all the front faces were aligned I connected it all together with some Brad nails cover it all the front faces with glue and then added my actual shelf face I use lots of Brad nails to hold this in place this whole thing is going to look very rustic and it's going to be stained and so kind of the more damage you do at this point the more realistic it looks I used a rasp so just tear up this clean edge that I gotten from the table saw I made a lot of dents and scratches and just kind of mess it up on purpose and then I went back with an orbital sander and smoothed it out I left some of the dents and the imperfections there but I got rid of anything that would hurt you if you touched it and my friends wanted a really dark stain for this and I was hesitant at first but it ended up turning out really cool it blended the different types of wood together between the pine and whatever it was on the face from the pallet and I thought it worked out pretty well I'm not a big fan of staining usually but I like the way that these look the last thing to make were two more strips of pine for each one of the shelves then it was time for install we marked the center point for each one of the shelves I finally got to try out this new laser level from Leica I made my marks and lined up the laser with it and that made it super easy to transfer those marks to both sides of this inset normally an inset like this would be kind of a pain to get everything level but this device was really nice I'll put a link to it down in the description for each one of the brackets I transfer the marks on to a piece of pine and then I drilled a hole right through the center of it I made sure to transfer these so that I didn't accidentally drill through any grout lines I wanted to make sure I was drilling into brick I drilled the holes with a masonry bit and then I attached the bracket with some tapcon screws make sure you use the right size bit for the screws that you have the opposite side was drywall and I did basically the same process but I used the pine to drill some pilot holes then I used a bigger bit to make holes big enough for the anchors that I was going to use these anchors hold about a hundred pounds of piece so between two of them on one side and the brick on the other side these shelves will be plenty strong then I screwed the brackets right into the anchors each one of the shelves just slides right onto the brackets they were a little tight which is a good thing and I had to kind of jam them in place but that made it so that there were no gaps on the outsides if yours weren't so tight you could run a small screw down through the top of each shelf into the bracket to secure it so that's about it they're really easy to make in the size and shape don't really matter very much you could make these a lot thicker if you wanted to you could even make them skinnier if you really wanted to the big thing is making sure you have a strong enough cleat on the side to hold up the shelf and whatever weight you're going to put on top of it I hope you liked this one and if you did let me know in the comments down below or at I like to make stuff calm I'd love to see some stuff that you were working on so please share it with me on any of the social networks I've got a lot more projects and playlists and stuff for you to check out as well as a couple of other types of floating shelves if you like these videos and you want to help support what I'm doing patreon is the best way to do that you can click there and find out everything you need to know thanks to Volusion for sponsoring this video see you guys next time\n"