Shelf / photo examples

SST,

Can you describe how you hang this shelf. I would like to begin creating floating shelves but I’m not sure how they would safely hang on the wall. Thank you.

-- There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't!

Nice looking design and looks great for a first time bend job! The first one I did (TV shelf) was just paneling and that was difficult enough.

Kudos to you :-)

-- Brandon, Maine, www.maineweddingtrellis.com

how wonderful!!
another amazing “FIRST”

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Pine and other soft woods are the hardest to bend due to their longer fibers. It looks real good to me.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Nice piece, SST. With what are you unhappy? Looks good to me.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

There was a question about how I hang the shelf, so I’ll post a pic and diagram on the backside of it as well. As to my unhappiness, I can notice a little evidence of the kerfing on the front of the bent piece in that the bend is not always smooth, but seems to have little flat spots as well. I’m thinking if I try this again, I’d use a thin kerf blade and more cuts per inch to smooth it out. My daughter-in-law loves it, though, so I guess I’m always my own worst critic.
I guess that’s at least part of what drives us all to create nice stuff.
When I look at some of the pieces on this site, it’s really very humbling to see what some of you are producing, yet that’s another part of what drives me to say “there’s no reason why I can’t do something like that”, and then move up to more demanding projects. I think that’s how we keep getting better. -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

Lumberjocks.com really is a great place, isn’t it!! ? !

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

A nice shelf SST. That curved design is definitely eye catching.

Yes, we are definitely our own worse critics. Each item I build I find flaws, but the customers just love them. Go figure…

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Great looking shelf. What problems did you encounter using the kerfing that you weren’t pleased with? I’ve been wanting to try it. I guess I’ll get around to it, soon.

-- Jesus is Lord!

As to my kerfing issues, I used a 64 tooth carbide tip blade on my first try and found, at least with the pine, that the wood was chipping out on the remaining portion between the cuts, so I switched to an old, but unused, Vermont American plywood blade I had on the wall with about a bazillion teeth (can you tell that I’m not much of a blade connoisseur) and that helped a lot.
I’ll probably learn more on the whole blade thing from hanging out here, but keep in mind that I’m doing my woodworking on a pair of 55 year old shopsmiths, and I think the blades I’ve been used to were from the bronze age.
Anyway, that’s not why I was disappointed with my project. What I didn’t like in the result was that at certain angles, you could see evidence of the kerfing on the outside of the curve, in that the curve was not perfectly smooth. It showed little segments where the wood had been cut on the other side. I’m not sure if I’m describing that so you can understand but, simplistically, it would be like if you made 6 kerf cuts and when you bent it into a circle, you got a hexagon instead, each part between kerfs had a little flat spot, even though I seemed to be making the cuts as close together as I could. Anyway, it came out nice enough that I’ll probably try another project sometime and see if I can improve on the first one. After all, where would all the sawdust in the world come from if we quit trying? -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

I was wondering what would happen if you cut the portion that you wanted to bend, and made a mdf fill strip that had the curve that you wanted and you just bent it around the mdf. then fasten it like you did with the existing one. You would need to use a bandsaw to cut the strip that you wanted to bend.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Actually, Karson, you just gave me an idea that might solve my problem. Next time I try this, I might kerf it with my bandsaw. With the very thin blade, I could do more cuts/inch and maybe that would smooth it out. Who knows…anyway, it’s always fun to try new ways to do stuff. I’m not sure what you meant by mdf strip, although by the description, I think I got it figured out, and it seems worth trying. -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

I was saying (at least was trying to say. Make an mdf block and attach it to the shelf in the position that you want the bend. Then you bend the thin wood around the corner. Think of it as thin veneer bent around the solid mdf filler strip. Keep your solid wood in the center and slice it thinner at the ends where you want to bend it.

Maybe it isn’t any more clear this time either.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †