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 2x4 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 2x4 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 them up but if you've stained or painted yourselves a lighter color
you may want to get some screw caps to cover them all that's left to do is to go ahead and
decorate it if you need any help with the power tools that we use today I'll leave my power
tools playlist right here for you to check out thanks for watching I'll see against him