Multiwood window shelf

GoNavy

Was thinking making a inside window shelf for plants and what not, around 35 inch long and 8 inch deep. Idea being overlap the window sill and go out from there with L brackets for support...so initially going for an oak shelf, went to check didn't have a long enough piece, well ok maybe maple, same thing...hmm ceder looks nice, nope once again long enough not wide enough...long story couldn't find a single board big enough for what I want without having to do a glue up..don't want to paint it,don't feel like buying new wood for this project. I want the wood look..so I got to thinking (after several beers) if I have to have a seam why not go big lets have lots of seams..lol...maybe use all these scraps and glue up multiple pieces ranging from from 3 to 8 inch long and 1 1/2 inch wide each using oak, maple, ceder, pine and walnut staggered no stain just natural wood color and poly. Should look good...but I have never done something like this before and not sure about how the different woods will react glued up, mixing hard and soft, different grains etc..anyone done anything like this before anything I should look out for, any prep work needed etc...Thanks in advance for any suggestion

everettdavis

I saw an article somewhere about a fellow who did a similar size plant shelf.

He took some angle iron and made a support extension that he bolted to the wall level with the extended wood for support.

He split it into two pieces that were small enough to fit his powder coating oven and installed them side by side.

Depending on the weight of what you place on the shelf, you might consider that, or just an extended wooden cleat / stack for outboard support.

Everett

GoNavy

I already got the support figured out, ordered a set of black iron pipe supports. Was gonna get the individual pieces from lowes, then saw them already in a set from Amazon for $15 couldn't pass that up...it the interaction of the various woods glued up I am not sure about, lots of end grain and hard/soft wood, and types of wood interaction wondering how the glue up will hold up and possible warping over time

Amazon pipe shelf support

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071X6KLK9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

kinda this idea, except all my pieces will be an inch and a half wide with staggered lenght to avoid running seams and using different woods for each segment. Only the long axis will have running seams, if that makes any sense ... lol

masonsailor2

Anything wood set in a window is going to take a beating. Warpage is going to be an issue. You might consider gluing up the shelf and after surfacing laminate it to a piece of 3/4” plywood. Then face the front edge with hardwood to hide the ply and stiffen it even further. You may want to consider using something like titebond 3 for the glue.

Paul

Hobbyman2

I ran into this once and wrapped some maple with walnut outer band .

GoNavy

Hobbyman2 wroteI ran into this once and wrapped some maple with walnut outer band .

Excellent idea but I think I'll use oak, don't have enough walnut. I also decided to forget the inch and half idea, going random sizes and grain direction a few two inch strips at various lenght but also a few bigger blocks thrown in and with your suggestion of banding thinking it should look ok. I taped some wax paper on my work bench and marked out the the shelf size so I can arrange the pieces and mock up until I like it, then I can glue up using the bench top as my flat surface (i.e the top of the shelf) without the pieces getting glued to my bench...lol...It would have been much easier to just go get a piece of lumber and make this shelf in one piece, but this is so much more fun, more work but more fun...lol...hey I am retired why do a one day project when I can turn it into several days...lol

Hobbyman2

sounds like a good choice of contrasting and blending the lumber , the girls were running into something similar on the stairs , they ended up wrapping some hickory around the ends of the pre-finished oak hardwood on the stairs landing ,looks s really nice beside the 6x6 oak newel post at the bottom . Now if we could decide how to top off the newel post lol,, most the homes here had a plain ball .

garys

There is no reason you can't mix different woods on a project. I do that when I have a small project and find I don't have enough scraps of one kind of wood to do it.

A couple of years ago my Wife wanted a tool box to hold her carving chisels. I looked in my scraps and found a nice piece of hickory plywood to start, but not enough hickory for the rest of the job. So, I used whatever pieces of hickory, oak, and maple I had on my pile and made this for her.

Hobbyman2

Nice job