'Floating' oak shelves

Usually these are fixed along their backs, and not the sides - for the simple reason that they can be pushed into position against the flat back wall.

If you cannot get access to the other side of the side walls (ie - can you get to that old pipe recess from inside?), then I can't think of any way to get an invisible fixing except along the backs.


Oooh-ooh-ooh - I chust thought of one!

You'd need to route out a slot along the sides of the shelf going from the very back but stopping short of the very front 'cos you wouldn't want that slot to be seen from t'front.

Then you attach matching rails to the walls on the side. The shelf will then slot in onto these rails.

 

Are these solid oak at 4cm thick?
There must be a good weight in the shelf alone never mind whatever you put on them.

You could follow DA's suggestion and add an additional rear rail, could be in a couple of short runs to give support at the back and a screw in there to stop them moving forwards

 

With 4cm thickness to play with, you shouldn't have a problem.

Router a groove into each end stopping short of the front (and leaving more meat on the upper part than the lower) and fix two rails to the recess for the shelves to slot on to. Either glue, or have a small lock screw on the underside. If you think it needs it on a 1.6m span, fix some pins on the back edge that engage with holes in the wall to provide shear support in the middle.

 

Get some concealed shelf supports/brackets.

 

These mostly fix into the rear edge. It's a heavy and thick shelf for the ones I have seen. With 4cm thickness weight on the shelf cantilevering off the shelf supports puts their fixings in tension and likely to pull out unless they are really well secured. I much prefer shelf fixings in shear - much safer.

You could use these alongside edge grooves and hidden rails though.

 

http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/...gclid=CNWUj_mo5soCFQ4TGwodCpEPqg&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

If there is no weight on the shelf maybe, but I wouldn't. A 1.6m x 26cm x 4cm thick shelf is big and heavy. The leverage off the bottom edge corner of a 4cm thick shelf from a weight placed on the front edge puts a big pull-force on that fixing. I wouldn't be relying on a cantilever fixing of that size alone if it was me.

 

Chust fit lots of them...

Or, a couple of these along t'back along with a couple of shorter ones at the side - the routed slot will slide on to them as before, it's chust that they're 'pins' rather than rails. The side 'pins' should be located towards the front of the shelf to take the front weight.

 

Magic wires might work.

 

Above all, make sure the sides of the walls are straight and parallel. If you are sliding in on rails(or anything) you're knack'ed if the front edge of the walls are less wide than the back!

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

3 concealed floating shelf brackets on the back. There about 100mm long by around 13/16mm thick. Then 20mm by 20mm groove routed out sides stopping 10mm from front edge. I'd leave more meat at top of groove so 5mm from bottom edge leaving 15mm on top. Attach 20mm rails to either wall and apply some good wood glue when sliding shelf on to rails. Don't forget to router out a for concealed brackets as the backplate which attaches to the wall needs letting into the shelf, go deeper than needed to allow for screw heads.

 

Have tried to find suitable rails for a similar job, any links anyone?

 

http://bfy.tw/5ImW

 

No it was not so hard, thank you for suggesting what I had already tried clever clogs, if you had read my post properly you would have seen that I am trying to source rails and not brackets.

 

OK then smarty pants, tell me the difference between brackets and rails and I might be able to point you in the right direction.

 

That's the point, hence this query. A rail is normally long and narrow like what a train or curtain runs on, and a bracket sticks out further. Sliding into 20mm rails were mentioned by thekitchenguy.

 

I think nearly all the heavyweight shelves get put on with 'concealed supports', which are the metal rods sunk into brickwork. There are brackets for the lighter versions of shelves.

A rail might be possible but it would have to be well engineered and its fixing to the wall and shelf would probably need as similar fixing as concelaed supports, possibly more. Also unless the wall was accessible from the side, sliding the shelf into place could not be done; in an alcove or such.