Landes' Floating Shelves

These shelves were built for Landes as a straightforward, durable storage solution with a clean profile. No visible brackets, no ornamentation—just solid wood and quiet proportions.

They are made from solid ash sourced from Austin Hardwoods here in Denver. The boards were milled square, glued up into thick blanks, and cut to final size before machining for the concealed hardware. During glue-up, a Festool Domino was used for alignment since the assembled blanks would be wider than my planer.

Each shelf is bored to accept steel rods that anchor into the wall framing. Once installed, the shelves slide on and lock in place, giving the appearance of floating while staying rigid under load.

The bracket system includes a router template for cutting the rear recess that conceals the hardware, along with a drill guide to ensure straight, consistent holes that align with the steel supports.

Edges are lightly eased and the surfaces finished simply to let the grain do most of the work.

More about the hardware and materials below.