Thick wide shelves

[Manny]

Any thoughts on this :-

Solid pine shelf (not laminated) to be supported on (solid) corbel style brackets above a fireplace - 45mm thick x 220mm wide x 1100mm long.
Am I asking for trouble? How would you fix them?

Thanks for any comments

 

[Steve Maskery]

Your biggest problem is going to be wood movement, in particular cupping. But if that doesn't bother you too much it should be quite feasible.

Three fixing options come to mind:
Slotted mirror plates on the backs of the corbels, hooked onto screws in the wall
All-thread drilled into the hole and matching holes in the rear edge of the shelf, so it just pushes onto the wall
Mirror plates mounted at the top of the corbels, under the shelf. This isn't invisible, but it is very discreet and easy to do.

HTH
Steve

 

[DrPhill]

A decade or so ago I used B&Q thick pine shelves with corbels. The corbels had metal plates with a single slot, and these were recessed into the back of the corbels, screwed to them by two screws. These may be the 'mirror plates' referred to above, or they may be something different - I am not experienced enough to know.

Aaaah a search on 'corbel mounting brackets' yielded this page http://www.azwoodman.com/mounting-brackets.html. Any help?

 

[Manny]

Thanks very much for the suggestions - mirror plates seem to be the solution but the movement and cupping may be a problem.

John