Shelf supports

[Roger Morton]

Several (many?) years ago I remember seeing, probably in a shed somewhere, a shelving support system that used a horizontal wooden batten, machined into a sort of half round section with a channel running all the way along it. Screw holes at the base of the channel to attach it to the wall, then the shelf slotted (tightly) into the channel and hid the screws. Sort of a not-quite-concealed support for a conventionally-thick shelf, rather than these horrible chunky 'floating' shelves that seem to be all the rage these days.

I've googled my fingers to the bone; anyone know if they're still available anywhere?

[Owain]

I remember a metal batten of such a description, not wood. .. thinks and googles - Spur Cliffhanger?

place says they have Spur Cliffhanger (now Storage Solutions)

You could get small brackets like this one:

just make your own less-chunky floating shelves using the fixings might also be a useful source of shelfy bits

[Roger Morton]

Isn't it amazing what a difference the right words make to google - 'hanger', and particularly 'cliff', would never have occurred to me. And it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it were exactly the same product as my warped memory tells me was wooden.

Anyway, it looks as though it will fit the bill perfectly. Many, many, thanks.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Beware, that cantilevered shelves can't take much weight.

[Owain]

Depends what they're made of I would think. And they have the advantage that they're supported along their length so long spans are possible without visible sag. With the continuous support the bracket and shelf only has to support the weight across the depth of the shelf not along its length. Even a fairly lightweight shelf would support the weight of eg a gramophone record on edge. It's the opposite of eg a cantilever bridge.

Owain

[Bob Mannix]

Yebbut, the leverage on the mounting screws is enormous compared with other systems - A whole shelf of vinyl is going to need anchor bolts and a very tough fitting along the wall.

[Roger Morton]

Have no fear - this is for a tiny narrow pair of shelves in a cramped utility cupboard, to keep a washer/dryer stack company. They'll be holding boxes/bottles of the strange unguents that SMWBO inserts into these machines. Main criterion is easy removability, because they'll be blocking access to some of the plumbing. The slot thing will be fine, unless the shelf is *too* tight. Otherwise it'll just have to be a pair of the bog-standard vertical slotted runners (which looks a bit silly for a width of about 300mm), and slot-in brackets.

[Bob Mannix]

Beware the slotted runners 300mm apart! A small discrepancy (the sort you get with a small drill wander) in the heights shows enormously on a shelf that short, when it wouldn't with a longer one. BTDTGTTS

[Roger Morton]

You cannot possibly be insinuating that my shakey 60 year old hands would allow a drill bit to wobble...

can you?

I do take the point :-)

My total horizontal expanse of wall is 400mm (this is not, remotely, a simple, square, cupboard). Another option might be one of those hanging shoe holders, intended to hang off a wardrobe rail. If I can find a sensible way of hanging it off a back wall, it ought to be very simple to remove when needed, and there'd be no need to pretend that it was never intended to be precisely level :-)