Simple Shelf Made Easy With Some New Gear – Check it out!

My well house has been a “catch all” for a variety of old things Cody and I are holding onto for the “right project”. Steel boxes, tires and wheels….different odd ball things that are kinda bulky and taking up valuable space. Today I tackled a simple shelf made from untreated two- by material with a hand full of pretty awesome late model tools you put on somebodies “nice” list. This shelf design is made up of (3) 2×6’s and (2) 2×4’s and is adaptable to almost any wall, especially those with exposed studs. After it was fully loaded, I reckon there was probably about 200lbs up there and it didn’t budge. Here’s how it all went:

First things first, clear all this mess out of the working pace:

After heaving all the heavy cargo out of the well house, I got an inside dimension from wall to wall. Inside dimensions over an open space can be a little tricky if you’re dealing with a bowed tape. Since my well house does not have a floor, rolling the tape out on the deck wasn’t really an option.

Enter the laser measuring device. These things have been around for ages and this one may be one of the coolest ones yet. Bosch calls this unit the GLM 50C BLAZE 165 and it is one handy tool. It has a full color display that’s easy to see in low light conditions, it’s accurate within 1/16”, offers metric or standards dimensioning (decimal or fraction), and a whole host of handy features built within its sub-menus. With just a few strokes of the wrist along a couple of dimensions, this laser measurer can calculate area, volume, and even dub as a level.

I measured twice then committed to start cutting all the shelving material. For all the cross cutting I’m throwin another new tool into the rotation with this cordless unit from DeWalt. Back when I was building the shop I used a mini-DeWalt cordless circ-saw like it was going out of style. For a little guy, it worked really well but with a 6-12” blade it had some limits. This new saw is the big brother to my mini and packs some serious punch. It’ll plunge down to a full 2-9/16” depth and runs off a single 6.0 Ah battery. 

The brushless motor is silky smooth during cuts and is unbelievably quiet. To be honest, this was one of the main draw backs for the mini saw; it’s pretty darn loud. : / In terms of pushing the saw through the material, this saw feels as solid and refined as any other quality shoed SkillSaw or Makita (two of my favorite corded circ-saws).

With the top 2×6’s and lower 2×4’s cut to length, I began attaching the first sticks of material in place. I began with the 2×4 horizontal members that will support the shelf deck. These got faced nailed to the studs of the wall just above shoulder height. Here again, The nailing went in like warm butter with the help of yet another awesome tool from DeWalt. This one is a 20V cordless nailer that shoots 21 degree collated nails.

The nailer worked perfectly, but it took a little getting used to the time it takes to build up it’s baby compressor once the head is depressed. If you treat it like a conventional pneumatic nailer and shoot it as soon as the head is compressed, you will find you’ve outrun the clock and have to wait just another short moment for the optimal pressure for firing. For a project like this easy shelf, this is not really a problem but I could see that being a potential issue on a job site.

Before throwing the decking up on all the horizontals, I cut some 20” – 45 degree corner gussets to support the weight of the shelf. One end got face nailed to the stud and the other end gets a long 3” screw where the gusset meets the horizontal.

At this point I was ready to install the decking but was torn on two different approaches. Notch my 2×6 deck material to slide over the studs or no? I took a second to look at how that would work and made a quick cut with a Dremel multi tool. If you haven’t taken one of these for a ride you really ought to!

The high speed oscillator is one of the coolest tools to hit the market in a long time since it can get into some insanely sight spaces and comes with a huge variety of clever cutting heads. It also works well for making this inside pocket cut and creates nice clean inside corners. This multi tool is one of the latest to hit the market and features a tool-less blade change mechanism that really simplifies swapping accessory heads. Occasionally you can find bundle deals on these accessory heads like this package as well as this package.

In the end I decided to scrap notching out material for the studs since all of the items intended for the shelf are large and unlikely to need material all he way inside the stud bay. Nonetheless, the Dremel MULTI-MAX  is a must have tool for a variety of sanding, cutting, and finishing jobs.

The final step in this construction was required putting up the 2×6 deck boards. Now you might be thinkin this is a bit of overkill….and you’d be exactly right. But for the heavy chunky items I’m throwing up here, this shelf is going to work perfect. All the deck boards got sucked down with 3″ deck screws….which bring me to the the final piece of gear you could consider for that special crafty person in your life, even if that person is you : ) lol

Hardware storage is multi-faceted necessity of the creator’s life style. You not only need hardware storage solution for the shop, but you also need a quick grab and go solution for the times you’re going to be working well away from your shop….trust me, no one has time for silly little trips to the shop or the hardware store for simple things like bolts, screws or washers. Tah-dah! Enter the Small Parts Organizer from DeWalt. trust me when I say these things are way to cheap and way too handy to not give em a try! I’m talkin 20 bucks for the big one and 10 bucks for the small one. Easy Day!

These parts organizers are loaded with quality features throughout; over center toggle latches for a nice positive closure, clear acrylic lid that’s water tight and snug to the cargo compartments to prevent spillage of even the smallest washers, and you can stack and lock multiple boxes together for the ultimate grab-n-go hardware solution. My favorite part of the large box are the removable bins. Previous models have featured simple divider walls but the removable bin is the only way to go.

Pulling from the large well of deck screws, I cracked on with securing the deck boards in place. I set the outer board first, then butted the inner board to the studs, and finally just eye balled the middle board on center between the two.

Finally, I heaved all that mess up onto the shelf and called this project a wrap. I cant stand clutter!!…..and with a little help from some quality tools, I was able to nip this mess at the bud and not have to trip over these odds-and-ends when I need to get in to my well house.

Thanks for stopping in to learn a bit more about this kind of project as well as the handy tools. All of this gear is available through The Home Depot. This article is actually sponsored by them through their ProSpective campaign which involves paid content creators, like me and several others, who provide feedback, exposure, and reviews of current projects available to the market. Some of the links above are affiliate links and provide a small kickback for any sales associated with them. In a way, it helps to keep the entire machine running. Thanks so much for your support and stay safe out there!

Cheers – April

 

 

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