Rustic Tennessee Floating Shelf

I have a fairly large den (Man Cave) that has a very long wall that I have never decorated. So, I decided to show my home state some love and made a floating shelf cut to look like Tennessee (well kinda like it) but who's looking that close? SO the result is a Rustic Floating Shelf I made from leftover scrap material from where I work.

The main tools I used in this build was a screw gun, jig saw, and a sander.

I guess the first thing you will need is a large space to hang it. Luckily for me I have just a place.

I was able to get a pass for some scrap lumber from my employer that was finger jointed incorrectly and could no be used in product. So I was able to save these pine boards from the local landfill. They are 7' long x 5" wide by 1" thick.

I cut (2) 30" long board to use to screw to the back side of the shelf. I ended up also using some of the cut off to screw some joints together that wanted to bow.

I sued 1 1/2" n wood screws to hold it together. I simply pulled the lumber tight together and put two screws in each board. I used a scrap piece to make the gap for my shelf to go later.

So, I'm not going to claim this is perfect but I looked at picture of my state and trued to free hand the boarder so cut by. Its not perfect but close enough?

REMEMBER TO WORK FROM THE BACK SIDE!! IF NOT YOU WILL CREATE A MIRROR IMAGE! :(

Remember to use hearing protection! Remember to count your fingers BEFORE and AFTER cutting and make sure the amount stays the same.

Try to follow the lines you grew to outline your state as best you can with a jig saw. Just work slowly thought each piece of lumber and don't try to rush any thing.

Okay, time to smooth out all the rough edges. I used a orbital sander but hand sanding would work fine also.

I had some extra french cleat lying around my shop. (Fancy name for 45° cut down the length of a board.) It can hold a great deal of weight, I set mine 6" down from the top board. You attached the cleat as straight as possible and make sure the short side is touching the back side of your shelf.

Attach the other side of the french cleat to your wall. narrow side again touches the wall. Try to hit studs with the screws if possible. If not, use dry wall anchors.

I decided to paint the State white since I had a quart of white paint left over from some other project. I also decided to use Early American stain for the floating shelf to give it some contrast.

Paint and Stain as needed. Then find something else to do for about an hour. I found a cold beverage and a recliner followed by a short nap. But you can do whatever. To each his own.

So, my wife woke me from my siesta and said the board needed some "character" and that it was too white. So. I lightly brushed some of the stain over the half dry paint and and rubbed it in by hand. She was right by the way but don't tell her I said so.

It actually turned out pretty good, I surprise myself sometimes :).

Time to take it in the house.

So, this thing weighed about 30 lbs finished. Which doesn't sound like much until you lift that over your head a couple feet. So get a neighbor, friend, or in my case spouse to help. If you can see we decided to draw a heart about where we live. Its WAY over on the left!

Decorate to fit your Man Cave. Planned on putting my old soda bottle and such on the shelf.

So, the soda bottle shelf idea go scrapped and I was told it would look better with some pictures and such on it. But I did get to keep some bottles on it By George!