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Live Edge Wood and Gas Pipe Shelf

live edge and gas pipe shelf

How to Make a Live Edge Wood Shelf with Gas Pipe

It’s easy to see why people are going gaga over gas pipe shelving. Gas pipes, when combined with cool shelving material, like re purposed or live edge wood, combines an old world charm with a strong, unique look. In this article we show you how to create a live edge wood and gas pipe shelf.

Shelving Material

On this live edge and gas pipe shelf project, the client wanted us to create a two-shelf, wall mounted unit.  The shelves would be 1-1/2” thick, vertical grain Pine, with the “live” or natural edges of the board showing and held together with ½” gas pipe.

We went to a Parlee lumber mill. Parlee is the oldest, continuous running lumber mill in the Unites States.  We walked the yard and handpicked vertical-grain, Pine boards. The boards still had their bark on one edge and cost only $15.00.

Designing my Shelf

There are many ways to support a live edge shelf. You can rest the shelf against a pipe elbow, a union or screw a flange under it. I decided the best look for me was to create a look of a continuous running pipe through the two shelves. To support the shelves weight I would use pipe unions.  Unions connect two different pipes, and are larger than the pipe diameter. By drilling a hole just large enough to slip the pipe through, allowed me to rest the shelf onto the unions, as a shelf support.

I designed my pipes so that they would run a little above and below the shelves. The pipes then return toward the wall and terminate at wall mounting flanges.

Sourcing Pipe

Threaded or gas pipe fittings are easy to find at a plumbing supply store or hardware store. I picked up most of the components I needed at my local Rocky’s Ace Hardware.

Threaded pipe comes in varying diameters and lengths as well as different connections such as; elbows, tees, couplings, end caps and flanges.

Gas pipe fittings come in many thread sizes and lengths. These black pipe nipples allow you to find the proper fit in different situations and come in these sizes:

Once I had my pipe in hand it was time to go into the shop and make the live edge and gas pipe shelf a reality.

Cleaning the Pipe

The pipes come dirty from the oil used to cut the pipe and create the threads.  Add to that sticky price labels and you’ll end up needing the clean the pipes.  I used an electric wire wheel brush to remove the sticky labels and then acetone and a rag to clean the pipe.  Use plenty of ventilation with acetone and wear gloves.

Tip:    I ended up buying some pipes from Home Depot.  The pipes from the the big box store were completely wrapped in plastic tape and were a nightmare to remove and clean.  The pipes purchased from Ace hardware had small, easily removal labels. If you don’t want to spend eternity removing labels, get your pipe fittings from Ace Hardware.

Sizing the Shelves

The client wanted these two shelf unit, centered over a toilet and spaced approximately 12” apart.  She also wanted the shelves the same width of the toilet which measured 22-inches wide. I cut two boards to 22-inches on a miter saw and went to work designing my pipe shelf unit.

Making the Shelves

Once the wood boards were cut I started to remove the bark. A sharp chisel was useful for removing most of the bark.  The chisel removed the bulk but some dark brown residue remained and I alternated between the chisel, a cabinet scraper and a utility knife to scrape the bark remnants off.  When I was done I used some 80-grit sand paper to remove the last stubborn fragments.

Creating a Weathered Wood Patina

Once the live edge was clean I noticed that it was much lighter than the other flat parts of the board. In order to simulate an aged look, I took a carpenters pencil and used a utility blade to scrape the graphite off and onto the wood. Once I had a good sprinkling, I smeared the graphite into the wood grain, creating a dirty, aged patina.

I did this to the cut ends, and any part of the board that was considered too light.  After done I rubbed it in with some sand paper and a rag.

Drilling the Hole

I assembled the flange, pipes and elbows to establish where the pipe would enter the shelf, that location measured 3-3/4” out from the wall.  For proportion purposes I used that same measurement and measured in 3-3/4” from the edge and made a mark for drilling. I marked two holes, one both boards.

Using a drill press and a7/8” Forstner bit I drilled four clean, uniform holes.

Note: In retrospect I wish I had moved the pipe locations [holes] out closer the board edge. This would have allowed more shelf storage room.

Assembling the Pipes

With all four holes drilled I oriented the live edge out, assembled all of the pipes, and hand tightened all of the fittings.

Tip: try to rotate the wall flanges so all of the screw holes are oriented the same way.

Mounting the Shelf

When mounting things like gas pipe shelves you need to be careful the shelf doesn’t rack on you. This can easily happen if the shelf is level but the pipes are not plumb or if the two pipes are installed at different heights.

To ensure that your pipes are plumb and the shelves are level, determine and do the following:

Determine if you have framing to secure to

I use my stud finder and locate the studs. In this situation the studs are nowhere near where needed them.  In remodeling situations, we will install solid framing to pre-plan and allow us to secure directly into solid backing.

Locate the height of the unit:

We determined the unit height by moving and holding it until the client was visually pleased. Once determined we mark the location and use a level to trace a light pencil line on the wall, at the top of shelf area.  This gives us one line to follow when fastening.

Determine the center point on the wall and shelf:

Center points allow me to align the center of the shelf on the center of wall, ensuring a centered installation.

A Plumb line:

Once the other two marks are in place, I attach a magnetic torpedo level on the left pipe and plumb that pipe.  Once plumb I mark the mounting holes with a pencil. If you have a helper you can also plumb the right side pipes and mark those holes.

Tip: Use an eraser to gently remove the pencil lines, follow up with some soap and water.

Determine the fastener needed:

Each flange has four screw holes. Depending on the weight of your shelf you may want to use heavy duty wall anchors like, toggle or Molly bolts.  See article on determine the proper wall anchor.

I used expansion fasteners [70 lb capacity] and in order for these to work you need to ensure that you have marked your screw holes accurately and drilled precise holes.  Having a helper is important, unless you use a support to hold the shelf while you work.

Tip: install all of the toggles and lightly tighten. Leave them slightly loose so you can adjust the unit and check the plumb and levels. Once you have the unit where you want it, tighten all of the fasteners. You can use a black marker or some paint to color the silver screw heads to match your pipe.


Old World Charm and Modern Look

Once installed this live edge and gas pipe shelf looks like it has always been there, yet the live edge gives it a modern artistic flair. Projects like this are fun, easy and cost effective.  The materials for this project cost approximately $75.00. This industrial look craving is easily accomplished by assembling pre-threaded gas pipes and fittings like this   starter kit online for $60.00. Industrial-Pipe-Table-Legs-Inch

 

How To Build a Live-Edge Wood Shelf Video

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