How to make garden shed corner shelves

Corner shelf at fence corner in yard near garden. (flickr.com)

Many gardeners in Fort Worth, Texas have garden sheds that are short of storage space. Often corners are used to stand their long garden tools upright wasting valuable wall storage space for smaller gardening-related items like containers of fertilizer and nutrients. Here's some guides and tips on making a group of corner shelves for your garden shed walls, a corner in your fenced yard, or anywhere else in your main house.

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Things you'll need:

scrounged recycled plywood pieces
recycled wood 1 x 2s
long brass screws
good wood glue, wood filler, sandpaper
level, measuring tape, pencil
12" metal triangular square
power saw and power drill with drill and screwdriver bits
paint and brushes (if you want to finish shelves)

Use metal square "roofers triangle" to form shelf pattern. (flickr.com)

Scrounge for recycled clean plywood. Determine how much plywood is needed. Make a quick sketch and size shelves before searching for recycled plywood from a scrap pile. Make sure pieces you find are large enough for triangular shape. If you are making 12" shelves then simply use the 12" triangular square as a guide, mark an outline on a piece of paper and take it with you. It will become a rough template for the size plywood you need for each shelf. A "roofers triangle" metal square can be purchased at most any hardware or home store.

Measure large sides of triangle corner shelf before cutting.(flickr.com)

Measure plywood shelves. Be sure plywood is clean and mark on surface the triangular shape size. Again, if using the 12" dimension, use the roofers triangle If making a larger shelf design use the square to make straight lines and measure off the exact dimension on each side of the right angle triangle, then connect the diagonal line for the shape.

Hint: Place blue painters masking tape on top of cut line before cutting to minimize splintering of plywood edges at cut lines.

Use power saw for cutting straight lines on shelves. (flickr.com)

Cut corner shelves with grounded power saw. Place plywood to be cut on flat surface and be sure it is level and secure before cutting. Since you will be making straight cuts, use a power saw instead of a jig saw for a more uniform and straight cut. If you have a table saw use that. Wear protective eye wear when cutting to avoid wood chips and splinters from getting in eye during cutting. Cut all shelves at same time. Sand edges after cutting. Fill with wood filler before sanding smooth.

Measure and cut wood cleats also, follow plans shown in next step and in previous steps for eliminating wood splinters. Note that 45 degree angle cuts are necessary for each cleat to fit together and on walls.

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Plans for 12" corner recycled plywood shelves. (J.C. Howald, Arch.)

Follow plans, mount shelves at desired heights. Use one cleat per shelf with corners cut at miter to fit together and on wall. Locate studs and use long brass screws to drill and attach cleats to walls. Use wood glue to glue shelves to wood cleats.

Note: Before installing shelves, use small level to scribe pencil line on walls for locations of top of cleats. Shelves will fit on top of cleats so allow enough dimension for shelf thickness. After scribing pencil line, then drill holes for screws through cleat and into wall studs or use wall anchors to secure wood cleats to wall.

Mark level line. Use power drill. Use long screws. Secure wood cleat.

Leave shelves unfinished or add edge trim and finsh as desired.

Tips and Warnings:

Make paper template for size shelves desired before scrounging for plywood.
Use box level to mark level line at wall for each shelf support cleat.
Use rustic wood if garden shed is rustic.
Place plywood on level surface prior to cutting.
Wear protective headgear and goggles when cutting.
Don't cut outside with power saw when wet, use grounded electrical outlet.

See also

How to make Cedar box with hinge

Watch video to see some different corner shelves and how one can use them as storage.

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