The Batman Shelf
6 Materials
$5
2 Hours
Easy
In our house, we all love DC comics; mostly Batman. We thought it would be cool to make a Batman shelf where the Bat symbol served as the support brackets for the shelf. Not only does it look pretty sweet, it's actually pretty practical – and boy oh boy, is it a beefy shelf.
The Batman shelf is a fun project to make and doesn't require a whole lot of time or very many different tools. It's a great beginner project and it looks great on any Batman fan's wall.
If you want to make them exactly like we did, you will need the pattern, which can be found on our website.
The Batman shelf is a fun project to make and doesn't require a whole lot of time or very many different tools. It's a great beginner project and it looks great on any Batman fan's wall.
If you want to make them exactly like we did, you will need the pattern, which can be found on our website.
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The video shows a lot more of each of the steps below and some that we couldn't include. Also, if you would like more in-depth step-by-step details you can check out the full tutorial on our website.
We created the top of the Batman shelf out of a scrap piece of 2x8 lumber. So that the shelf wasn't too heavy or too wide, we ripped it down to 6" wide and the cut it to the length we wanted.
We ran it through the jointer to make it thinner. Some of this is optional, especially if you end up using a thinner material for the top. Also, the top can be any size you want. For a longer shelf, just create more brackets.
As with most of our projects that involve the use of patterns, we laid down a layer of painter's tape. Then we use a spray adhesive to attach the pattern to the tape. This makes removing the pattern much easier once all the scroll work is done.
Cutting out the brackets is easy and a lot of fun if you like working with the scroll saw. Before we started cutting we drilled a hole in what would be the empty space of both brackets. This will allow us to insert the blade when cutting.
Once the inside was cut out, we moved onto the outside of the symbol. Aside from cutting out all of the curved lines, making sure the top and back of each bracket is straight is key. If your lines are a little off, you can always clean them up with a sander.
Just to add a little pizzazz to the Batman shelf, we decided to add some furniture tacks that we intended to look like rivets or bolt heads. While they don't look the way we wanted, we still like them.
All you need to do if you choose to do this, is mark a center line down the board and then measure out your desired spacing and whack them in with a rubber mallet.
Painting is next. Of course, sanding came before this, but no one wants to see us sanding.
We chose silver for the top of the shelf and black for the brackets and back brace. The wood grain does show through somewhat with the silver, but we liked the way it looked, so we kept it as is.
The first thing we got to was attaching the backing brace. We evenly measured from each end to get the placement correct. Then we sanded the paint off of the surfaces where the wood glue would be applied.
Then it was just a matter of clamping and waiting. Also, this is a good time to make sure everything is square.
We also sanded away some paint where the brackets would meet the shelf. The were also glued on, but we also used brad nails to fix them to the shelf since clamping would have been difficult.
There are two final steps, one of which we didn't record or photograph. The one you don't see is the attaching of the hangers. We made our own that mimic store bought shelf hangers - a keyhole design. Rather than show you how we made them, we will just suggest that any shelf hangers will work and leave it at that.
So that's it. It's a "super" simple project and a bunch of fun to make. If you have any little Batman fans running around your house, they're sure to love it.
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4 of 8 comments
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Really cute idea. Thanks for sharing.
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That is awesome and so dang cute! Great job!
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Thank you very much
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