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I'm designing a picture frame ledge and trying to keep the design as minimalistic as possible. The concept is similar to the following Ikea ledge: Mosslanda.

I came up with the idea of using a keyhole router bit to create a rail to allow for easy hanging. This would require to drill some holes and use the screws to mount the ledge directly.

model

I'll be using a glued laminated birch board (18mm thick).

Is the structurally sound?

How can I calculate the maximal load of such a thing?

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    If you do the lamination well then yes the shelf itself could be structurally very strong (stronger than solid wood very easily). But max load isn't just about the material, it will depend on the number and type of screws you use, the wall material, how the screws interact with the wall (nylon plugs etc., into studs or not) so in short, nobody can answer that query because we don't have enough to go on. But regardless of this I don't think your proposed fixing method will be stable enough, I would look at how other floating shelves have been done and follow them, not try to reinvent the wheel.
    – Graphus
    Commented Jul 13, 2018 at 13:43
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    Is the slot for the ledger board going to go all the way across the shelf? They image you have seems to have it stop after an inch or two. Are you planning on having one on each end? How would you get the shelf onto them?
    – SaSSafraS1232
    Commented Jul 13, 2018 at 18:19

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The biggest issue I see with this design is that it would require a very precise distance from the wall to the step in the T-slot to keep the shelf tight against the wall. Walls are usually not very straight, though. So if you have more than one bracket (or if this is actually supposed to be a full-length ledger board) you'll have problems attaching it to the wall.

Instead I would just make a rectangular ledger board. Then make the cavity in your shelf have a gap between the ledger board and the internal shelf structure. That way you can push the shelf tight against the wall even if it isn't straight. (For even better results you can scribe the shelf into the wall to eliminate any gap.) Then just screw through the top of the shelf into the ledger board.

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  • I'm not so sure I understand your suggestion with the rectangular ledger board. Can you share a link to a picture or model of what you mean?
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 14, 2018 at 10:10
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    @Daniel - popularwoodworking.com/wp-content/uploads/…
    – SaSSafraS1232
    Commented Jul 16, 2018 at 17:53
  • Thanks. That explains it pretty nicely. An alternative is to join a perpendicular piece of wood which would be parallel to the wall and add keyhole mounts to it which allow to mount with two screws in the wall.
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 13:48

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