Where To Buy Wood Planks For Shelves
The Hardwood Lumber Company specializes in milling custom floating shelves from high quality hardwoods. We offer a high degree of customization, so you can create the perfect floating shelf for your home, office, or other space!Our shelves come in standard sizes or can be crafted to your specifications by woodworkers at our manufacturing facility in Middlefield, Ohio.
where to buy wood planks for shelves
All of our hardwood floating shelves are available unfinished or prefinished with a commercial grade varnish designed specifically to give your shelves an unforgettable look. We can also apply a custom stain or provide our stain match service.
The very cheapest boards, furring strips, are usually very rough, with rounded edges and lots of imperfections. More expensive wood planks will have much straighter edges, less warping, and a smoother finish.
Most home improvement stores have a bin or shelf of cull lumber somewhere near the back of the store. Cull lumber is lumber that is too warped, split, or otherwise damaged to sell at full price. It can also include scrap wood that is left over after customers have wood cut in the store.
Shop the variety of options in our reclaimed wood collection below to find the perfect piece for your home. We offer many different styles and sizes, including chunky accents and deep floating shelves. If you don't see what you're looking for in our selection of wooden shelves for sale, complete our custom quote request form for a no-obligation quote!
If the cost of the materials is not a concern, woods like mahogany, African padauk, and koa are considered the best woods for bookshelves, thanks to their durability, strength, and longevity. Unfinished solid mahogany runs anywhere from $6 to $28 per board foot, while koa starts at $15 but can run as much as $140 per board foot. High-end specialty woods like these are typically available at millwork outlets or and lumberyards that cater to woodworkers, but not at your local hardware center.
If you're on the lookout for something more traditional, like a wall shelf for books, pick a simple model or a floating shelf. You can easily add some decorations to really nail that personal touch. Put some green flowers in nice pots for liveliness. Place lamps and candles for cozy lighting and a warm atmosphere. Put up some small ornaments or build still lifes with picture frames. Wall shelves truly provide superstar support for your favorite decorations, allowing you to position them where you want them.
TLDR: The best wood types for floating shelves are solid, sustainable hardwoods that will resist warping or bowing. For modern decor, Alder, Walnut, Cherry, and White Oak are popular options. For a more classic look, try Maple or Mahogany.
That being said, this design produces a very nice finished product. Pity I can't include a photo to show how perfectly this came out. Though I tweaked a few pieces and splurged on better wood than pine, it was totally worth the time and effort and greatly enhances my office space. So much better than the boxy wood shelves I had before.
Solid HardwoodAll of our shelves are hand crafted by our expert craftsmen right here in Middle Tennessee.We use only premium Appalachian Hardwoods including Black Walnut, Hard Maple, White Oak, and Mountain Cherry.Our shelves are constructed using our signature Butcher Block style in 2" thickness.Choose your Wood SpeciesBlack WalnutDeep chocolate brown coloration
Playful Grain Patterns
Moderate Color Variation
Ages extraordinarily well, scratches and dings take on a darker rich color that over time only adds to the beauty of the top.
White OakNeutral Light Brown Coloration
Heavy Open Grain Pattern
High Durability, the predominant species in the Hardwood Flooring industry
Hard MapleNeutral Blonde Coloration
Tight Closed Grain
Traditionally what Butcher Blocks have been made from throughout history
Mountain CherryStrawberry Blonde Coloration
Tight Closed Grain
Darker streaks in the grain
Heavy Duty BracketsAll of our shelves include our Heavy Duty Floating Shelf Brackets.
That means the solid wood shelves are drilled to accept the included bracket so they slide right on, and the back of the shelf is recessed to cover the bracket backplate. This makes your install a piece of cake!Conversion Varnish FinishAll of our shelves come with our Premium Conversion Varnish Finish.
All rustic wood shelves are about 2 inches thick and widths range from 4 inches to 12 inches. Lengths are available from 2 feet to 10 feet. Custom surface options and end options are also available from the online store. Contact us directly at any time to discuss the options and details of your shelving project. *Shelf brackets shown in picture not included.
You have come to the right place if you are looking for reclaimed wood shelves. All of our wooden shelf options are made using authentic reclaimed woods that have been salvaged from vintage barns and industrial buildings. All of our wooden shelf options can be purchased online and ship within 3 business days.
While we do our best to source and achieve the true dimension, all of our wooden shelves are reclaimed from old structures and can have up to a 1 inch variance in thickness and depth, this can be due to shrinkage over time or how the material was crafted years ago.
The texture on our reclaimed wood shelves ranges from original rustic to original planed smooth and can often be a mixture. The majority of the edges will have visible nail holes from the original use.
Yes. However, our kiln dried oak boards, which we use for oak shelves, are supplied from joinery grade oak. They are cut from closer to the base of the tree than character grade oak, and therefore where there are fewer branches. This ensures that there are also fewer knots in the wood than other oak grades.
All of our bookcases are handcrafted in our Glenville, PA shop from 100% real Nordic Pine from Finland. There is absolutely no particle board, MDF, veneer, or plywood anywhere on our products. Even the back panels are real tongue and groove wood planks!
Welcome to Week 6 of the One Room Challenge! Week 5 was canceled (you can read about that here)* but I'm excited to share the next (and a big!) step in the process- making the wall shelves! If you're new, check out weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 to catch up on our Office Nook progress! The biggest challenge we faced with our DIY shelves was finding wood (white oak in this case) wide enough. My ideal width was 10-12" wide. To solve that problem, we decided to join two narrow boards together to make one shelf with a 10 1/2 inch depth. I was concerned that the planked look would lean "farmhouse" but that's not an issue at all. They look clean and simple and we're really happy with them! So here's how we did it!*While I did not share my thoughts/feelings on George Floyd's death and the events that followed, here on the blog, I shared some thoughts on Instagram. I read one quote that we're not required to process our grief publicly and I'm thankful for that because I'm still trying to work through it. The thoughts I shared are in a highlight on my Instagram page along with a few in-feed posts, if you care to watch/read them.Back to the shelves:Supply ListJointMate Jig Tool (this was clutch!)ClampsDowelsWood GlueMiter SawTable SawDrillSander with 80 grit sandpaperPolycrylicNylon Paint Brush (a 3 inch and a 1 inch for the sides)The Specs:We found 4 pieces of 5/4 white oak (that means 1 1/4 inch) at 98 inches. We ordered "shop work" from the lumber yard- they planed them so that each side was straight. They were all around the same length so they did not need to trim them. It cost us an additional $40 for the shop work. The total was about $250 for the wood + shop work.How to Make Planked ShelvesNext, Joe measured each piece to make sure they were straight. A couple pieces needed trimming so he determined which piece would go with which (remember we were using 2 pieces to make each shelf) so he could trim off the precise amount to get the final width. To do this, he measured and marked a straight line lengthwise on the piece and then made a straight cut using a table saw.Once he did that and matched them up, the next step was to join them together. To do that he drilled holes along each edge using this JointMate dowel jig tool to line up the holes and dowels for a secure fit. The instructions that came with the tool were thorough to make sure the holes were aligned and at the right depth so everything lined up when he tested before gluing. If anything was out of line, there was plenty of room to make additional holes if needed.Once all the holes were drilled, he inserted the dowels and put the two pieces together just to make sure everything fit prior to gluing.Next, he removed the dowels, filled the holes with wood glue, re-inserted the dowels, put glue along the seam of the wood, and joined the two pieces together. (Some of this is recorded in my DIY shelves highlight over on Instagram if you're a visual learner!). Make sure to wipe the excess glue off immediately so it doesn't dry.He then used clamps to clamp together for 24 hours.After they were securely glued together he trimmed each edge using a miter saw to make sure they were the exact same length and then we sanded them using an orbital sander and 80 grit sandpaper. We probably could have gone with rougher sandpaper. but it got the job done.Next, I protected them with Polycrylic. I shared some tips on using Polycrylic in the DIY shelves highlight on Instagram. Using a quality nylon brush (this one is my favorite), I brushed a small amount onto the shelves. I used long strokes to avoid lots of brush strokes, tried to avoid over-brushing, and made sure to sand in between coats using very fine-grit sandpaper. Basically, I followed the instructions on the can. I will add that when I shared this process in my stories, more than a few people recommended using wipe on poly (for what it's worth).SO this is where we were supposed to mount them and give you the satisfaction of seeing the space THIS CLOSE to being finished! But if you watched my stories, you know that we went out of town a few days early on a whim (who are we?!) and so, missed our opportunity to mount the shelves. That will happen this weekend so stay tuned! (I can barely wait!).But you've at least earned a better photo of where we're at than you got last week! ;)chairs brass desk caddyYou guys, we're so close! Here's an updated list!Install PanelingPick a paint color and PaintChoose Wood for a Floating DeskInstall Floating DeskFigure out outlets/installChoose wood for shelves -potentially paint shelvesInstall shelves -choose shelf brackets- we chose these and love them!Choose ChairsAdd a runner - I got this one and I LOVE it and it's $40 less than I paid for it right now!Purchase Office AccessoriesStyle the shelvesAnd things I forgot to add in the first list (uh oh):Poly the shelvesPoly the deskJoin the shelvesPaint the supports the desk rests onMake sure to check out all the wonderful projects over on the One Room Challenge blog link-up page!*Affiliate links included in the post. 041b061a72