NEW HART Tools and a NEW Project! Make these beautiful, framed shelves in an afternoon! Maker Show

This week we used some NEW HART Tools to build this beautiful set of shelves that are built into overlapping frames. It’s a super easy project that can completely change a space!

So these shelves are going to be made up of some overlapping frames. So it will technically be one piece, with 3 small separate shelves. The hope is that the three overlapping frames, kind of frame out the stuff Jen will put on the shelves.

Anyways, I wanted to use mitered joints, so these things had to be straight. If your lumber has to be straight, and you don’t have a planer and jointer, you can buy these pre-milled pieces at Home Depot. These are 6’ 2x2s, making them 1.5” thick. 

I started by making sure my miter saw was exactly 45 degrees. To do that I used a square. Once I got it right, I made my cuts.

Most of them needed to have a 45 degree cut at both ends, while a few had square ends. 

I designed it to use the same size pieces as often as possible, leaving me with 7 matching pieces. To make them all the same size, I screwed a stop block onto our workbench. Again, don’t do this. This is a terribly destructive way of doing this. I really need to build a proper stop block system but you know. I’m busy. This still works.

With all the pieces cut I laid them out on the table to make sure it all came together, and it did. Then it was time to glue my joints. To do that, I used painters tape to hold each corner together, and glued them up, and then used our new HART brad nailer to hold the joint together while the glue dried. I can’t tell you how happy we were when HART sent us this nailer. We’ve been using a Milwaukee nailer which worked just as well, but now we’re on the same battery platform which is great. 

I glued up all the corners, and nailed them together until the 3 frames were finished. Next I grabbed some scrap pine and marked off the width for my shelves. Next, another new tool from HART. This is their new 7 ¼” brushless circular saw. It has more power than the 6 ½” we used all last year, and I love that for sure. It is a right side bladed saw, also called a sidewinder, which makes it a little harder to see your cut line if you’re right handed, but it didn’t bother me. 

I probably should have clamped this down, but I didn’t, so you know, don’t do like me kids. 

With the shelves cut to size, I simply slid them in place with some glue, and used the brad nailer to hold them in place. 

By the way, this was the first time I used the brad nailer, and I made a few mistakes which you can see on the bottom of the main frame. No one will see it, so I didn’t do anything about it, but in the future, make sure you practice with a new nailer before using on a finished project. 

After it all dried up, I applied a smoke grey wood stain that my wife picked out, which make the wood look old. I applied it with a clean rag, wiping off the excess after each application. I loved how this made it look like reclaimed wood. 

After that dried, it was time to hang it up. Now we have this huge bag of hardware, from a hanging system we bought for a project we had years ago, where we hung over 50 canvases. It’s really pretty clever. You take these metal brackets, and screw them onto the back. Then you put these little plastic mounts into the brackets. They have a tiny point on the back that will help us find our marks on the wall. Of course this will make the frame stand out from the wall, so the kit includes these rubber bumpers for the bottom of your frame.

Next we brought the frame and held it in place until it was level, and exactly where Jen wanted it. Once it was right, all you do is press onto the frame so those tiny points press into the wall, marking your mounting spots for you!

Then you remove the plastic mount, slide a nail into the 45 degree slot, put the tip of the nail into the mark, and hammer it in. Easy as pie. 

Finally, you hand it up on your mounts, and click it into place. And there it is! Jen took a turn filling the shelves with stuff, and that was that. It was really easy to build, and looks great in it’s new home. 

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