Floating Serpentine Shelf

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8 entries

1 Introduction

This series of blog posts describes my Floating Serpentine Shelf project in detail. 2/6/2026 Note: I originally posted this blog on LumberJocks ba...

2 Torsion Box Design

In my final design, each individual shelf and vertical side is a narrow torsion box (1 3/4" thick) with a skeleton made of 3/4" thick plywood spine...

3 Building the Torsion Box Skeletons

(I actually cut and beveled the edges of the thin plywood skins first, then sized the skeleton parts to match, but I'll describe the work in revers...

4 Cutting the Torsion Box Skins

My original design for the individual shelves would have been significantly easier to build than the ones I ended up building. I had planned to bui...

5 Completing the Torsion Boxes

I had the assembled shelf/side torsion box skeletons and beveled skins. All that was left was gluing the skins to the skeletons, hopefully without ...

6 Overall Structure (Odds and Ends)

The overall shelf's structure comprises several elements: • A back panel that is a one-sided torsion box. • Individual shelves that are torsion box...

7 Applying the Finish

Unlike most projects, finishing was by far the easiest part of this one. I sanded everything to 280 grit and, in preparation, used every portable ...

8 Final Assembly and Installation

Initially, I thought I could assemble the entire shelf in the garage, and that my wife and I could move it into the study. As my wife is happy to t...