Designing the Bracket Before You Strike a Blow

A shelf bracket is a small piece of engineering dressed up as decoration, and the best ones are drawn before they are forged. Start with two numbers: the projection, meaning how far the shelf sits out from the wall, and the load it has to carry. For a run of paperbacks or a row of preserving jars, a 200mm projection and a bracket spaced every 600mm will feel generous and safe. For lighter things — a few tins, a small row of pots — 150mm is plenty.

On paper, work out three elements: a wall plate that sits flat against the masonry, a horizontal arm that carries the shelf, and a diagonal brace running from the lower part of the wall plate up to the underside of the arm. That brace is what stops the whole thing sagging, and it is also where the decorative work wants to live. A scroll or two tucked into the triangle between the brace and the arm gives the eye something to follow without weakening anything.

Keep the proportions honest. A bracket that is heavy at the wall and spindly at the tip looks wrong, and so does one cluttered with five scrolls where two would do.

• Wall plate: 170mm of 25mm x 6mm mild steel flat bar
• Arm: 250mm of the same flat bar, letting you dress the end
• Brace: 150mm of 16mm x 6mm flat
• Scrollwork: 6mm flat or 8mm round bar, depending on the design
• Rivets: 6mm round-head mild steel, four in total

Cutting and Preparing the Steel

Cut everything a little long and square the ends on the anvil or with a file. Mark the scroll lengths with a fine scriber or a dab of chalk so you are not measuring mid-forge with hot metal in your tongs. Drill the fixing holes in the wall plate now, while it is still a flat, sensible rectangle: two countersunk holes at 5.5mm for No. 10 screws is about right for a shelf of this size, and countersinking means the screw heads sit flush so the plate pulls tight against the wall.

If your wall plate is going to have decorative ends, forge those before you bend anything. It is far easier to shape a straight bar than to straighten a bent one.

Forging the Scrolls and the Brace

Bring the steel to a bright orange, roughly 1,100°C — hot enough to move easily under the hammer, not so hot that it throws white sparks and starts to burn. Work the scroll from the inside out. Start a tight eye over the bick of the anvil or in a scrolling fork held in the hardy hole, then open the curve progressively, easing the metal round with a scrolling wrench rather than fighting it with the hammer. A scroll that tapers slightly as it opens looks far more alive than one of constant width, so draw the end down a little before you begin.

For the brace, forge a gentle taper at each end and bend it to fit the angle between the wall plate and the arm. Offer it up cold first, mark the bend, then heat and form it in one go. Test the fit against the arm with a square, because a brace that is two degrees out will pull the bracket crooked when you rivet it up.

Riveting the Assembly Together

Rivets are the traditional answer here, and they suit the material perfectly. Clamp the wall plate, arm and brace together and drill matching 6.5mm holes through the joints. Knock the rivets in cold to check everything lines up, then take them out, heat each rivet to a good orange and set it with a ball-pein hammer or a rivet snap in the hardy hole, working quickly with the assembly supported on the anvil. The head should end up a neat dome, roughly half as tall as it is wide. Two rivets at the wall plate joint and two at the arm give a bracket that will outlast the shelf it carries.

A Clean Wax Finish

Wire-brush the whole bracket while it is still warm to lift scale and even out the colour. Then heat it gently — a heat gun or a low oven at around 200°C works well — until a drop of water sizzles and dances on the surface. Rub on a beeswax and linseed oil mix with a rag or a stiff brush, working it into the corners and around the rivet heads. The wax will smoke a little and turn the steel a deep, warm charcoal-brown. Buff off the excess once it has cooled, and leave it somewhere dry for a few hours. Reapply a thin coat once a year and the finish will only improve.

Fitting the Bracket to the Wall

Hold the bracket in place, check it for level with a spirit level across the arm, and mark through the countersunk holes. Drill and plug for masonry, or find the studs if you are fixing to timber. Screw the wall plate tight, then lay the shelf across two or more brackets and check the run before committing to a final fixing. A bracket that has been forged, riveted and waxed by hand deserves a shelf to match — oak, elm or a decent piece of reclaimed pine, finished with the same care.