Benedetti Shelves

The shelves we recently did for Joan Benedetti turned out great, though the amount of time required to complete the project, to my standards, was considerably more than estimated. It seemed every step we took created a challenge.

The stairway before we started

A wonderful shop in Mount Vernon called Westside Metal Fabricators folded the steel plate. Mark already had a die for a 2" radius which looks so much better than a tight fold. Their folds were square as were the end cuts and tolerances on the lengths was great.

Tabs welded on the end by Irish Welding

We welded little tabs onto the shelves. Once the unit was fitted and in place, we would drill and tap a hole for a little button head screw to make the attachment secure. To keep the negative space of the shelves clean, I opted for no unsightly attachment to the wall. Everything bolted to the bottom plate and to the piece above it.

2" folded corners for the shelf structure

All in all, there was 90' of steel, 1/4" thick and 12 inches deep that needed to be be cleaned and finished.  And it needed an edge to give it that crisp modern finish.

I provided several samples for Joan to choose from and for costing and aesthetic reasons, she selected a pencil edge to match that of the glass. Almost a half round, with a distinct inflection line between the top surface and the radius of the polished edge.

Travis scrubbing and scrubbing to get the wonderful satin sheen I desire from my steel products.

The metal had a red protective coating of some sort. It was easily dissolved but would not be wiped off the metal. It had this strange bond with it and just wouldn't come off. We tried everything but ultimately a light cleaner and lots of clean rags was the answer.

Test Magnets to hold the shelves.

The process of installing the metal was quite a chore. No matter how many times we wiped the steel and washed our hands, we were always leaving prints on the white walls. A few pieces needed scribing to better match the stairs and the wall, neither of which was straight. So we would mark the heavy steel pieces in place, then haul them back outside to grind and clean again before bringing them back inside.

Each lower piece mounted to the piece above with tapped holes in the plate.

1/4" obscure glass shelves with pencil edge detail

We were working our way through it, but before we would finish, we would break several taps off in our finished steel,  re-paint twice, work two extra days outside in the snow, and have to find a solution for working with 40 little 1/2" x 1/2 inch rare earth magnets that are neat one at a time, but a real hassle when you've got a pile of them. So strong (22lbs each) and so small, you couldn't pull them off the steel plate or break two of them apart. And if you moved one within 2" of another, BAM, they were stuck!