The 10 Best Cast Iron Shelf Brackets
Special Honors
Antique Store Finder While cast iron shelf brackets are a great place to start when it comes to achieving a rustic aesthetic, you're going to want to get the right boards to match. Although you may be able to purchase some synthetically distressed boards from a local hardware store, consider using this website to track down an actual antique dealer, estate sale, or flea market where you might find authentic, salvaged boards that have real character and history. Not only could you save some money while getting something truly vintage, you'll also be helping to reduce, recycle, and reuse materials that would otherwise end up in the dump someday. antiquestorefinder.com
Habitat for Humanity ReStores As it turns out, the same international charity that strives to end homelessness and put roofs over people's heads also runs a chain of independently owned reuse stores that accepts and sells donations of lightly used home goods and building materials. Whether you're getting rid of old shelving or looking for boards to place on your new brackets, consider stopping by this website and using its handy store finder to scout out a location near you. habitat.org
Editor's Notes
May 20, 2020:
Whether you rent, own, or are doing work in a space outside your own home, you should be very careful when installing shelf brackets. As a general rule, if you don’t know what’s behind a wall, you shouldn’t drill into it, as you might run into electrical wiring, gas pipes, plumbing, or other unexpected and dangerous obstacles. Consulting and/or hiring professionals for serious home renovation is always advisable.
Cast iron brackets are heavy, adding extra weight to shelves that may strain walls. As such, we suggest you use a stud finder to locate adequate support for your shelving, preferably one that can detect live wiring. If securely screwing your new brackets into solid wood isn’t an option, you can use screw anchors for increased support, but these may not work in all situations. No matter where or how you install your brackets, you’re going to need a good screwdriver, and having a ratcheting screwdriver or an electric screwdriver on hand will save you time and energy in the long run.
Finally, don’t forget that gravity is a real and serious force that completely shapes our world and has absolute power over us. Whatever you place on a shelf can potentially fall, injuring individuals and/or harming property. Not only that, placing too much weight on any shelf can actually cause such falls, so please practice caution, use more-than-common sense, and follow any and all instructions and guidelines when it comes to where you install shelves, how you set them up, and what you place upon them.
A few options that are not verifiably cast iron have been included since they bear a remarkable resemblance and their potentially different chemical composition should not interfere with the hanging of shelves. Good examples of this are the Claimed Corner Floating Farmhouse, Bravo! Floating Lip, and AddGrace Industrial Support. As long as you aren’t installing your brackets in a room that’s going to get over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, or you're not a metallurgist who’s planning on melting these down for raw material, the difference is merely superficial. Elsewhere, we ask you to watch out for your fingers when handling options made from pipe such as the Oyydecor Wall Mounted and Pipe Decor Authentic, as their threading and raw edges might slice fingers. When completing any DIY project at home, it’s always good to have a first aid kit on hand to deal with minor injuries.