How to Make a Large Bracket From Plywood

Cutting the Pieces

• 1

  Measure along both edges from the corner of a sheet of 3/4-inch thick plywood and make a mark, equidistant down both edges. Make your mark as far from the corner as you want your bracket to stand out from the wall, within a 24-inch maximum to ensure the studs will support it.

• 2

  Use a drywall square to mark lines in from each mark to create a square. Cut the square out with a circular saw with a fine tooth blade. Cut four pieces from the plywood 3 inches wide and as long as the edges of your square, minus 2 inches.

• 3

  Mark a line down the 3-inch wide cleats you cut, centered and parallel to the long edge. Drill a 1/8-inch pilot hole on this line every 4 inches. Mark a diagonal line through the center of your square and cut it in half, using the circular saw, along the line. Sand your pieces with 150-grit sandpaper on a random orbit sander.

Assembly and Installation

• 4

  Apply glue along the two square edges of each triangle you created, leaving the diagonal edge unglued. Position one 3-inch wide cleat centered on one square edge of one triangle piece, starting 2 inches from the corner and running parallel to the triangle, so that it overhangs by 1 1/8 inch on each side of the triangle piece.

• 5

  Nail the 3-inch cleat along the center line you drew, with one 1 1/2-inch pin nail every 4 inches. Drive a 1 1/4-inch drywall screw through each pilot hole to reinforce the joint. Install the remaining 3-inch cleats on the square edges of the triangles to complete a pair of brackets.

• 6

  Drill pilot holes through the cleats along the sides of the triangle bracket for mounting to the wall and attaching whatever you are supporting on top of the brackets. Set the brackets against the wall, aligned with a stud. Use a level to level them top to bottom and drive one 3-inch drywall screw through each hole in the cleats into the wall stud.

• 7

  Set whatever you are mounting on top of the brackets and drive screws up through the top cleats, if appropriate, to attach it.