Blake learned the basics of MIG welding in an earlier video, and now he's using what he learned to build a pair of shelves for around the fireplace in our basement.

The dimensions of our design are 60" tall x 20" wide x 12 3/4" deep.

We used a metal chop saw to cut 3/4" steel tubing, and we cut pallet boards into 20" lengths to use as the actual shelves. We cut the shelf support tubes at 12" (giving us a total unit depth of 12 3/4") because the pallet wood that we used was 4" wide. Having a 12" shelf allowed us to perfectly place 3 boards per shelf. We pre-drilled holes in the pallet boards so they would not split, and then we used a self-tapping screw to pre-drill the holes in the metal. From there we used 1 1/4" black coated screws to secure the wood to the metal. Once the units were all together, we secured them to the fireplace surround with masonry screws.

You can use these ideas/techniques to build any size shelf that you'd like. Or, take it a step further and build a cabinet!

Have fun building!