I finally found brackets that I like. 
The benchwork mounts to the wall much as a shelf would. The shelf brackets commonly found at big box and hardware stores would work but I don’t care for the support strut. It would protrude too much into the lower deck “sky” space. L brackets without the strut would have too much give to them considering any movement is too much.
I had an image in my head of a particular
bracket style that I knew I had seen somewhere but for the life of me I couldn’t find it in stores or the Internet. Earlier this week, I am browsing on a totally unrelated subject when there in the search results is a picture of the exact bracket I have been seeking. It seems the key search term is “cantilever bracket”. Now I know. C’mon Google, find me cantilever brackets.
As it turns out there seems to be a single manufacturer of this style bracket – A&M Hardware. Everywhere I look I see the same images and same part numbers. So be it, A&M Hardware brackets it is. Woodworkers Hardware has the brackets: http://www.wwhardware.com/a-m-hardware-work-station-brackets-gray-am-gray-16253
Made from 1/8″ steel these brackets claim to support 1000 lbs. Not that I need that kind of loading but it is nice to know the benchwork should be rock solidly mounted. The pricing is about the same as the strut type brackets – $10 ea. With Christmas present shopping underway I think I will postpone ordering brackets until the new year. Let the credit card cool down a bit! 😉 Brackets won’t hold up benchwork building so no big rush. I am just relieved that I finally found what I have been looking for.
A&M Hardware 12″x18″ bracket template 1:1 scale on 24″ deep bench.
Alan,
You do realize, don’t you, that now that you’ve found the perfect bracket, by the time you go to buy them the company will be out of business and all their brackets will be history??
Love your layout plan and enjoy the blog, too!
–scott williamson–
–pickerington, oh–
Ha! You are probably right Scott. Oddly enough that does seem to happen quite often.
How far past the brackets end did you carry the benchwork joists?
I also see from the photos that on the lower deck you do have some of the larger A & M brackets (24×29 maybe)??
I have some lower deck joists going 3 feet and wonder how long the unsupported joist length should be (note I am ripping the 3/4″ plywood to the same widths as you did)
On average the benchwork extends 6-8″ beyond the end of the bracket. You are correct I am using some of the large brackets as well. In two different places the benchwork extends 20″ beyond the end of a large bracket. Note that my plywood is doubled (1-1/2″ effective thickness) for any crossmember that attaches to a bracket.
You could use this bracket both ways? The short side up for a narrow shelf and the long side up for a longer shelf. I’ve been thinking about building a shelf layout with modular benchwork.
Yes, the brackets are fully reversible.
Found this years ago when I was about to retire – glad your site is still up as these brackets appear to have the strength, and ‘invisibility’ for bi-level layouts. Thanks!