Absolutely not. Some of our customers don't use wood at all.
Some different shelf materials used in Hovr Bracket System projects include: concrete, marble, granite, Plexiglass (filled with rocks, noodles or collectibles), and more.
To learn more about some different ways to build your shelf, check out this short video on some alternate shelf styles below:
Caucus:
Often customers prefer to use this method, since they want to use different laminates on the shelf. You can build a caucus out of 1 ½” wood which is the same thickness as the female bracket (the skeleton can be built from 2x6 studs that are cut down to 1 ½” by 1 ½”), leave enough space to accommodate the female bracket, clad it with 1/8” thick plywood on top, then the bottom plywood should be at least 3/16”, better yet ¼”, or ideally ½” thick. Then you can laminate that, or do whatever else you'd like to it in order to achieve the look you are after.
How to put the plywood on the skeleton:
1) The front of the top should pass the shelf by 1/8” if you use 1/8” plywood.
2) The sides butt on to that overhang.
3) The sides pass the carcass by 1/4” of an inch at the bottom, so the bottom plywood ¼” butts into the sides.
4) The front piece (face) is longer by ¼” (1/8” on each side)
Like that all the open sides of the plywood are hidden, since they stain and paint differently except the front and sides of the top piece of plywood and the sides of the face plywood piece.
The caucus can then be covered in plywood, steel sheets, copper, leather, felt and so on. Some customers have left the inside of the caucus empty and used it as a flowerpot. Here, the theory is always the same, but different tools and methods are used to achieve the groove or not. When it comes to shelf construction, the options are endless, and only your imagination is the limit.