Best material for hanging/suspending shelves outside?

August 22, 2021 8:19 PM

I'm building some hanging shelves outside which will support a lot of weight for a long time. What can I use as a suspension cable/rope/connector that won't degrade (rot, rust, or sun damage)?

I'm currently using paracord, but it's clearly not going to work long term -- it will degrade from the sun. I've been looking at vinyl-covered metal rope (cabling) with ferrule-looped ends, but apparently the vinyl covering has to be removed at the ferrule/joined parts, which means the ends will probably rust - right?

My dude suggested looking at marine rigging, but I'm not getting to the "good stuff" easily.

Any suggestions?

Basically, the shelves are individual cedar boards, which will be suspended from an overhead hook by the cabling.

posted by amtho to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Galvanized steel cable (commonly called aircraft cable) would likely be good enough, if you don't want to spend an arm and a leg. The kind without vinyl coating would best, as the vinyl will degrade in the sun and eventually flake off. Otherwise, you can get stainless steel cable, but that's going to be significantly more expensive. Either, plus fittings, should be obtainable from a well-stocked hardware store.
posted by ssg at 8:23 PM on August 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Marine rigging is probably overkill and while it will be even more rustproof than the stainless cable at the hardware store, it will cost a lot.
posted by ssg at 8:24 PM on August 22, 2021

If a bracket isn’t going to do the job, and it needs to be flexible, then lengths of chain. If you’re worried about corrosion, spray it with silicone or fish oil spray.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:01 PM on August 22, 2021

We used used bike cable with cedar planks for shelving and it worked fine. You can get end caps so the cable doesn't fray.
posted by aniola at 10:20 PM on August 22, 2021

This was for kitchen shelving, including crammed cookbook shelves.
posted by aniola at 10:22 PM on August 22, 2021

Stainless steel wire rope is relatively expensive, but the amount you're going to need to hold up a few shelves won't break the bank and it will last longer than the cedar boards will.

I have about fifty metres of 4mm stainless steel wire rope strung up under the beams of the pergola over our back deck, which we use for hanging out the washing. It's been there for ten years, you wouldn't know it wasn't new, and it's paid for itself many times over in avoided electricity for a dryer.
posted by flabdablet at 11:02 PM on August 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Oh, and to prevent catching and fraying I've made aglets from electronics-grade 5mm heat-shrink tube over the exposed ends. Yes plastic, yes sun exposure, but it's holding up fine - just faded from red to a nice pink - and when it does eventually crack and flake off it's very easy to put another lot on.
posted by flabdablet at 11:09 PM on August 22, 2021

The SS wire used for yacht rigging is certainly very durable. The wire stays on my sailboat have been exposed to the marine environment for over 30 years and are still fine. (Whether all the end fittings are OK is a different question.) Its not an easy material to work with, and getting a bunch of short pieces exactly the same length could be tricky.

SS chain is another possibility. There is a wide variety from anchor chain to jewelry chain. Hardware stores sell a variety. It has the advantage of different pieces being the same length if they have the same number of links, but you have to design the shelves with a particular length in mind.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:40 AM on August 23, 2021

Fladlablet made my point. You can also get stainless cable thimbles. I use cable sleeves rather than cable clamps for all the cable stuff I do. They're tidier and stronger, but if this is a one-off project, you might not want to bother with a swaging tool.
posted by adamrice at 6:44 AM on August 23, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks for the info! I think I'm going to do stainless 3/32" cable and buy a swaging tool. The big unknown, though, is cutting the cable -- apparently people have trouble with this? I called HD and the hardware guy there ID'd a Husky tool that he said would work, but, get this, it's NOT LISTED on the Home Depot site/catalog (I searched for the SKU he give me, and just "nippers" which was in the title - going in person soon), so I can't see reviews.

Any recommendations for cutting stainless 3/32" or 1/8" cables?
posted by amtho at 12:12 PM on August 23, 2021

Depending how many pieces you need, a good hardware store should be able to cut the wire into lengths for you. If you need to buy something, a pair of cable cutters is what you want (they look kind of like pliers, but they have curved blades). Just make sure you get a pair that is rated for the wire size you choose.
posted by ssg at 1:52 PM on August 23, 2021

Get a set of bypass cutters for this, where the blades don't meet each other but…bypass each other. As with scissors. Something like this. You'll get a much cleaner and easier cut.
posted by adamrice at 2:00 PM on August 23, 2021

Fixing the wire to a sacrificial bit of wood with two tight and closely spaced clamps and then hitting it between the clamps with an angle grinder cutting wheel works well too.

Personally I happened to have a set of fencing pliers, so I just used the cutter built into those.
posted by flabdablet at 6:14 AM on August 25, 2021

Your local tool library, if you have one, should have something you can borrow to cut it with.
posted by aniola at 11:13 AM on August 25, 2021