Monday, July 15, 2013

Clamp rack

In researching shop organization, I found plans for a rolling clamp rack with shelves that looked simple enough. My clamps were all taking up shelf space under the bench. Why not?!

It started with a trip to Menards and pile of lumber in the back of the minivan. I downgraded to red cedar 1x2s and 1x3s for the legs and shelf edges and pine plywood to keep the cost of materials reasonable. I cut the 7 degree bevels with a circular saw. The individual shelves and legs are joined with glue and a Harbor Freight brad nailer that performed admirably. The finish is four coats of shellac sprayed with an HVLP compressor gun and one coat of wipe-on poly.

Assembly was significantly more painful than anything from Ikea. For that reason (and all the other work), if you're considering this, I would first recommend checking out this rolling shoe rack from The Container Store. I discovered it in the catalog after completing the job. Who knows if it's sturdy enough for clamps, but it is on sale for about the price of my materials.