Knife Rack

[Paul Redfern]

First post. Anyone make a rack like one of these? Just made a kitchen worktable with a couple of drawers and thought about making a knife rack. Any ideas??

Thanks
Paul

Should have put in design forum i guess

[Jim Rimmer]

Never made a knife reack. Did you make both of these? Nice work. The curves are great and probably difficult i would think.

[Craig T. Smith]

Paul, I agree the curves work well and look tricky. Also welcome to the creek. You'll find alot of good people and info here. Craig

[Roger Warford]

I believe Paul was asking for suggestions on how to go about making similar knife racks.

Paul, welcome! I'm sure you'll get plenty of great feedback. Hopefully a moderate will move this to the design forum for you.

I'm just a beginner, but I like the second one in particular and it looks like it would be straight-forward to build. You might be able to bandsaw the profile out of a single large block (or a stack of pieces held together with tape), then slice off the indvidual pieces, bore holes and then assemble with brass rod and epxoy. You might be able to cut the kerf for the blades using a bandsaw, or a trim saw blade like this one.

Good luck!

[Paul Redfern]

You are correct Roger . There was a project in Wood last fall, but it was only one tiered for the larger knives. It is a starting point though. They template routed seperate pieces and joined with dowels, a lot like the "wavey" one in the pic. The other one does appear to be made from one big block with kerfs in it, routed slots for the small handles, and a big cove cut.
Like alot of projects, it would be cheaper to go buy one. But what fun is that?? I also thought maybe a member here might have one in a drawer and might be able to make some quick measurements for me.

Thanks
Paul

[Bob Childress]

We like to keep ours out on the counter, so I made this one. Must try a drawer one though.

[Johnny Upton]

Bob - What did you use to cut the slots for the knives?

[Dennis Lopeman]

I bet these aren't as difficult so you might think... just think about it... of course, i HAVEn'T done it, so maybe I could just shutup!

but I might approach it like this: Work with a Block of wood and a band Saw!

cut the block to the fancy shape, but on edge.

then on your table saw or band saw, slice it up like bread. Then fit small slices inbetween and glue it up.

One of them pictured even has dowels going straight through it. Sure, why not, go for it. might even be easier to use spline, and it would be a brand new look!

I hope you could picture all that.

I suppose your bandsaw would have to have a big opening for larger blocks.

Oh - and you could also put a "stop" on the blade end of it, so it doesn't poke/slide out the back... if you were to make it a "universal" holder.

[Philip Berman]

I would begin with a slab, slice it into strips, use a template to shape the top edges, then laminate it all back together with spacers in between for the knife blades. I would think 1/8" to 3/16" would be sufficient. Also maybe line each spacer with some cork before gluing it all back together for a soft surface for the knife edges.