Wood Rack Concept

[David Nelson1]

Just so you know, I never did put that 1 to 2 degree angle on there. Doesn't need it. When I loaded it up, nothing budged. But, after a couple of months I did have to tighten each and every bolt because of wood shrinkage. Everything is built in a sandwich fashion. I ran all of the center boards through my planer to make sure they were all the same thickness for ease of construction. It was well worth it.

THaks for the heads up!

[Alan Schaffter]

Since this thread is still going, albeit slowly, I'll add my two cents:

Matt, since you have the headroom, I would take a totally different approach. Forget the fancy cantilevered shelf unit and go with a much, much simpler vertical stack like this:



As long as your lumber is not wet (20% or less MC) there is no danger of vertically stacked wood warping. In addition to being simpler, there are a number of other significant benefits to a vertical rack over a horizontal rack:

• No heavy, complicated brackets or shelves are required

• The floor (or simple timber sleepers if your floor gets damp) support almost all of the weight.

• Stacking the boards soldier style, with the edges towards the wall, allows you to easily inspect BOTH sides of ANY board which can be EXTREMELY difficult (and dangerous) to do with a horizontal rack, especially if you want a board that is at or near the bottom of a stack on one of the top shelves!!!

• Sorting, stacking and removing boards is likewise much easier with a vertical rack.

Here are more pictures of my rack with various loads of lumber. Note in the last photo that I added safety chains to the ends of the bars.

[David Nelson1]

Since this thread is still going, albeit slowly, I'll add my two cents:

Matt, since you have the headroom, I would take a totally different approach. Forget the fancy cantilevered shelf unit and go with a much, much simpler vertical stack like this:




As long as your lumber is not wet (20% or less MC) there is no danger of vertically stacked wood warping. In addition to being simpler, there are a number of other significant benefits to a vertical rack over a horizontal rack:

• 
  No heavy, complicated brackets or shelves are required

• The floor (or simple timber sleepers if your floor gets damp) support almost all of the weight.

• Stacking the boards soldier style, with the edges towards the wall, allows you to easily inspect BOTH sides of ANY board which can be EXTREMELY difficult (and dangerous) to do with a horizontal rack, especially if you want a board that is at or near the bottom of a stack on one of the top shelves!!!

• Sorting, stacking and removing boards is likewise much easier with a vertical rack.

Here are more pictures of my rack with various loads of lumber. Note in the last photo that I added safety chains to the ends of the bars.

Your system has merit, especially for wood that is ready to be used. It also would make good secondary storage. I've got way to much wood laying against the walls now to consider this primary storage.

[Prashun Patel]

Leo, I believe yr strength comes from where Matt's comes from: the rear uprights. The foot only helps out the bottom shelf.

Matt, I believe yr design is fine. However, I'd add angled supports under the brackets to more efficiently transfer the load to the rear uprights.

(off topic) Alan-
Forget about yr lumber storage. Tell me abt yr overhead blade guard...

[Dave MacArthur]

Alan-- I'm posting to hear about that overhead blade guard doofer on your table saw too! Start a thread or something, but we need to hear about that thing!

And to avoid a thread-heist, I vote for Alan's vertical storage method. I personally have a horizontal cantilevered setup, but I recognize it's problems in each point he makes. The board I want is always on the bottom...

[Alan Schaffter]

Alan-- I'm posting to hear about that overhead blade guard doofer on your table saw too! Start a thread or something, but we need to hear about that thing!

I'll add a link a bit later when I have time.

And to avoid a thread-heist, I vote for Alan's vertical storage method. I personally have a horizontal cantilevered setup, but I recognize it's problems in each point he makes. The board I want is always on the bottom...

Thanks.

FYI, I thought horizontal was the way to go at first- I built this but never loaded any more boards on it than the three in the pic! I tore it down the same day I put it up and went with a vertical stack, which has been great ever since.

[Alan Schaffter]

Alan-- I'm posting to hear about that overhead blade guard doofer on your table saw too! Start a thread or something, but we need to hear about that thing!

Here is a link to a better description of my soft-sided blade shroud.

[Dave MacArthur]

Thanks Alan, good read. I was going to post a pic of my wood storage, but upon looking at the heaped horizontal piles I've decided not to...

[Doug Swanson]

Hi Matt, Attached you will see my woodrack made of 1.25 tubing. Couple of things...the long upright pieces tended to warp on me as I was welding....So i welded a 1.25x3/8 flat to the sides to prevent that. I should have used a jig to space out the support arms...but my dad thought measuring each would be fine (he's the shop owner so I had to comply ). I did end up epoxying on some scrap hardword of various thickness to get it level. Bottom support bars are longer and have a foot to help support. My rack is loaded up with walnut,cherry and maple...no signs of support issues.http://picasaweb.google.com/dcs.swan...67076557465010