Plywood Storage

[Stewart Crick]

I'm thinking of building a PW storage rack, but I have more vertical room, then horizontal room. Can anyone think of any reason it would be bad to store plywood on it’s end? By end I mean the 4’ edge on the floor, and the 8’ edge running up the wall.

Stu

[Jim Becker]

No difference as long as it's properly supported. Same goes for vertical storage of lumber...you need to insure that it can't bend while in the rack.

[Chris DeHut]

I'm thinking of building a PW storage rack, but I have more vertical room, then horizontal room. Can anyone think of any reason it would be bad to store plywood on it’s end? By end I mean the 4’ edge on the floor, and the 8’ edge running up the wall.

Stu

Store the material vertically and not leaning without full support along the bottom surfrace. I don't know why so many lumber mills (and hardwood stores) insist on storing their lumber vertically and leaning backwards. All too often, the boards will warp in the fashion - not nice at the prices of hardwoods these days.

Chris

[Frank Pellow]

I agree with Chris. I have several sheets of fir plywood at my cabin that I have stored in a vertical position for more than 20 years and it is still as good as new.

[Chris Padilla]

Gonna use those sheets of plywood some day, Frank?

[Frank Pellow]

Gonna use those sheets of plywood some day, Frank?

I do use some from time to time. There were about 15 sheets 20 years ago and I have used about half of them.

I only get to my cabin about 6 weeks a year. It is about 1000 kilometres (600 miles) north of Toronto so every visit is a major expedition. We have an island and it is about a 1 hour combined boat/car ride to the nearest town (Hearst). When I am at the island, I want to stay there and minimize the trips to town. So, I built a shed/workshop building and mostly filled with all kinds of material and hardware needed for maintenance and small projects.

[Stewart Crick]

No difference as long as it's properly supported. Same goes for vertical storage of lumber...you need to insure that it can't bend while in the rack.

Thanks Jim. Guess I know what my weekend project is going to be. And thanks for the hijacking Enjoyed the trip, the island sounds like a peacful retreat!!!!

Stu

[Bob Johnson]

I've used angle iron salvaged from old bed rails. This keeps everything nice and flat. The biggest problem is that whatever I want is always at the back of the stack.

[Keith Starosta]

Bob, that is a great idea!! Even greater in that I have a set of old bed rails standing in one corner of the shop waiting to get tossed out.

A new life they have now found!

Keith

[Byron Trantham]

The biggest problem is that whatever I want is always at the back of the stack.

All too true!

[Mike Johnson - Chicago]

My approach is a bit more involved, but it solves a few other problems at the same time...sheet you want is always in the stack, space killing by storing sheets/maximization of storage, and the struggle to move a 4'x8' sheet to the table saw. That all said, before I show you the pictures, I can't claim the idea as original...I adapted it from an old FWW article that showed an "efficient" shop.

The first picture shows the location next to the saw. The things worth mentioning are:
-it's deck is the same height as the table saw,
-the 2 uprights slide in grooves that have indexed postions that allow me to flip the sheets onto them like flipping through index cards. They easily hold the weight of a 6+ 3/4" sheets without any concern. The angle of them is made to keep the load from being able to tip the whole thing.
-when you choose a sheet, you pull it towards where the picture was taken from and then lay it down on the table saw...and run it through! I know it looks like the clamp rack is in the way, but the sheets have always cleared it. Eventually, I plan to replace the calmp rack with a cross cutting station on the wall, so that I can pull a sheet out and cross cut it without ever actually lifting it.
-the one negative I should mention, is that the deck is too convenient of a place to set s*ht down...so if I'm not careful it gets cluttered. The only real problem with that is when I actually bring in more sheet goods and have to move the stuff to make room. Otherwise, I guess it's a positive...more "counter space"!

The second picture shows the 2 - 2'high x 2'wide x 4'long assembly tables, located under the deck. They can be rolled out and put back to back to create a 4'x'4 work surface. As well as, both units contain 4 drawers. I store most of my "assembly type" tools there and my table saw accesories.

The last picture is just to give a better look at the uprights. But it does also show one of the assy tables in use.

Regards,
M.J.