Smarter Lumber Rack
Our old wood storage rack was a typical design that stored wood in horizontal stacks, and it had the typical problems—mainly that the board we wanted always seemed to be at the bottom of the stack. When we remodeled our shop not too long ago, it gave us the chance to design a new lumber rack.
First, we wanted to be able to hold short lengths, long boards, and sheet goods all in a single rack. To keep things neat, we wanted the rack to hold all the stock off the floor, with an easily cleaned space underneath. Last, and most important, the design had to make each piece of lumber easy to see and remove.
One unique feature of this rack is that the short pieces are stacked in cubbies so they can be viewed from the end. This makes it easy to find the piece you want and, because the small cubbies limit the amount of wood, even the bottom pieces are easy to remove. Longer pieces are stacked vertically in several bins. This makes it easy to find and remove the wood without having to unstack and then restack it. A separate bay on the back side of the rack allows vertical storage of sheet goods up to 4×8 in size. The bottom of the rack is made from two thicknesses of 3⁄4-in. plywood for strength. Finally, the entire unit is built on sled feet and legs to keep the stored lumber off the shop floor so that it stays clean and dry, and to allow cleaning underneath.
Jim Richey
Jim Richey
Roger and Judy Sanwald, Raleigh, NC
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Comments
Has anyone made this? I would be interested to know what proportions were used as there are no measurements on the diagram. I am assuming the sheet stock area is 4 feet to accommodate a standard sheet.
Based on this line: "A separate bay on the back side of the rack allows vertical storage of sheet goods up to 4×8 in size." I expect the rack is 8 feet tall plus the height of the sled feet and the rear bay is 4 feet wide. The overall width would be determined by the space you have available. The original might have been 8 feet wide.
The rack is probably 4' wide but only looks about 6' tall based on the drawing. I'm reminded of the rolling lumber rack Steve Ramsay build on WWMM that allowed for full width sheets but not full length. His logic was that woodworkers don't typically squirrel away full sheets of plywood to store for long periods of time. Usually, you get the ply you need for a specific project, use it, and are left with a few scraps which you can then store in a less massive rack.
I've seen this lumber rack in person at a workshop crawl. It's brilliant! Are there build plans for this?
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