Hello,
I have a workshop(20 x 30) and I need a lumber storage rack or shelf to store sections up to 12ft long weighing quite a lot.I would like to make the racks from wood and am not that bothered if it involves some tricky joints but I would prefer it if they didn’t.I have seen some racks that you can purchase but they are about $45 a pair.I would need about six for the shorter lengths, also they do not look as though they will hold a lot at all.
Any suggestions gratefully recieved,
Sawdust
Replies
Not sure how much weight "quite a lot" is Sawdust, however I would recommend the old 4x4 and black pipe version.
any length shelf, within reason... very easy to get your hands on and very strong.
Only recommendation would be to make sure you clean the pipe very, very well with a solvent and then wax them before use.
I don't know of any all wood lumber racks that are space sensitive.
G'luck
michael
I hang my 'sticks' off the rafters.. Some just wood 2x4 and some the metal 'studs'.. Like the wood better.. Some pretty heavy stuff up there.. Hope it don't fall on me.. LOL... NA! Been there along time..
Jim Tolpin had a nice suggestion for lumber storage in his book "Working at Woodworking". The racks are basic, inexpensive and durable. I suppose they could be made as attractive as you like - you'll understand when you see them - but using any old plywood for the curved supports has served me well for the last 8 years. You can successfully scale up the size of the curves to hold wider lumber, more lumber, etc.
It's just a thought...
Hi,
Somewhere beneath all the crap in this photo is a lumber rack. I made it a couple of years ago, to no specific plan, though I accomodated a couple of features I had seen on others.The hardest part is that I underestimated the wheel size TWICE. I finally settled on some 4" wheels from Woodcraft. If I had it to do again I would get 5" metal wheels so they would roll more easily. With six rotating wheels it can be hard to navigate through the shop (p=mv). It is reinforced with some triangular gussets under the shelves and a piece of plywood to the rear of the shelves.At 8 feet long, 2 feet deep (1' for shelves and 1' for sheets) and 50" high (above the wheels), it has shelves on the front and a sheet compartment in the back. It holds 8 or 10 sheets of stuff (like, wood) and has three shelves for sticks and cutoffs. One thing I really like is I can use it to hold a sheet while cutting off the piece I need -- slide a sheet out from the rear, prop up the section, clamp on a straightedge, and cut it using a circular saw.It was fairly inexpensive until I started buying all the wheels. And to date it has not dumped any wood on the floor.Lawrie
I built and used a very simular (identical really) rack for my garage based shop. It was very effecient but a real bugger to move when it got loaded with plywood. Sometimes there wasn't enough space in my shop to swing the rack out to get to the plywood.
Mike
I'm considering something along these lines to be able to roll the rack outside to accomodate more finishing / working room inside while doing large jobs (entertainment center, 20 kitchen cabinets, etc.) Having the mobility is attractive and I can roll it out onto a side patio that is adjacent to my 2 car shop.
michael
Although my lumber storage is currently the horizontal type (pipes in 2x4's mounted to the wall), I recently visited Peter Loh's shop in Bellevue (east of Seattle) and he has all his lumber stored vertically. All of us who were visiting wanted to know "does that cause problems with warping/bowing?" His answer was "No." He pointed to several individual boards and told us how long they had been in his shop.
I'm reconsidering the horizontal vs. vertical issue. And am think vertical might be just fine for completely dry wood. Sure would be a space saver and make it easier to pick out stock. Save the horizontal racks for stuff that's in the last stages of drying, or longer-term storage (like those two big pieces of walnut).forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hello,
Thank you very much for all of your advice, it has helped me a lot, I really like the idea of making a rack to hold the wood vertically and having another rack to hold it horizontally or maybe I could make a rack that holds it both ways.I will post some pictures of my finished rack.
Again, Thank you all very much.
Sawdust.
Vertacle storage is great if your stock is all 8' long. I assume you ceiling is 8'. The problem is that most rough lumber comes in 12' or longer leingths. And after a while the 3', 4', and 5' long pieces out number the long pieces and it is hard to effeciently store those vertically. I do think the verticle storage of thicker stock (4/4 or more) is less likely to cause warpage. Horizontal lumber racks inevitably cause warpage unless every thing is stacked perfectly.
Mike
I'm fortunate to have one area of the shop where there is no ceiling, so the wall goes all the way up to the roof. (Unfortunate with regard to heating, but firewood is cheap).
"Horizontal lumber racks inevitably cause warpage unless every thing is stacked perfectly. " I'm not sure this is an accurate statement. Certainly can't argue based on experience, as my lumber rack is only 3 years old, but much of the lumber has been up there for the full 3 years, and I'm not seeing any problems. No great effort was invested other than making sure each piece is supported by the piece(s) underneath it. It was all kiln dried except for the two 10' long walnut flitches, which are at least 15 years old and air dried.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
How thick is the stock? I've never had a problem with stock over 5/4, but 4/4 seems to contour itself to what is underneath it. I may well be pileing too much on each rack. I'd say most "shelfs" or levels have a pile about 10 or 12 boards deep. Since I first noticed the problem I have tried to organize everything so that every thing lays flat. The problem wasn't huge, but it would certiantly limit the leingths of straight stock I can get out of the lumber. I will continue to use horizontal storage because it frees up floor space, and economy of space is my priority.
Mike
"10 or 12 boards deep." Nope, my stacks are half that high. How dry is your lumber when you stack it? What's the humidity in your shop most of the time?
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hey F.G.
All kiln dried. Used to be in my uninsulated garage (I live in Texas). The humidity changes pretty wildly, but probably nothing like your area. BTW I plan on hiking about 80 miles of the PCT next year. I gather from your profile that you are an old school tree hugger (I mean that in a good way). Have you done the PCT?
Mike
Hi Mike, yep count me in as a treehugger. I did all my hiking in my 20's though, not much of that in my future unless I can transform my knees and flat feet to something more functional and less painful than they are now. You should have a great time! What fun. Here's my favorite tree in the Olympic Penn. rain forest -- we went there last year.
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forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 11/30/2005 12:20 pm by forestgirl
forestgirl,
I have no idea if this is still the case
But---my father had the opportunity to observe some lumber yards in Japan ( probably during the Korean war)---he told me that ALL the lumber there was stored vertically----and actually effort was made to maintain the stock in the same order it came out of the tree
dad came from a LOOOONG line of carpenters--- HIS father---and 5 of his fathers brothers were carpenters-----and his grandfather was a carpenter and owned a lumberyard in PA.------- so all of this was of interst to the family.
nothing wrong with vertical storage---if you have the space.
Stephen
For what it's worth - George Nakashima used to store his large wane-edged planks vertically. It was easier for him to show customers so they could choose the top for a table.
woodlark,
i am glad you mentioned Nakashima.
I have 2 books on Nakashima---one by George and one by his daughter Mira
so I had seen that storage system in his operation. ( he would have been just a bit older than my Dad)
Actually speaking if Nakashima---- I had been interested in his Conoid chairs for some time--- I like them abstractly---like a sculpture?---but I always kind of suspected that they couldn't be that comfortable.
Well--this summer I was in Boston-----also took a Day trip up to Salem-----at any rate in one of the museums they had a couple of conoid chairs
I really wanted to try 'em out---but I figured they were display items--and a major no-no to actually sit on.
so, I struck up a conversation with a gaurd--and mentioned how I had long been curious about those chairs------- well --long story short the gaurd says--go ahead and sit on 'em--- I do all the time --it's perfectly OK.
turns out they are suprisingly comfortable and stable. Maybe not wallowing around eating chips, drinking beer and watching baseball on TV comfortable--------- but for dining table chairs--or desk chairs------- perfect.
Stephen
Stephen,
I apologize for being "off-thread". Any continuation of this should be elsewhere.
I have not sat on the conoid chairs with plank seats - but have sat on ones with big square upholstered cushions for the seat and back. They were good for "entertaining", but still not a hang-out chair.
About 27 years ago I had the opportunity to ask G. Nakashima about pursuing woodworking. He told me to go to Germany to study since there was no one competent in this country. In his words, "there are a lot of hacks."
- Woodlark
"He told me to go to Germany to study since there was no one competent in this country."
Woodlark,You must have put the fright in him and he just didn't want the competition! Sending you off to Germany was his way of keeping you off of his turf. :)
Right - I'm sure :)In all honesty, I have enormous respect for his work. To my mind he is one of the few who redirected modern wood furniture design. However, having seen his modern facilities, and seeing his shop make free use of screws, battens, and other standard modern techniques, I can't help but feel that his beliefs as expressed in "The Soul of a Tree" are founded more on marketing savvy than on personal philosophy.
Possibly a little of both. The pragmatist in me says that whatever techniques or technologies achieve the highest level of productivity therefore achieves the primary objective of any business, maximize profit. The optimist in me says that anyone who captures the attention of a buyer with something original and creative, regardless of how it was constructed, achieves something more meaningful.I am also of the belief that if the Shakers had biscuit joiners they would have made extensive use of them.
can you give me a source for the wheels, part #, manufactureer? thanks!
Hi,
I got the wheels for the lumber rack from Rockler; they are the 4" rubber-coated urethane wheels (qty: 6). If I had to do it again, I would look more at hard wheels for better rolling.
Lawrie
thanks so much...
I have a simpler version of the one described in yesterday's issue of FW Tools and Shop. I used 2x4 verticals and shelves like those in the article. I used no. 10 screws and 6 inch lag bolts. It cost almost nothing (scraps) and took a couple of hours to build. It supports a tremedous amount of wood with no difficulty. Recommend about 32 inch spacing of the supports so thinner moldings, etc. will not sag and warp.
Chuck
Lee Valley has real neat racks where you mount a set of bars on the wall and then you fasten the horizontal supports into them
the horizontal supports come in 3 different lengths and can be raised or lowered in about 2" increments
each support is good for 300lbs
i recently bought a bunch and screwed them at 16" centres to a 8 x 10 ft wall then loaded the wall with 800 + bd feet of lumber and had no problems
they arent cheap but they sure work slick
I built one something like Lawrie's, except the uprights are a series of "A" frame shapes, something like a 15° included angle, and spaced 18"apart. They are bored for 3/4" pipe on one side to support lumber. The other side is for plywood sheets. The space between the "A" frame is good for smaller pieces of plywood and other sheet material.
The wheels are indeed the most important (expensive) part. Get BIG ones!
A 2x4 box frame covered with 3/4 ply forms the base.
Good luck.
This my lumber rack. It has 2 oak 3x4's for the base with 4 inch(I think) heavy duty casters and tied together with 2x's.
The uprights are 4x4's with dado's on the bottom to accept the Oak 3x4's then the 4x4's are lagged into the Oak base.
On one side of the rack I dadoed each side of the post to allow for supports to stack lumber on. The opposite side of the rack has no support protruding from the uprights which allows for sheet goods or just simply stacking lumber. It is easily moved around the shop even when fully loaded.
Garry
http://www.superwoodworks.com/Projects/ToolHolders.htm
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http://www.superwoodworks.com
My lumber storage is not very elegant but quite efficient. I made up several tic-tac-toe like assemblies using 2 X 4 maple. Two uprights and three crosspieces connected with a carriage bolt at the junction. These were anchored floor and ceiling, and spaced on 32 in. centers and can accomodate 12 ft. lumber. it has been in use for about 10 plus years and I have not found any board warpage. Art
"Dusty",
Here is a picture of the additional storage area I'm adding to my workshop. It's about 12' by 33' and made with about 50% of 'recycled steel' I've been collecting the past 4 years. It's taken me since April to get it enclosed and dried-in.....
The red arms are detachable with the pulling of a 1" steel pin should the space be needed for other things or (Heaven Forbid) a future new owner. The shelving is 20' long and between 28"-32" deep on the left side, and on the right side, it's 24" deep for storing molding and lathe chunks.
The shelving arms will have a flat lumber surface for my hardwood inventory. Since those boards can be clamped flat and defective bows and twist can be pulled out by bolting them to the support arms, I can use what the 'box stores' call "Cull" lumber and sell for pennies on the dollar.
Also, having a 12' by 20' loft for more storage, helps make the square footage more efficient....leaving about 9' of floor space and about 12' of height for vertical storage of hardwood stock there at the back.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
BilljustBill
Edited 12/5/2005 11:44 am ET by BilljustBill
Hi bill,
I like your idea of having a room dedicated to timber storage and drying and I think that I may do this on the side of my workshop. I wonder if this idea would work with wood,ummm?
thanks again bill,
Sawdust.
Hi Sawdust,
I would say that you can easily do what I did by using wood instead of the "recycled" steel I did....
The key "General" thing I've always heard with completed stick framing is NOT to use your structure's outside walls as a major part of carrying the dead weight of your wood inventory.
If you choose to "Start from Scratch", I would add extra width, depth, and larger rebar steel to increase the concrete primeter footing and strength on the wall zones you plan to have unsupported arm shelving. Then "Super-Beef-UP" the timber in those walls and double the wall sheathing, too. Dead weight from hardwoods can really mount up, especially when you see what some of them weigh per cubic foot....
I just kept the same roof line to help prevent leaks, but I've seen a Home Depot add a "Bubble" addition to the front of their stores for Rental Tools. Their's looks as if leaks are no problem, but the new slant roof starts against a concrete tilt-wall so sealing should be much simplier.
Good Luck and show the forum your pictures!
BilljustBill
Sawdust,
This month's "Fine Woodworking" had a great article showing how to build wooden framed wood-storage shelves.
When I saw their article, I was almost complete with my idea of an added 12' by 33' material storage addition. The lumber for the shelving was "culled lumber", but with steel arms, clamps and bolts, I pulled the bows and twists out of each board. Good lumber would have cost over $250, but my cost of using culled lumber was only $40. There is another set, but with 4 shelves that are 24" deep and 20ft long on the opposite wall.
Here's the final shot with removable arms, should I or a new owner want to use the space for something else in the future...
(Oh! Heaven Forbid!!)
Bill
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