I know this is oft discussed but I’d like to gather some inputs.
I want to change my wood storage. I currently have a wooden structure with three “shelves”. It is cabable of holding 10 foot lengths and is 30 inches deep. The problem is, being wood, the only real easy access to the wood is from the ends because there are braces vertically on the front.
What I envision is a metal welded rack with storage from floor up 30 inches to first standard, then standads at 60 and 90 inches. I have 12 foot sidewalls. These would be 30 inches deep and have no vertical supports in front so I have access across the entire front.
The uprights would be from floor to 90 inches, and bolt to the wall in the rear.
The question is, what size steel would be required and how would you brace it…on a 10 foot span, Id see the outside standards 7-8 feet apart with a third or fourth in between…
Any ideas?
Replies
Perforated angle iron eliminates welding, unless you want weld. Nuts and bolts hold it together.
"no vertical supports in front". At 10' or longer I think you need at least one angled support to carry that weight.
I'd question the 30" depth of your stack. I have been storing wood in deep racks for years and waste an awful lot of time unstacking and restacking. The same thing for shorts I can't discard! Huge stacks! I recently had to move all my goods, and have built 20" square rolling pallets, for lack of a better word, on which I placed wardrobe boxes (from the move), shortened to three different heights, and sorted the wood by species and length. This has saved me an enormous amount of "search" time!
I am in the process of designing new storage for this new shop, and am contemplating a centerpost design with 1" arms, 16" out each side, and spaced 16" or less apart vertically. With a good sketch, local welding shops can fab this out of drill-stem pipe and 1" angle iron at very low cost. (The key is a good sketch and using materials they have on hand every day.) I plan to connect three of these -in line- on casters, permitting me to compress two of these assemblies together for minimum floor space loss to storage. When I identify a desired board from the end of the stacks, I can wheel one out of the way, gaining access between the assemblies and even if it is on the bottom of a 16" (or less) segment, there will be minimum time spent digging through the pile.
I may go to 6' in height, and may have to provide a 36" wide solid base for stability, but that bottom surface would be perfect for strips of sheet goods. Other than the cuttoffs I can't throw away, I keep mostly 8" and wider, Cherry and Walnut (with a smattering of poplar and oak), and quite a lot of it running 12 to 20" wide. I think this will serve my needs, but am still planning.... procrastinating?
Anyway, ....just a thought or two I thought I'd share.
John
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts, and the center post design Idea I had not considered.
The issues I have with available commercial shelving is that is inadequate for my needs. I will have about 3000 BF of dried hardwood to rack up inside the shop. And to do that takes some design considerations for access as well as strength.
I may noodle on the center post idea as that would cut in 1/2 the amount of wood in a given stack yet not reduce capcity. Plus the weight of the wood would be born by the floor and not bear on the wall.
I can also see anadvantage with that that if I rearange the shop layout in the future, It could be easily relocated or reconfigured as needed.
Now I have to go start rethinking again....Thats what makes this and a couple other sites so productive...thank you.
Here's a link to grainger. This is an option that I thought about for awhile and decided to build something on my own.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/productdetail.jsp?xi=xi&ItemId=1611767554&ccitem=With all your other suggestions here I thought I would throw something else in to complicate your options:)For horizontal stacking, If your stud walls are still open, Use 4"x6" posts, notch around the top and bottom 2x4 wall plates fitting tight, fasten inside the stud wall next to an existing stud, (the 4x6 now sticks beyond the stud by 2"), place a post every 32" o.c., drill for 1" black pipe at about a 5 degree angle upward at whatever intervals you deem you want 4" deep or deeper as you have 5-1/2" to deal with, hammer the 24" to 30" sections of pipe into the hole, stack till your hearts delight. I am suprised how much weight this system holds.Take care
Bill
if you can find some grocery store shelving units, you could save some fiddling...adjustable, heavy duty, 4' multiples - many cities have businesses dealing in store salvage...
just to add a consideration...
As you note, there are any number of ways you can go about this.
One of the cheapest and strongest is to use 2 X 4 stock, with holes cut at 3 degress to hold 1/2" pipe. This stock will support pipe lengths of about 18" (for a 15" shelf). The 2X4's can either be attached to the wall -- or to the ceiling of your shop. With ceiling support, you could have 2 units mounted back to back.
I have built these for myself and other people, always with salvaged pipe, so overall cost is minimal. I drill the holes about 6" apart, which gives a lot of flexibility for placement of the pipes.
I have two types of open-front lumber racks - one homemade from constuction lumber: , and the other is a more expensive, but more versatile commercial version. The commercial version is available from Lee Valley. Check it out at: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=32145&category=1,43326&ccurrency=2&SID=
I really like this system because you can put up a lot of shelves w/ less wood on each. This allows you to get to the boards you want to without too much hassle.
If you want to build it from wood, I've included a photo of how I built mine: 2x6 lumber sandwiched between 3/4" plywood (glued and screwed), then tapered to the end. I think they're 20" or so deep. I'm convinced that the weakest link is the wall itself. I have the standards going all the way to the floor to hold the vertical weight. The standards are lag-bolted to the studs, which are just keeping it from tipping.
Hope one of these ideas helps.
You may consider contacting your local salvage yard, or metal fab shop. I worked carrying drywall while in college and we had open front racks that we shelved our specialized wall board on. They were made of 3/8" thick steel and had adjustable shelves. They were also freestanding. The feet bolted to the floor and had a welded back spine that was punched the same way your home shelving rails are. When we moved a bigger shop the old racks were left for scrap. You may be able to find something like this in your area.
Good Luck.
You can easily build the whole thing out of 2x material. Use 2x4s for the end posts, then horizontal 12' 2x6s let into the end posts. Lag 2x4s into the wall and use half-inch plywood for the shelves. I've made a bunch of these for storage of all sorts of things, including wood, and they work great. Make the shelves any depth you want.
I am planning a new shop and am also interested in a lumber storage solution. I like the idea of bolting 2x4, 2x6 material to the walls, I've seen others do this. I am also contemplating a freestanding unit. The concern I have with the wall mounted rack is the tremendous amount of weight the lumber will transfer to the shop wall. Has anyone had problems with this type of system by putting to much weight on the rack? A freestanding unit would transfer the weight directly to the shop floor, this to me seems like the better approach.
Thanks,
B.O.B.
See my post immediately above. Half the weight on the wall and half on the floor. Plenty strong.
You may have too much lumber relative to space to use this system, but the following link will take you to my 2x4 & Pipe lumber rack. Near as I can tell, the weight is mostly on the floor, and it's kept from tipping out away from the wall by both bolts into the wall and by a header that fastens to ceiling joists. LMK if you have any questions.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=7813.1forestgirl -- 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" .... :>)
Jaime,That's the system I was trying to explain a few posts back in this thread. I got the idea from a Woodsmith article years ago, and it is a slick and cheap system -- especially if you can find salvaged pipe. I used a simple jig to drill 3/4" holes (for 1/2" black pipe) at a 3 degree angle. What angle did you set your pipes? It looks like the angle you used may be greater than that.
I think I may have used the same article. If memory serves, the angle was 5* I used my drill press (actually, used the project as an excuse to upgrade my DP). It was a lesson, for sure. Getting all those uprights to have the holes at the same level and at the correct angle. Did you drill your's after the 2x4's were up?? I'd love to have alternative ideas, as I'm going to extend the rack down the wall this summer, so I can accomodate more lumber.
Dennis suggested the header at the top of the uprights, and it was a great idea. Really makes me feel much more confident about everything staying where it's supposed to be. It was a bit tricky, because over half of that wall is cement, and the upper part did have much in the way of studs to fasten in to, so I learned about drilling and fastening in cement.
I can see the lumber rack from our bathroom window (through the window in the shop). Couldn't stop glancing at it while brushing my teeth the first week or so, LOL! It was the first thing I did in the shop that really made me feel organized! Sad thing was, if I'd had it up when I found that guy selling walnut, I could have gotten 5 times as much as I did, reallllllly cheap. Oh well, that's life.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" .... :>)
I have made about 6 of these racks -- for myself and others. And, I have drilled them both ways -- with the DP if possible, or in place with jig. The jig is a simple affair -- a 6-8" piece of 2X 4 ripped to 3". I drilled the hole on the DP (in my case at 3 degrees), then marked the center line of the hole on the exit side. I then nailed a piece of 1/2" ply to both sides of the 2x, so the jig would nest over the 2X 4 you are going to drill. With the ply and register lines, you can line up the jig on the piece to be drilled and clamp it; but after a dozen or so holes, I just held it up there and drilled away. I used an extra long, sharp spade bit, with tape for a depth guage -- so I could get through the jig and about 2 3/4" of the 2 X 4. I built one of these racks in a friend's garage, using the 2X4 support walls. I'm no structural engineer, but I think you are correct about most of the weight being supported by the floor -- since the wall is still fine (after about 5 years), even though it is fully loaded with lumber.
Thanks for the pictures forestgirl, you have a nice rack. Did I say that outloud? I have seen that type of system before and understood the previous posts describing it. Since my new shop will have stud walls, I am concerned with the weight being transferred to the floor. I also like the use of the brackets up top to tie into the ceiling joists. I have somewhere on the order of 1000 bf of lumber to store, although it might not all be on this rack at one time, but would like to max it out. I suppose with this system the pipe connection would fail before the rack itself.
Thanks again,
B.O.B.
"Did I say that outloud?" Hah! Yep, and you're not the first to take advantage of the opportunity. Too funny.
There was some discussion back then about the effects on the stud of drilling a bunch of holes through the middle. I'd be hesitant to drill them all the way from near-bottom to near-top, but since I need some space along the walls anyway, I stop about 4 feet above the floor and use the space beneath for other things.
The pipes stick out, I dunno, 12-13" I guess (they were cut 15" long), so the torque is limited. The heaviest stack in my rack comprises those two big walnut flitches (10' long, 10-13" wide, almost 2' thick), and whatever is slid on top of them. The rack is full now, unlike in the picture.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" .... :>)
I think I would like to build a mitre saw station underneath mine. I see a lot of shops with that set up and it seems very functional. Cut a piece of lumber, put the rest right back on the rack. I am probably becoming a wood hoarder, but ever since I found that local sawyer, I am constantly on the lookout for logs. I'm obsessed!
Thanks again.
"I'm obsessed!" A common symptom. Welcome to the club!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" .... :>)
I have a wood rack now that is 2x4 material and that is exactly what I do not want....in my original post I mentioned the issues with a 2x4 set up in the size I need.
For many shops it works but for me the access to the wood due to the need for vertical supports is very limiting. Its difficult to get wood out and sort through id you have a vertical member on the ends and middle. And the idea of a "wooden standard" or a pipe stick into a wooden upright will not work for large quantities of wood and the weight involved.
Thus the idea of a center post welded set up is a very good idea.
YOU DON'T NEED A CENTER POST.
Re-read my post. You can make the think 12 feet long out of 2x material without the need for a center support. Even longer if you like.
Im sorry....I didnt mean to anger you....
The center post design has merits over the 2 by 4 idea. As I stated I have a 2 by4 rack...Its not as functional as I need nor is it as versitile.
I thought you were trying to design an "open" wood storage system, where the shelves are open to the front and there is no center post to interfere. That's what I described. I must not be understanding what you're after.
I had my lumber stacked horizontally and found it a pain to sort through.
I built 8'sections out of 3/4" plywood with a series of rectangles 24" wide by 12" deep by 4" high. I screwed these to the wall horizontally at 7'6 above the floor. Now I can stack lumber vertically and sort through them.
I also added bungie cords on eye screws at 4" above the floor to keep the lumber against the wall, but found I don't use them.
Bob
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