Finally Tackling My Lumber Storage Chaos
My lumber storage situation was completely out of control, so I decided today’s project would be a little different than usual. Instead of building a custom furniture piece, I am going to get organized and weld up a lumber rack.
The design I came up with is a horizontal lumber storage that features a maximum of 6″ spacing between the shelves. This way I’ll never have to dig through more than a few boards to get the one I’m after – a game changer for my workflow.
I built the rack out of 1″ square tubing. Since I’m primarily a woodworker, my metalworking tools are pretty limited. To cut the tubing, I set up a jig complete with a stop to hold the steel and make repeatable, accurate cuts without having to measure each piece. I started by cutting the vertical supports – once one was cut, I just slid the steel down to the stop and cut the next one. Then I reset the jig to cut all the shelf supports. As long as I rode the edge of the plywood, I got square, accurate cuts every time.
Now I was on to assembly and another jig. I cut a bunch of 6″ spacers to help space out the shelves evenly. With my spacers cut, I screwed them down to the table between each shelf, creating a quick and easy way to keep all the parts aligned. I clamped on a couple of support blocks to rest the vertical supports on while I got everything lined up.
I used a clamp to keep the shelf in plane with the vertical support while I tack-welded it in place. Then I alternated welding the top pieces and the bottom pieces, allowing more time for the tops and bottoms to cool to prevent the heat from bending the vertical support.
Now that I had everything welded up, it was time to do the hard work and move all that lumber. I was hoping to get the rack finished before the wood for my next project was delivered, but what are you going to do?
I started by screwing a ledger board to the wall to act as a third hand, allowing me to rest the steel racks on it while I bolted them to the wall. My shop was built using insulated panels instead of traditional stick framing. The insulated panels are great for insulating the shop and even better for hanging things on the wall. Each foam panel is skinned with OSB, then drywall, so you can hang anything anywhere. For my rack, I spaced them about 2 feet apart, which seemed like plenty of support for an 8ft long board.
It’s been a few months since I finished the rack, and everything seems to be staying nicely organized so far. Even better yet, my welds are holding, and it hasn’t fallen off the wall, crushing me to death!
I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.