Friday, November 12, 2010

How to: Build a diamond shaped wine rack



With Thanksgiving coming up, we recently stocked up on wine and ended up with no where to put it.  So, I started researching wine racks.  I wanted something small, something that went with the feel of our house and something easy on the wallet.  All the wine racks I found where either too small, made in China, or way over our budget.  This lead me to try and make our own.  I found a great website tutorial on HomeBrew on how to make a diamond shaped rack and I fell in love with it.  It reminds me of an old wine cellar and looks so natural in our house.  It was made by us, it cost us nothing (because we used what we had here) and it holds just the right amount of wine.  Here's how we did it:

Supplies:

14' of 1" x 10" - we used old barn wood that was on the property
Miter saw or hand saw
Chisel
8 screws
Drill, for pre-drilled holes
Screwdriver
Square

Instructions:



We were lucky enough to have old barn wood on the property that was just over 14' in length, but if you don't, you can just use pine or oak or whatever they have at your local lumber yard.  Either way, you'll have to start by cutting four 2' pieces like so:


Next you'll want to pre-drill holes for your screws. I drilled two holes on one end 2" from each side. Then, on the next board drill two holes on top of the board, again 2" from each side. This will allow your boards to fit together using your screws. I used screws we had in the barn already - 1 1/2" drywall screws.  Screwing all your boards together will make the square of your wine rack.



After your square is complete, you'll need to measure the inside diagonals.  They should be about 32".  Ours were a little different because the wood we used was old and parts of it were warped.  Measure yours just to be sure.  When you have your measurements, cut two more pieces out of your remaining wood the size of your diagonals.  Laying your square rack on the floor, slide your diagonal pieces in and using a straightedge or square mark where the boards meet in the middle.  Where the boards meet you'll need to take out the thickness of one board.  Only take out this amount half of the width of each board.  This will create a slot in each board halfway through that will allow your boards to fit together.  You may need a chisel to get the last bit out.


Slide your inside pieces together and then put them in your wooden square and you should now have a diamond shaped wine rack that holds about 45-50 bottles of wine!

1 comment:

Don said...

I love this idea. I am planning on making 2 of them myself and having them stack one on top of the other. I will use pine and will have to artificially age it to get the effect of barn boards.