Cheap lumber rack

[Limp Arbor]

Nice looking easy to build lumber rack.

[Rob Morden]

Interesting. I'm not sure I'd trust the strength of plywood cleats but I might try something like this.

Anyway I have some questions for the group / comments.

What is the preferred angle for french cleats. I had read before that

45 deg. was optimal. These I see are at 60 degrees. I can't see having 2 differnt standards in one shop. The current ones I have are at 45 but they have some torque on the brackets and some vibration. They are part of the dust collector hanger.

The other comment - isn't there a lot of wasted space between shelves with those mostrous brackets? Do they need to be that wide? Of course it cuts down on the potential amount of wood stored and so weight on the shelves.

And the third - does anybody actually move an upright after it is up. Why go through all the trouble of the pegs etc. What kind of spacing should one use? What is the maximum before I'll come back next year (or 5 years hence) and find that the perfect board I've been saving is less then straight.

[-MIKE-]

When you do the math on the weight spread out over that many square inches, it's way stronger than it needs to be.

[RonB]

I saw that plan when I started planning mine. I thought it looked a little flimsy overall.

I use 2x4s cut at 45 degrees. I am setting my entire garage shop up on the french cleat system (well,except the lumber racks).

I built mine with uprights made of 2x4 sections sandwiched between two full-length sections of 1x4. Each "shelf" is a 24" 2x4 that is inserted in spaces in the vertical 2x4. Where the horizontal 2x4 (actually 4 degree up-tilt) protrudes from the verticals I screwed and glued a 9"x"9 triangular gusset on each side. The gusset does protrude into the 'storage' area but I doubt if I'll ever stack the racks deep enough to matter. My horizontals average about 16" apart. Loading 16" of hardwood is a lot of weight.

Don't plan to move mine they are bolted to the wall with 3/8" lag screws.

[HeyBub]

If you were clever, the supports could be adjustable. Holes through the uprights and supports, plus a pin or bolt.

[-MIKE-]

The Pinnacle Wood Rack is on sale at Woodcraft for 60 bucks, just FYI.

[Lew Hodgett]

Why not?

The load is being carried by the fasteners in shear.

The ply is in compression at the cleat, NBD.

6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

7"?

It works for me.

Seriously, 7" is really NBD for a cantilevered load like this design.

Strictly personal preference.

If drilling a few extra holes is a problem, then don't do it.

36" spacing between verticals with 12" overhang on ends will go a long way towards keeping your stock flat.

Lew

[GarageWoodworks]

[kansascats]

Too much wasted space by the brackets.

Consider something 8-12" wide using iron pipe as the bracket. Drill slightly angled holes to hold the pipe.

[Lew Hodgett]

About the only criticism I have of the design are the 1/4" lag screws.

Much too easy to twist the heads off 1/4".

I'd use 1/2" lag or even hanger bolts.

I can't twist the heads of those.

Lew