Wine Rack - Work in progress

[corbs]

Here is my latest offering to the gods of sawdust... work in progress. A friend commented that she needed a wine rack and I didnt have any major projects on the go at the time so I offered to make one for her. After some discussion and surfing of the net we settled on the zig zag design. I will keep you updated with pictures of the progress and welcome all are welcome.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/AustralianRedCedarslab.jpg

I am pretty happy with the slab that I am working on here...

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Slabmarkedforcutting.jpg

The intention is to make it out of one piece so the grain will flow through the unit

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Prototype.jpg

I had some fairly big concerns about the forwards/backwards stability of the unit so made a full size (not full width) prototype. It is very rough and comfortably holds 8 bottles. The finished unit will have stainless steel rods at the back from the base to the top to ease some of the lever effect of the unit under load. I am also going to put a couple of wine glass hanging racks under the top.

There will be more to follow as it happens... enjoy

Corbs

[ss_11000]

looks great so far.

[corbs]

Made a bit of progress today and I am hoping to get some of it glued together tomorrow. I am going for an oil finish so I am going to finish the parts that will be in the tight angles as I won't be able to get my sander in there once glued up. Here are the pics of my days work... enjoy

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Diagonalbeforeoil.jpg

Diagonal back, front face before first coat of oil. I could have fit another four bottles of wine in by varying the layout but I thought this would look nicer once filled with wine. It should also allow easier access to all the bottles in the rack once full.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Diagonalafteroil.jpg

Same face with the coat of oil, this was originally going to be the back but I measured once and cut once (and cut wrong:o) so this became the front. A fortunate mistake as the other side didnt show the character as much as this side.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/NeartopFarbottomwithoil.jpg

Upper faces of the top and bottom. Top is near and the bottom is far.

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Corbs,

The wine rack is looking good! Is that slab silky oak by any chance?

Hmm, second close look, maybe not.:rolleyes:

cheers
Wendy

[I_wanna_Shed]

A great design, nice and different from the usual wine stands. Should look the goods when done!

[corbs]

Hi Corbs,

The wine rack is looking good! Is that slab silky oak by any chance?

Hmm, second close look, maybe not.:rolleyes:

cheers
Wendy

Thanks for the favourable comments so far, Wendy the wood is Australian Red Cedar. Have another day to work on it before I have to go back to Sydney. Hoping to get it glued up today.

Corbs

[RufflyRustic]

Aussie Red Cedar???? Really!! Wow - I've never seen Red Cedar that pink!!

What's it like to work with? Noisy, quiet, well-behaved ?;) :)

cheers
Wendy

[corbs]

I had sit down and a good talk with the wood before I started working with it and told it in no uncertain terms that I would not be taking any crap from it. It has been very well behaved so far for me. The stuff is actually really nice to work with and super light, have gone to heft it a couple of times and nearly thrown it. More fun than working with some other slabs I have used. Going to do some glueing so will hopefully have some more structural pics for you soon.

Corbs

[meerkat]

... What's it like to work with? Noisy, quiet, well-behaved ?;) :)

cheers
Wendy
Hi hear corbs is an alright kinda fella, fairly well behaved but is known to get rowdy on occaisions;):D

Oh and ruffly, did you hear the rumour that he got done too (it)?:eek:;):D

Nice work dude, can I come to your place to test the weight concept .... drink one bottle weight... hic ... drink another bottle weight... hic ... :D

[corbs]

Nice work dude, can I come to your place to test the weight concept .... drink one bottle weight... hic ... drink another bottle weight... hic ... :D

It holds 28 bottles so we got some serious testing to do;):D

[TassieKiwi]

Nic ejob. I was going to ask if you were going to leave the natural edges but - it's too late! Very nice piece of timber mate, and a great project.

[corbs]

Kiwi, I was going to leave the natural edges but some of the sapwood had been hit by borers so I cut off most of this. It would have been nice though.

The three pieces have recieved two coats of hard burnishing oil and had the second coat sanded at 1200 grit. I will have to clean up a little after glue up but it will be a lot easier than working on this piece once finished. I am using techniglue to hold the bits together as I really dont want this to give when fully loaded. It will be braced at the back with stainless steel rods but the more help I can give it the more comfortable I will feel.

Corbs

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Glueupstage1.jpg

This was a bugger to clamp, the clamps actually try to push the joint appart, I finally got it to work for me though.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Baseinglueup.jpg

Here is a close up of the joint. Hand cut (I am no darksider, just couldnt figure out how to get a power tool to do it:o) 50mm fingers should leave enough meat to keep the wood strong but provide a great enough surface area for the joint. I thought about reinforcing the joint with some brass threaded rod but feel this would weaken the wood.

[TassieKiwi]

I think that the appeal of the zed (IMH engineer's opinion) is the simplicity of the shape. Thin ss rod is weak under compression and would not offer much support - you have a total of about 30kg of load there, so say about half that is acting on the top end. Try to support 7-8kg with your rod, and you'll find that it will distort sideways.

If you installed (epoxied) a single butress gusset to the inside of the angle at the centre, say with 200mm long contact faces, this would offer ample support. You could be flash and do it in a contrasting timber, or have one made from 10mm polished alloy, like a blade. 50mm dia brass tube would work too.

Back to work. Good job whatever you do.

[corbs]

Tassie,

I was thinking the lateral movement would be controlled by the width of the piece and that it was one solid board. The stainless steel tube was more to remove the bounce effect that these frames create and would enable a small load to be placed on the top of the unit. I have attached a drawing of my proposed plan. I also like your idea of a brace in contrasting wood, so if the engineers of the site think the stainless tube option is not viable then I will look into the brace option.

Corbs

[Sybarite]

I can't give you an engineers opinion, but I can give you an Industrial Designers thoughts on your concept - those SS tubes/rods just kill the whole elegance of the Z.

With the size of the SS section you have illustrated you may as well delete the angled face and just fasten it to the tubes vertically.

Your prototype/form study looks fantastic - minimal material with maximum impact, and I would be trying to maintain that feel.

I am with TK on this one - gusset, brace, inset flush mount angle bracket, or even turning the bottom third of the angle into a triange with a complementary section running from the back of the base...

Aesthetics Ueber Alles!

Cheers,

[corbs]

Earl,
The picture of my plan shows the tube much larger than it will actually be. I am using 19mm tube at the moment and with a total height of 1.2m I didnt think they would dominate the design. I am also using stainless steel wine glass holders under the overhang so it would continue a theme. I do like the idea of a brace on the back too though. Will have to wait and see what the wood wants to do when I get to that stage.

Corbs

[Harry72]

I dont reckon the tubes kill the look, I likes it gives it a more modern look.

[zenwood]

Nice unit corbs. The z shape is unusual and is always visually striking.

I have a feeling your rods would not be required for strength (though they would reduce the springiness, provided they're not too thin -- in which case they'll flex under compression). Have a look here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=25114) for a z-table that is well able to support a man's weight.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=17452&d=1136720006

When I did my destructive testing (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=21855), I found un-reinforced mitres stronger than dovetails: and my tables have 10 spline keys reinforcing each joint.

If you left out the rods, you could drill more holes in the angled piece and store more bottles underneath, doubling the capacity of the rack, and providing a spot for long-term storage (premium wines?).

[meerkat]

impressive, keep the posts coming

[corbs]

Evening all,

I have as good as finished the wine rack, just waiting on the wine glass racks to be delivered and installed. I decided to go with the stainless steel as I dont think it dominates the design too much and has removed the bounce in the frame. Finish is two coats of burnishing oil second sanded in to 1500 then a coat of Ubeaut wax applied with 0000 steel wool. Hope you like it but am open to all comments.

Corbs

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Nearlyfinishedfront.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Nearlyfinishedback.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Nearlyfinishednearlyfull.jpg
Had to put a photo in with some bottles in it ;)

[Wood Butcher]

Corbs,

I like it! The tubes give it a modern feel which considering the design is needed. Great work and hope to see some photos with the glass racks installed.

[martrix]

Good job, nice finish and it looks well strong enough, but how well does it balance when fully loaded? ie: does it want to lean forward easily?

[zenwood]

Nicely done, Corbs. The steel rods look good, and add to a clean, modernist design, which is also very functional. This one's almost full: looks like you'll have to build another one.

I'd be interested in a close up photo of how you attached the tops of the steel rods. Did you make a custom flange at the right angle?

[corbs]

Good job, nice finish and it looks well strong enough, but how well does it balance when fully loaded? ie: does it want to lean forward easily?

Thanks for the positive comments, Matrix I was concerned about the forward/backwards stability when loaded so I made the prototype which was suprisingly stable. There wasnt a hint of movement when almost fully loaded the other day.



Nicely done, Corbs. The steel rods look good, and add to a clean, modernist design, which is also very functional. This one's almost full: looks like you'll have to build another one.

I'd be interested in a close up photo of how you attached the tops of the steel rods. Did you make a custom flange at the right angle?

Zen, I have put a pic of the top joint with the stainless steel. This was a pretty dodgy process involving a lot of clamps, a 22mm spade bit, drill press and every piece of safety equipment that I have being worn. I clamped the unit to the drill press table and lowered the spade bit as slow as I could, there was a small amount of tear out but the process went a lot easier than I expected. I have attached a pic of the joint below.

Corbs

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Closeup-stainlessjoint.jpg

[zenwood]

Thanks Corbs. A tense process by the sounds.;)

[corbs]

Thanks Corbs. A tense process by the sounds.;)

I wouldnt know... I had my eyes closed ;)

[watson]

Good design....love it's simplicity!
My only problem is that there's only space for 28 bottles
(compulsive counter of things)

Regards,
Noel

[Tony Clarke]

The buttress gusset idea, mentioned earlier, sounded good :) but would have given positional problems :rolleyes: due to the staggering of each level of holes. The overall effect with the 19mm tubes suits very well – it’s a credit to you Corbs. Can’t wait to see the finished article with the wine glass rack. An article that is designed to have a function yet still ends with great aesthetics, is the business! ;)

[corbs]

Evening all, I wasnt going to worry about the final pic as I didnt know how long it would take to get the wine glass rack but there were a couple of requests to see the rack finished. Two thumbs up to Elraco, I ordered the wine glass rack on Fri and it arrived today. I am also wondering why it took me so long to get a jar of Ubeaut traditional wax, this stuff is so easy to use and the finish is fantastic. To anyone who isnt using this stuff... get some. Well here it is, the final pic... its a pity I have to give it away now, SWMBO has informed me that we wont be having one for our house though.

Enjoy,

Corbs

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/corbs1975/Bels%20wine%20rack/Finished.jpg