Difficulty: Intermediate
Bring some rustic charm to your home with this easy-to-build wine rack made from recycled pallet timber.
Inspiration for this creation comes from the extremely popular projects Wall mounted wine rack by experienced Bunnings Workshop member @LePallet and Wine storage and bookshelf using pallet timber by @KGriff1. Thanks again for sharing your wonderful projects with us.
Take a full-sized pallet and remove about a quarter of it by cutting through the three runners (the larger timbers that the pallet boards are nailed onto). Make your cut about 40cm from the end of the pallet.
The smaller pallet portion will form most of our wine rack. Disassemble it by levering the boards off the runners with a pry bar. Work gently so as not to split them.
Remove extra boards from the other section of your pallet until you have a total of eight boards.
Sand your three lengths of runner and seven of your eight boards with 80-grit sandpaper or a random orbital sander with 80-grit sheets. Pallets are typically rough, and sanding removes any splinters and adds to the aged effect.
The three lengths of runner will be the verticals for your wine rack. The parts of the runners that have the cut-out for the forklift tines will be at the top, and the full-width parts at the bottom.
You’ll begin building your wine rack by gluing and nailing two of your boards to the lower, full-width parts of the runners. Pre-drill the holes for the nails with the countersink bit to prevent splitting.
Screw two boards onto the back of the unit and nail one on the top. Then screw another board onto the bottom of the unit. Make sure to pre-drill the screw locations with the countersink bit.
Cut three sections 50mm long from your one unsanded board. Screw these at the ends and middle of the bottom board. These will act as spacers to gap out the bottom board and allow the glasses to be inserted.
Take another board and mark out evenly spaced locations for your glasses. Using your 30mm hole saw drill evenly spaced holes along the length of timber. Mark out the mid-point of these holes and cut out a 1cm wide section with your jigsaw so you can slide the stems of your wine glasses in.
Sand the board smooth with 80-grit sandpaper before screwing it onto the spacers.
Finish off by sanding the whole wine rack smooth with 120-grit sandpaper.
Stain any sections you wish to, and then once dry according to instructions, apply two coats of a clear varnish to the entire rack. Once the varnish is dry to touch, screw through the back board directly into your wall's timber studs or fix it directly into a masonry wall.
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Wooden forklift pallet
8G x 40mm treated Pine screws
80 and 120-grit sandpaper
50mm nails
PVA wood glue
Drill driver
Circular saw or hand saw
Random orbital sander with 80 and 120-grit sheets
3mm countersink drill bit
Hammer
Pry bar or reno bar
30mm hole saw
Looks really good Mitchell! 👍 Clever idea.
What are your thoughts on the Mummy pry bar?
https://www.bunnings.com.au/mumme-1260mm-reno-bar_p5610228?store=7306&gclid=CjwKCAjwo8-SBhAlEiwAopc9W_2x3Csy3FWQAnk4PxMwW4ROPj7o0PaIbGN-ed4IVr2KCjBROK8ZvBoCDewQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I was quite impressed with it, @Noyade. It appears that they've improved the design with better welded reinforcements where the handle meets the tines. I wanted to give it a shot as I understand not everyone is willing to invest in a reciprocating saw with an extended metal cutting blade. That's still my preference, though, as it means I don't need to remove the nails later. I purchased the Ryobi One+ 18V Reciprocating Saw purely to use it for disassembling pallets. I have found it handy for other jobs around the home too.
Mitchell
Thanks Mitchell.
"It appears that they've improved the design with better welded reinforcements where the handle meets the tines."
Good to know. I bent a prong with the first use - on a very tough hardwood pallet. I also found it had a tapered approach such that it tended to splinter the board if you weren't careful.
In the end - through various designs - I came up with a weighty (the handle is a weightlifting bar) pry bar made from 20 mm diameter steel rod. Hard to explain in words - but the fulcrum level is the same as the level of the tops of the prongs - so that the prong rests perfectly flat underneath the board.
Patent Pending. 😁
