How To: Build a Pallet Wood Wine Rack

So a friend a of mine asked me where I got the plans for my pallet wood wine rack. I had to tell him that there was only a plan in my head and a really terrible drawing in my notebook. So I said I would put something together for him to work off. However, since I was only building a prototype, I did not take step by step pictures. So I will try to be a descriptive as possible and add pictures from the finished product to hopefully illustrate my intent.

Step 1 - Obtain pallet wood. A Google search for where to get free pallets led me my local PetSmart. I bought a dog toy for my brother’s dog, and asked if I could take the pallet in their garbage area. Armed with permission, I grabbed an regular sized pallet and a mini pallet. The mini pallet mostly broke apart, but I did get three usable 2x4 pieces from it. However, there should be a good enough 2x4 in a regular pallet to use. Breaking down the pallet is somewhat difficult - I think mine had extra holes like the pieces had been in a different pallet once before. I only have the claw on the back of my hammer, but a crowbar would probably be highly useful.

Anyway, you’ll need at least one of the 2x4 pieces and probably three (maybe four depending on usable length) of the planks.

Step 2 - From the planks, cut four 20” (For ease, I call them 20" pieces - but they are actually about 19 3/4" after cutting) planks, and cut a 2x4 section to the same length. The remainder of the third (or use a fourth) plank will be used to for the sides and the bottle supports.

Step 3- Cut your sides and inserts. Since pallet wood isn't precise- I measured for the total width of my rack by laying the 2x4 flat, then placing a plank perpendicular to the 2x4, and then having another plank parallel to the 2x4. That distance will be the length of the side pieces. You’ll need four total. For the inserts, cut 2 pieces 4 ¼” long. These can be a little less even, depending on how steep you want your bottles to lay.

Step 4- Prep your glass holder board.  Take one of you your planks, and drill four holes approx. 5” apart, starting from 2 ½” in.  I used my biggest bit - a ½” size bit. These holes will form the rounded backs of the glass slots. Next take a jigsaw and cut straight lines back to the outsides of each hole. This will allow for the glasses to slide in and rest on the piece. Set this piece aside for now.

Step 5 - Attach one of the 20” plank pieces to the 2x4 piece. Make sure to leave enough space for your glasses bottoms. It might be helpful to test a glass in the finished slotted piece to ensure there is plenty of room. I used pocket holes in the 20” plank piece to attach mine, however, longer screws through the back of the 2x4 piece would work as well.

Step 6 - Attach the lower portion of the sides. Make sure the bottom of 2x4 is square with the bottom edge of the side.

Step 7- Add the front plank. I used 1 ¼” screws through the sides to attach the front piece.

Step 8- Attach the back. I placed the back piece flush with the front end of the 2x4, so when I slide in the inserts - they will fit snugly.

Step 9 - Cut your inserts and upper sides with a jigsaw to add the grooves for the bottles to rest in. When I did this - it was the first time I had ever cut curves with a jigsaw. So - I promise- you got this. The inserts will have more of a crescent moon shape and the upper sides more of a notch look.

Step 10 - Attach the upper sides- I just used more 1 ¼ in screws for this. The inserts are a bit trickier- they need to be 6 ¾” from the inside edge of the sides in order to actually hold the bottle. Initially - I had a insert piece, with the two sides attached to a 2x4 spacer, but the bottles would slide off the insert. So I had to put them wider. However, my spacer is still in the prototype- and its completely useless now.

Step 11 - Stain/ Paint and attach the glass holder. I found it pretty difficult to paint in the slot created by the glass holder, therefore it might help to stain or paint the wine rack prior to attaching the final piece. Also- it might be easier to attach to the wall with the glass holder off as well. I put two long screws through the 2x4 into studs to hold the wine rack into the wall.

The finish I used was a chalk paint finish. I used a regular primer then used chalk paint over it. I then printed out the words on my printer, took actual chalk to the back of the paper, and traced the letters on to the wine rack. I used very watered down white acrylic paint for the letters. Then I lightly sanded the whole thing to give it a weathered look.

Don't forget to attach the glass holder if you saved it for last!

11/20/2015

I almost kept myself too busy and forgot to post something tonight. However, I did actually forget a key piece of wood on my trip to Lowe’s this evening for my new project, so I guess I can take the time to talk about my recently completed project.

To provide a little back story: when I moved into my apartment, I didn’t have much in the way of furniture to furnish the whole thing. I had enough to get by, a couch, a desk to put my TV on, and a bookshelf. I decided that instead of running to Ikea or some other place to get some quick furniture, I decided instead to construct my own furniture. I have limited carpentry skills, but I have just enough tools to be effective.

The really good news, is that there are many free plans available on the internet. The first order of business was the construction of a TV stand- for which I modified a set of plans I found. I constructed a pretty good TV stand, although it has it's flaws that I will be keeping to myself for the current time. In addition, it also left me a nice pile of leftover wood. So prior to beginning the next part of what I calling Phase One of construction (a TV stand, coffee table, and a pub style table), I wanted to try my hand at designing my own project and hopefully expanding my carpentry repertoire.

A couple things I wanted to work on was using a mitre saw to make angles and also making a tabletop out of different pieces to make a sort of design. So I designed the top to be a collection of pieces of 1”x2” on a piece of plywood surrounded by 2”x2” pieces with 45 degree angle cuts at the edges.  As I tested out the results, here is what it looked like:

In theory, the rest of the table should have been easy, just slap on four legs and it should be good to go. However, I wanted to put a shelf near the bottom and have it attach rather seamlessly to the legs. It took me a lot longer to figure out how to do that so that the look would be something I would like. In the end, I decided to get a bit more practice with the mitre saw and cut angles in more pieces of 1”x2” trim to surround a shelf. Then I cut notches into the legs of 2”x2” wood. I didn’t really measure my notches, so my legs are not that snug to the shelf that “surrounds” it.

Then it was just a matter of assembling the pieces into my end table.  I actually decided to stain the table prior to putting the pieces of the top into their final position. That way I wouldn’t have to worry too much about trying to get the stain into the cracks between the pieces.

I think I should I have left the table go with one coat of stain. However the pieces I had used for the legs were not of the best quality and the I didn’t like the way they were looking. So the table ended up being perhaps a bit darker than I wanted. I then applied applied two coats of the clear coat to protect the finish.  Now I just need some sort of plant to put on the bottom as a decoration or something.