Lets see your wood storage?

[Shawn Stennett]

I am about to move my wood storage again, well all of my previous storage has worked but not very well. I thought about buying some pipe, drill some holes for the pipe and there you go, but when I looked at the price for it and it wouldbe more expensive than a system youcan buy. What have you guys come up with?

[Ben Hatcher]

I'm still in the middle of a major redesign of my shop, but here's the lumber storage I've built so far. My primary goal was to keep most of the long stuff near the cross cut station. I copied another creeker's pipe and 2x4 method. I'm surprised at how strong the supports are given that there's only about 1/4" of 2x4 left on either side of the holes.

I went with 16" lengths of 1" black pipe because I had 24' of it on hand, that would give me enough pins for all the shelves I'd planned, and I didn't want to stack anything other than 2x4s 2 deep. Unfortunately, the 1" pipe was actually 1 1/16" and the closest bit I had was 1 1/8" so my holes are a bit oversized. That doesn't seem to be an issue and it makes installing the pipe a snap. I spaced the racks 8" apart so I can get about 7, 4/4 boards/shelf. I'm not sure that I've got enough support on the ends, but I don't plan to store what's on there now for very long.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I don't have a picture of it right now, but I built a bridge out of 2x12's and leftover 4x4 posts, and I put my sheet goods on top of it and my individual boards go in between the 2x12's. The bed of my truck fits under the bridge, so the space isn't wasted for other uses.

[gary Zimmel]

Hi Shawn.

I use this system.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32145&cat=1,43326

Its a little pricey but will hold lots and lots of weight.
Upside of this kind of system is when one needs more storage you just pick up some more brackets.

[Lee Bidwell]

I too saw the posts about using pipes for shelves. Very clever and simple, and then I priced 2" pipe (to use with 4x4 posts, I was worried 1" pipe wouldn't be enough for the amnt of weight I had planned). I decided to build mine out of 4x4 posts with 2x4 shelves. See this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=119499

An, more recently Leo Graywacz posted a similar solution in this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=120680 ,

and his is even easier to build.

Hope this helps.

Lee

[Ben Hatcher]

I'm not sure how much 1" black pipe is in your area, but the BORG by my house sells it for about $2/foot. 3/4" is $1.40/foot. Here that's about 4x more expensive than 2x4s but for my rack, the total cost of pipe was $45 more than 2x4s would have been. For that extra money, I get more storage in the same amount of wall space and I never have to worry about the arms warping.

[Ed Moehlenpah]

I found a person who was selling "Home Depot style" or "Costco style" commercial shelving. It was nearly 12' tall, too tall for my City of Poway code only allows 8' tall walls, so the sawzall came out. But, it's very strong, and with the crossbeams and center supports, holds a lot of wood. Mine is 3 feet deep x8'x8' long. Stuff longer than 8' I can place on the top most bracket or shove it in from the end. It's not perfect, but I spent less than $300 for it. I have about 4 shelves (so 8 2x4 beams), and I think 4 cross supports per shelf, maybe 5. I put plywood over the cross supports, so I can have short pieces on the shelf. I then attached a vertical plywood cart for 5 or so sheets of plywood on 3 hinges bolted to the end of the shelf unit, with wheels on the bottom. I have to roll that out to get to the bottom 2 shelves. I'll see if I can take a picture if that would help.

[glenn bradley]

I use the white powdercoated stuff that Lee Valley and Lowes (and I'm sure others) sell. Here's a shot of them pretty empty. The low profile of the arms lets me get a lot of material in a limited space and still have room to get at a board without having to unload a bunch of stuff. Depth of the arms is important but vertical clearance is even more important in practice, for me.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Hi Shawn.

I use this system.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32145&cat=1,43326

Its a little pricey but will hold lots and lots of weight.
Upside of this kind of system is when one needs more storage you just pick up some more brackets.
Yep. Love it. In its 3d location 2d house - presently under the CMS infeed table. It is pricey, but cantilever, and "shallow" profile of arms and verticals (v. building my own out of 2x4).

[Mike Cruz]

Okay, not the neatest, but maybe you'll be able to see through that. My shop is still in the "putting it together" stages, so I have everything from T&G pine boards left over from building my wife's horse barn, to PT lumber, to Walnut that I had sawn up at a local mill. As soon as I get all the junk stuff out of there, I'll be able to fill it up with "woodworking" woods. ;)

It is 3 feet wide, and 10 feet tall.

[Shawn Stennett]

Keep them coming, I was just using a few different ways, some with 2x4'sandsome that looked like a triange which the bottom support tookup alot of the room.

[james bell]

i have the same system glenn used - 12" or so shelf brackets on vertical 2x4's which are bolted into the steel framing of my shop. only difference is glenn has way more support than mine, as i put them every 18".

works great and very economical.

jim

[Mike Heidrick]

Menards sells the Fast T rack and they still carry the 80" standards. They also sell the 20"support bracket for $3.99 and LV wants $8?!! Anyway, I have three racks of 3 standards each (one rack is slightly different than Fast T). I have three shelves on each (one rack has only two shelves). Not sure now that stickering of my wood was necessary as the wood was kiln dried. Maple and cedar racks are not stickered now and the red oak and cherry will not be when I refill them next time. I also used the standard hangar brackets and fastened the standards to the studs as well. It works for me. Each rack cost me $72 and tax (three 80" standards @$12 ea and nine 20" brackets @ $4 ea).

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32144&cat=1,43326

The other lumber rack looks awesome. Each of my racks would have been $260.40 though! and would have been shorter with shorter brackets but would have allowed for more vertical stacking of wood per shelf. I will keep my $72 version.

[fRED mCnEILL]

Instead of buying black pipe from HD look for a local scrap yard. You'd be surprised at what they have. And often its quite cheap. I make it a habit to go to the scrap yard every month or two just to see what they have .Another good source is Craigs list. Quite often people just want to get rid of stuff like pipe etc. A few years ago I was looking for chain link fence. I found a guy(contractor) who had thousands of feet of fence/pipe etc. He was just wanting to get rid of it and said take all you want for $100. I got about 1000 feet of fencing and took ALL the pipe he had laying around-probably 1500 feet of different size fencing pipe. I'm still using up the pipe. Craigs list is a wonderful resource.



Fred Mc.

[harry strasil]

my wood storage area is on the other side of the partition from my basement shop and is about 6 ft wide by 8ft tall and 12 ft deep, its here, http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=90336&highlight=storage

[sean m. titmas]

I used 2x3 to make a frame work to support the raw lumber. I used my portable 3" planer to make a 1/4" dado to support the cross members so it can carry the weight with only a few screws and some glue. i placed the gridwork about 20" apart to eliminate any sag. with this type of wood rack you need full length access at either end to slide the wood in and out.

[Alan Schaffter]

Unless you have a low ceiling or limited floor space, I just don't see the attraction of horizontal wood storage- it requires a lot of structure, it must be strong and attached strongly to your shop walls- and can be dangerous if it is not. But the biggest disadvantages are that it can be difficult to load and unload, especially the top stacks and you can't easily inspect both sides, select, and remove individual boards, especially ones at the bottom of a stack.

For those reasons I built a vertical stack- except for the ceiling and floor space issues I mentioned it solves all other problems and is so easy to make and install.

If storing wood vertically is ok for the likes of Sam Maloof, Norm, David Marks, Lon Schleining, and many other noted woodworkers and every Woodcraft store, then it is ok for me.

Partially loaded:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/500/Woodrack-7.JPG

Fully loaded with 300 - 500 +/- bft (theorectical max = 100"L x 9' (8' - 10') H x 18" (1.5') D=1350 bft):

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1403/medium/PB050007.JPG

[phil harold]

Just completed this storage last week

Used the same system years in my last shop worked great I bought them at menards and then glue and nail 1/2" ply over the gang nails for added strength

The pictures also show the process

there is over 600 bdf in the rack so far

[Mike Cruz]

Phil, did I see that right? Did you put all your 2X's in horizontally instead of vertically? Why?...if you don't mind me asking? And not to be critical, but why did you drywall over the press board?

Again, not being critical, just curious...

[phil harold]

Phil, did I see that right? Did you put all your 2X's in horizontally instead of vertically? Why?...if you don't mind me asking? And not to be critical, but why did you drywall over the press board?

Again, not being critical, just curious...

post frame building, the floor moves differently than the walls thru the seasons

looks like sheetrock but I just painted the osb with 40% mud and 60% pva primer this smoothed out the wall nice

but, the tannins in the osb started bleeding thru so, then I sealed with shellac (Bin)

[Rob Damon]

When I first picked up the wood stash it was stored like the first photo, sticker/stack/horizontally and it was taking up too much room. I put up some temp 2x4 open stud wall partitions and vertically stacked/strapped/bound them and I am using half the space and I can get to any board without unstacking. Some the mahogany is still flat stacked because of the 13'-14' lengths was too high to put up vertically.

The partition walls are 10' high x 10' long and open to allow for ventilation, even though the spaces stays at 69-70 deg/35% RH year round.

The wood is sorted cherry first bin, walnut and maple second bin, Mahogany third bin and the balance oak/poplar/rosewood is freestanding against wall.

Rob

[Shawn Stennett]

I think that I would prefer to stack vertically but I have ceilings that are 8'2'' with gararge doors and lights taking up some of the room. When I build a new shop I want a seperate lumber room where the miter saw will be as well, where it will be stored vertically.

Alan, could you take some more pictures of your tablesaw overhead dust collection.

Mike I like your option as well.
Fred, I don't know why I haven't looked there I am on craigslist everyday.

[Alan Schaffter]

there is over 600 bdf in the rack so far

Not in that pic- more like 60 bft.

[Alan Schaffter]

Alan, could you take some more pictures of your tablesaw overhead dust collection.



Shawn, check out this thread on NC Woodworker (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f81/more-dust-collection-18087)- you should be able to view as a guest.


One thing I forgot to point out about my vertical rack that is visible in Rob's racks as well- safety chains that prevent boards from falling.

[Rob Damon]

Shawn, check out this thread on NC Woodworker (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f81/more-dust-collection-18087)- you should be able to view as a guest.


One thing I forgot to point out about my vertical rack that is visible in Rob's racks as well- safety chains that prevent boards from falling.


Alan has a good point. When you bind together 8-10 boards that are 9" wide x 9' tall x 5/4 it gets real heavy, especially with maple. I used 5/16" stainless steel coated cable with a turnbuckle to snug the cable against the stack. Because they are standing vertically and not leaning back against a wall, a dominino effect could be painful for anybody in the way, when a stack of 800 bf of wood comes down on you. (Each row has between 700-800 bf.) They are also intermediate angles that stick out that also support the cables.

Rob

[phil harold]

Not in that pic- more like 60 bft.

better check your eyes

just the boards on one shelf with white painted ends are:

1.5" thick x 7.5' long x 1.6' wide by 6 boards is 108 bft

[Mike Cruz]

Not sure which Mike you meant, but I'll take it you meant me! ;)

Anyway, what I forgot to mention is that while my rack is 3 feet wide, and 10 feet tall, the beauty of it is that I don't have to bring the wood in, through the shop, around the equipment, avoiding lights and wires and windows. The other end of the rack leads outside...to a door. So all I have to do is back up my truck (or trailer) to the door, load it in, and shut the door.

In case you could tell, or had a hard time seeing it from the pics, my rack is in the back right corner of the shop (shop is 24 X 30). It is 12 feet deep. And is sandwiched between the back wall and the finishing room wall. The horizontal 2X's are notched into the vertical 2X's, so the wieght of the wood is not on fasteners.

Per my calculations, I should easily be able to fit about 3000 bf. in there. That is in theory of course...in application, it would likely be more like 2000+bf.

[Alan Schaffter]

better check your eyes

just the boards on one shelf with white painted ends are:

1.5" thick x 7.5' long x 1.6' wide by 6 boards is 108 bft

Ok. It sure is deceptive from that camera angle. Like Mike, my rack will theoretically hold much more- on the order of 1350 bft w/o any increase in strain on brackets or the wall, plus I can easily inspect both sides of all boards and select any one in the stack without re-stacking.

How do you inspect both sides and select individual boards from the stacks above the ones with white painted ends?

[phil harold]

Ok. It sure is deceptive from that camera angle. Like Mike, my rack will theoretically hold much more- on the order of 1350 bft w/o any increase in strain on brackets or the wall, plus I can easily inspect both sides of all boards and select any one in the stack without re-stacking.

How do you inspect both sides and select individual boards from the stacks above the ones with white painted ends?


Its not perfect but, it does not eat up floor space and the cutting station is near it

I did sort boards to by grade as I put them on the rack
I did leave some room on the shelfs to restack while sorting thru the lumber

It is better than how they were stacked, on saw horses and pallets

I like the idea of standing them up

Why did you quys start posting this after I finished my racks last week?

thats me a day and dollar late

[Danny Hamsley]

Here is a homemade storage rack. The open front makes access easy, but you do need a ladder to access the upper tiers. This set-up will hold 2,000 board feet with 400 feet to a tier. The supports are created by sandwiching the arms between two vertical 2x4's with short lengths of 2x4 between the arms creating a sold beam. The shape of the arms transfers the weight to the beam and down to the floor. The beams and arm assembly are independent of the wall studs and are lag bolted to the top and bottom plates.

[tim rowledge]

A simple 2x4 frame to provide sheet storage, some heavy part storage above that and then Triton racks for planks. It looks kinda empty and tidy in the picture but right now it's packed and cluttered. I also have a recycled 4'x8' metal shelving rack (warehouse type stuff)piled with around 750bd.ft of maple and fir and walnut. All I need now is some spare time....

[John Petsche]

Great lumber rack idea

[Chris Fournier]

I realise that this thread is a bit old but I took some photos of some of my wood storage in my current shop.

278250278251

The vertical storgage for long stock is my favourite format, of course having 13' to the roof trusses and 16' to the roof deck makes this a doable luxury for me. Selecting lumber from the vertical rack is a treat compared to ripping apart a horizontal rack (a task which I did a million times in my previous shop). Of course the occasional piece of lumber carelessly placed back in the rack has it out for me and we mix it up, the lumber always wins. The second image shows my sheet goods storage and on top of it is my musical instrument wood stored on the horizontal. I wish that my sheet goods storage was 50% larger but I don't have the space. The bins should also be about 6" taller so that I can store and remove a sheet by rotating it on the trailing corner. Sometimes I do pack the sheet goods so tight that I have to use pliers to pull out a sheet, this stinks. The musical instrument wood is all pretty much under 5' in length and I don't go require it that often so up high it goes. I can access it from a mezzanine which you can't see in the image.

I have off-site storage where I use a combination of vertical and horizontal racking as well. The resident racoon likes to live under the horizontal rack!

Happy New Year!

[phil harold]

I have converted a good portion of my horizontal storage to vertical
So much easier!

[george newbury]

Well I don't know how I missed it but.

As I'm still just setting up shop I "invested" in pallet racking off CL.

Costs were about $120 per 9'x42" section (except for 10 sections I got for $100 total). Plus every shelf will hold up to about 3 ton.

Presently I'm storing most of the wood horizontal, except 4x8 sheet goods.

278254278255

I'm about 6' tall so part of my "modus operandi" is to put up the first shelf at a suitable bench working level, put down a 4x8x3/4 sheet of plywood and cover that with a 3/4" sheet of MDF, I then have a "rugged" worksurface. Then I put the next shelf up at about 6' high and the third at 8'. I store my wood at 6' high and the top shelf is saved for empty light things, like packing materials, foam, etc.

One of the beauties of pallet racking is it's ease of assembly/disassembly. Like Lincoln logs for big boys.

[Clay Crocker]

+1 on the system Gary uses. Woodcraft carries the same system for slightly less money.