Overcomplicated Shoe Rack

[Robert McNaull]

My wife has been hinting for quite some time that she needs a new shoe rack. This coincides with my need to practice my hand joinery skills, considering I don't really have any, and seems like a good project to put practice to use on something that won't be seen outside of my closet. Material wise I am using walnut for the sides of the rack and soft maple for the rungs/shelves and are used because I have them on hand. The general design is to use use to walnut panels for the sides about 12" wide by about 30" tall. I have rough cut materials and rely on my planer for rough dimensioning as well as my table saw for all sizing cuts. The shoe rack rails are soft maple and about 3" wide and are sized to make sure my wife's shoes won't fall through too easily. The top and bottom set of rails are dovetailed similar to casework, the mid shelves are sliding dovetails.

I invite comments, constructive criticism, advice. I am learning as I go and find many of others posts on here very educational, especially when pictures are shared. After sitting down and deciding to document this simple project I realize how much effort it takes to create this level of documentation that others provide in their builds and appreciate their efforts even more.

The No. 6 getting busy flattening a side on the panels after a few passes through the planer. My process is to run rough dimensioned material through the planer, take it to the bench and hand work a side flat, take the material back to the planer and run through with the flat side down and take the thickness to within 0.050 and then finish the dimensioning with the No.7 and No.4. The No.6 previous to this project had not seen much work and was pretty rough before some rework. The blade was pitted beyond use so I re-purposed the original blade from my No. 7 that has been replaced with a Hock iron into the No.6. It was a new learning curve to properly sharpen the old Iron as I have been working primarily with my A2 Hock irons. This plane makes a completely different sound than the heavier modern irons and can really hog some shavings.
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The No. 7 cleaning up ahead of the smoother.
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Finish sizing and cleaning up rails from saw.
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Cleanup Finished on rail edges
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Obligatory shaving picture - I really like this No.4, just feels like an extension of my hand. Bad news is I discovered a crack in the handle yesterday about an inch up from the base.
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Up next is cutting the pins, I have cut several test dovetails and have been doing them pins first. My saw of choice is what I currently have and it is not very good. Does not track straight very well, I have tuned it some by stoning the teeth on either side of the saw to improve tracking and to remove some set as it left a horrendous kerf when I first started using it. I do not have a proper vice yet so I am making do as many others have and still do. As will be visible through this post, my sawing skills are poor, I basically shoot to stay on the waste side and pare to the line so that I can create good fits.
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Sawing of pins complete, ready to clean out waste and pair pins to size where needed.
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First set of rails I started to work away the "waste" was an o'crap moment as I had started removing material from the pins. This set was quickly deemed to be the bottom.
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[Nicholas Lawrence]

It looks like a good project and a lot of fun. How do you plan to do the sliding dovetails?

[Robert McNaull]

I have a set of cheap marples chisels (blue handled chinese versions) that I have well sharpened, but the edges do not hold up well even as I was working in the soft maple. So I took the time to tune up a Defiance 1/2" chisel that I have had several years from an ebay auction and just haven't taken the time to tune it up.

After flattening the back, there was some heavy roll off that would have to be ground back on the bevel. I have become much more proficient flattening as I have learned to use my Power Sigma Select II #1200 more appropriately. I used to add water occasionally to this stone as I worked a chisel or plane iron to get the metal particles off the stone as I sharpened, the stone would turn gray/black during this process and eventually lose a lot of it's cutting capability as it glassed. I would then need to refresh it with a diamond plate to get it cutting quickly again. I discovered recently that I only need to add just enough water to keep the surface from completely drying out, turns out I was not only washing of the metal particles but the swarf as well. As I get to know this stone, the more I like it, it stays flat very well.

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Bevel ground back, honed, back honed and burr removed, this baby is ready to work.
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This is turning out to be a very handy little chisel and holds a very good edge, touch up only takes about 30 seconds on the 1200 and 8k stones before going back to work.
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Tails have been cut, more poor sawing. A lot of paring went into fitting the tails to the pins. Also learned the hard lesson of making sure the pins leave at least 3/8" or more at the thinnest point on a tail on the outside edge of a board. Just left them to thin and also caused a crack down the board as I was cleaning the tails up.
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Rough fitting of the "case" was good. It goes together well and the dovetails look good if you look at them from distance.... it is a learning process for sure.
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[Robert McNaull]

It looks like a good project and a lot of fun. How do you plan to do the sliding dovetails?

They are basically a through dovetail with the profile of the tail if you look at the edge of the rail boards. I have more pictures to add, but won't get to them until probably tomorrow night that shows the joints.

- Bob

[Christopher Charles]

Hello Bob,

Build threads with pics are among my favorite too. Many thanks for taking the time. Looks like a great project and by early progress, I think your wife will be pleased.

Best,
Chris

[Mike Holbrook]

Interesting Robert, I was just going through some cherry a friend gave me trying ti figure out if I had enough to build something to hold shoes. I am anxious to see what you come up with.

[Robert McNaull]

Some more progress to add. I have been working on this since before Christmas just for the time frame, this is a very slow project for me. Also for calling this overcomplicated, this is really pretty simple design/project, but is complicated for how I would normally build something like this (probably would have been pocket screw joinery).

The sliding dovetails are laid out. These are thru dovetails, I figured this would be simpler than cutting a half blind and chiseling out the material. The thru's allow me to saw completely thru and pare the slot to size.

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I chisel in saw starts to get against the line and to help align the saw at the appropriate angle.
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Per the usual, my sawing is pretty horrendous. By the time I had completed the majority of the cutting I had refined my stance and off hand placement to where I was cutting much more accurately.
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In the paring process of working the slots to the layout lines, I successfully took a nice chunk of skin out of index finger. I had recently flattened the back and sharpened my 1/4" paring chisel, the back flattening process left a nice burr on both sides of the chisel that I missed cleaning up in the sharpening process.
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With the tail slots completed I moved to cutting/paring the sliding dovetails on the rails. I chisel a saw start line in to the rail and then saw to dept of the shoulder for the dovetail. The wood is good mallet was a Christmas present this year and is fantastic, granted I only have a homemade mallet to compare to, it lives up to it's amazon reviews.
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Putting another Christmas present to good use, not sure if this really fits the intended use, but works well either way, just have to clean the corners up with a chisel.
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Test fit of the rails for one side. I currently have all the dovetails cut for all the rails for one side. I will be working on cutting the rest of the tails on the other end of the rails the remainder of the week. Once completed the rack will be done outside of glue/final assembly, finish planing/trimming, and some finish.
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Thanks for looking,

- Bob

[Brian Holcombe]

Coming along nicely!

[Reinis Kanders]

Nice fit for those dovetails.

[David Eisenhauer]

Carry on. You are dead solid into it now and damn the blood. A sharp chisel is a joy to use, ain't it?

[Chris Hachet]

Excellent, enjoying this project build.....

[Pat Barry]

Very nicely documented project. You might as well get started on rack numbers two and three because I'm sure there are plenty of shoes that could go into the first one. By the way, you did a super job fixing that chisel

[Mike Allen1010]

Very nice Bob – thanks for sharing the build pictures! I really like the contrasting colors of the wood you chosen.

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the build and predict the following outcomes:

1) Your wife is going to love this, you will be a hero and additional requests for projects are sure to follow.

2) You'll have a lot of fun building this project,your hand tool joinery skills will continue to improve and you'll find dovetails much easier to cut with a dedicated dovetail saw.

3) There is absolutely zero chance the number of shoes your wife owns will equal the number of spaces in the rack within the near future (just my own experience:)).

Congrats on your project and thanks again for posting.

All the best, Mike

[James Pallas]

Neat work. I enjoy these build pictures. I just call the blood a makers mark. Most of the time I have to look for where it is coming from. Sharp tools are a good thing, they cut clean and heal up quickly.
Jim

[Robert McNaull]

Very nice Bob – thanks for sharing the build pictures! I really like the contrasting colors of the wood you chosen.

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the build and predict the following outcomes:

1) Your wife is going to love this, you will be a hero and additional requests for projects are sure to follow.

2) You'll have a lot of fun building this project,your hand tool joinery skills will continue to improve and you'll find dovetails much easier to cut with a dedicated dovetail saw.

3) There is absolutely zero chance the number of shoes your wife owns will equal the number of spaces in the rack within the near future (just my own experience:)).

Congrats on your project and thanks again for posting.

All the best, Mike

She always enjoys when I build things, she thinks I am in a better mood when I have shop time:D. surprisingly she only needs 2 shoe racks, my wife is a simple person when it comes to shoes and clothes, fantastic wife and mother and continues to tolerate me to boot:).

Thanks for for the kind words from those that stopped by.

- Bob

[Robert McNaull]

After a long delay I finally had time to finish the rack last weekend. I spent around 3 months writing to finish my last degree along with work and family pretty much prevented any shop time. Was glad to have some time to finish.

Basic last steps were running a smoother over the outsides and trimming the proud through dovetails flush. Also gave most edges a light chamfering with a block plane to remove sharp edges. Final finish was 3 coats of general finishes water based satin poly which is my go to idiot proof finish.

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Couple let of the lessons learned: first is I would not do sliding through dovetails. They looked neat at first but the fitting is pretty poor on most of them and could have been hidden if half blind. I like the contrasting colors but could have just left it to the regular dovetails as through on the top and bottom rails.

Second is to lay the dovetails out further in from the edge of the board. I induced some splitting on the the tails on the outside at the top and bottoms. Nothing too bad but a lesson learned.

The important thing is the Mrs was very happy and the shoe rack quickly filled


Bob

[Jim Koepke]

Congratulations on the Degree.

Looks good, as long as the Mrs. is happy nothing else really matters.


the shoe rack quickly filled

Hopefully not with all new shoes.

jtk

[Prashun Patel]

Great study on dovetails.

Sadly, the the defunct turtledove dress sandal would have likely nested well here... :(

http://www.amazon.com/Aerosoles-Womens-Turtle-Dove-Sandal/dp/B00G28AZUY

[Pat Barry]

After a long delay I finally had time to finish the rack last weekend. I spent around 3 months writing to finish my last degree along with work and family pretty much prevented any shop time. Was glad to have some time to finish.

Basic last steps were running a smoother over the outsides and trimming the proud through dovetails flush. Also gave most edges a light chamfering with a block plane to remove sharp edges. Final finish was 3 coats of general finishes water based satin poly which is my go to idiot proof finish.

338739338740

Couple let of the lessons learned: first is I would not do sliding through dovetails. They looked neat at first but the fitting is pretty poor on most of them and could have been hidden if half blind. I like the contrasting colors but could have just left it to the regular dovetails as through on the top and bottom rails.

Second is to lay the dovetails out further in from the edge of the board. I induced some splitting on the the tails on the outside at the top and bottoms. Nothing too bad but a lesson learned.

The important thing is the Mrs was very happy and the shoe rack quickly filled


Bob
Nice! Now you realize that all these shoes being nicely organized probably just increases the need for more shoes since it will be much more obvious that there are style and color gaps in the assortment

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work....and your spouse is happy and will buy more shoes :)

[Christopher Charles]

The shoe rack looks great and congrats on the happy spouse and finishing your degree!

[Mike Allen1010]

Great study on dovetails.

Sadly, the the defunct turtledove dress sandal would have likely nested well here... :(

http://www.amazon.com/Aerosoles-Womens-Turtle-Dove-Sandal/dp/B00G28AZUY


Prashun, You are truly a Renaissance man; pointing out the sadly lost opportunity of the now defunct "turtledove dress sandals" to be such a natural fit with Bob's shoe rack is a wide ranging perspective we are fortunate you bring to SMC, and one that made me cough a nice single malt through my nose onto the keyboard in a fit of laughter:)!

As always, I very much enjoy your posts!

Cheers, Mike

[Mike Allen1010]

Bob,

I love your shoe rack and congratulations on building something your wife enjoys –IMHO, no higher praise.

Thanks for posting, and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Best, Mike

[Robert McNaull]

Thanks for the kind words.

Prashun- :D, although my wife avoids heels as often as possible. She would fill the rack with tennis shoes if allowed.

Mike, agreed, if the wife is happy, it's a win. Hopefully I'll continue to have time for the shop, some of you guys are really productive with your shop time while I seem to spend a lot of time staring at partially planed lumber. I enjoy build threads and how to threads with pictures, they provide a lot of knowledge and serve as great learning tools for myself at least.

Bob