Ornament Display Rack

[Ted Calver]

Just barely woodworking but fun nonetheless, I made this Wenge and Maple peg folding display rack a couple of years ago for a booth my wife had in a local crafters mall. Now, at Christmas time we hang it over the fireplace as a symbolic tree to hold ornaments. As an added benefit when we have a fire the rising heat makes the ornaments dance and gently tap the wall in rythms as interesting as the fire itself.
Best wishes to all.
Ted

[Dave Ray]

Very nice Ted, great use for your rack. Looks great hanging over the fireplace, really neay idea. Merry Christmas.

[Pete Harbin]

That is a great idea Ted! I just clipped the photo for my "inspiration" collection.

Pete

[Jerry Todd]

Ted,
That is fantastic!!
How about some details on how you made it.
Jerry

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great work Ted. That is a really neat idea.

[Mark Hulette]

Ted- That is too cool! Gotta love that symetry! Thanks for sharing!:cool:

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Like the Display Idea and the Christmas use, too!

Bruce

[Dev Emch]

Hmmm, not a bad idea. But now that you have all the ornaments up and out of the way of your kitty, what does the poor kitty do for entertainment during the holiday season?

[Bob Noles]

Ted,

What a really neat idea. I just finished getting myself into big trouble by sharing your pictures with my wife :eek: :D

Thanks so much for sharing.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Ted, what a great idea! It looks great.

[Ted Calver]

Thanks for the compliments. This project was the smaller scale version of a couple of mug racks I built for my daughters, but the principle is the same.

Jerry, I'm sure there are smarter ways to do this, but here's how I did it. It's an easy but tedious build requiring only some wood strips, contrasting mini-pegs (2"), small ring-shank nails, glue and a couple of drill press jigs set up with indexing similar to table saw box joint jigs only using a dowel matching the peg tennon diameter as the indexing pin. The strips were ripped from a 4' piece of 4/4 Wenge and sanded to about 1/4" thick. There are two of each length, a top and bottom, with the longest at 48" and subsequent shorter lengths based on the size of the grid (5"). I pre-finished the strips and pegs (except the tennons) with Watco before drilling. The top strip gets holes (matching the diameter of the tennon on the pegs) drilled (5" o.c.) entirely through the strip. Now take a peg and insert it through one of the holes and measure the length of tennon protruding from the other side. In my case that was a little over 1/8". The bottom strip gets the same treatment except the holes are not drilled all the way through. Stop the bottom hole at a depth equal to or just a tad deeper than the length of the protruding tennon. You want the tennon to almost but not quite bottom out on the hole. As it happened, that depth occurred just as the tip of the brad point or forstner bit started to poke through the other side, leaving a little more than a 1/16" 'bottom' on the hole. For assembly, dab a little Tightbond glue around only the upper half of each peg tennon and glue the pegs into each top strip (the ones with the holes all the way through). After the glue has dried, rub a little candle wax on the protruding tennons and insert them in the holes in the bottom strip. Using the centering hole made by the forstner tip drill a pilot hole into the base of each peg deep enough to keep the small ring shank nails from splitting the peg. Nail the bottom strips onto the pegs so you get a tight but still moveable friction fit between the strips and you are done. If you don't have enough 'bottom' left in the hole for secure nailing, it might be necessary to add a thin washer to the nails.

Dev, No worries. There's a 10' Frasier Fir at the other end of the room with enough ornaments on it to keep a room full of four-legged critters in full mischief mode 24/7. Why the two of us continue to decorate as if we still had a house full of rug rats is a topic for another discussion…