I can't rotate the photo's. Any ideas on how to rotate please let me know.
Thanks, Sam
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I can't rotate the photo's. Any ideas on how to rotate please let me know.
Thanks, Sam
IMG_1561.jpgIMG_1564.jpg
Last edited by Sam Layton; 01-12-2017 at 12:39 AM.
Thanks for getting the photos uploaded, Alan. Those really help. And now you've got me thinking about the same approach. I was originally thinking of vertical solid wood storage on one wall and a plywood rack on the opposite wall. Now that I see yours I think I could do the same. A couple questions...
1. Is the back of the vertical wood part simply some 2x material at an angle and then covered with a piece of plywood?
2. What's the footprint of yours? I have an 8' x 10' area to work with. If I can get the solid and plywood on one side, some racks on the oopposite wall, and a path between it would make for an efficient use of the area.
3. How wide (from wall to back of vertical braces) is the plywood storage area?
Hi Matt,
I like the idea of having all of my wood storage in one area. Where mine is located I can just open the shop door, unload the truck, and put my lumber or ply in the rack. Near the lumber rack is my table saw, and radial arm saw.
I have just finished building my shop, and I am in the process of setting everything up. I built the lumber rack out of left over material from the shop. The vertical section is 2x4's covered with plywood and placed at an angle. I will measure everything a little later this morning and post again. The vertical part is 8' wide and 12' high. It took 3 sheets of ply. I am not sure of the other measurements, I will measure this morning, and try to take better photo's.
Above the ply storage I will leave for storage, or maybe ply cut off's. I am not sure yet.
Sam
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OK, I finally got the photo's going the correct way.
The vertical board surface width is 8' 3".
The plywood storage width at the floor is 42". Then another 23" for the floor of the vertical board storage. The overall foot print is 8' 3" x 65".
The plywood storage is 64" high, and the top of the plywood storage is 40" wide.
Having the ply 64" high allows me to be able to store 4'x8', sheets of ply, and 5'x5' sheets of baltic birch ply.
It sounds like you have plenty of room. In my last shop, I had the same type of wood storage rack, except smaller. My last shop, the ceiling was 10' tall. The total footprint was 4'x4'. My plywood was stored on end, and was 2' wide. My vertical lumber took the other two feet minus the 2'x4' frame. Storing the ply vertically worked out fine. I just did not have enough room to store it horizontally.
There is discussion about which way to store the vertical boards, edge, or face against the wall. I like the face against the wall. That way it is in 100% contact with the rack, and hopefully will not warp. I have been storing my wood this way for years with good luck. I can still move the boards around to select the boards I want to use.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask. I hope this helps.
Sam
Last edited by Sam Layton; 01-12-2017 at 8:56 PM.
Thanks, Sam. This helps hugely.
Based on your info and others I'm leaning heavily towards a setup similar to yours:
- vertical solid wood storage, at an angle
- plywood on edge, behind the solids, with full length boards on bottom and cutoffs on top
- solid boards stacked flat against the angled wall
Where I may vary somewhat is the footprint. My intended storage area is within an 8' x 10' "nook" - essentially an 8' wide by 10' deep opening off of my main shop area. Ideally, I'd like to use one of the 10' walls for wood and the other for metal racks. If my racks are 16" deep and I plan for a 24"-30" wide pathway down the middle, I'm left with about 50" (from wall to front of wood storage platform. That's a fair chunk less than yours. Would you think of your arrangement - with 15" less depth - as workable? I know this is all depends on how I'll use it, how much wood, etc. but you seem to have some experience with variations.
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Hi Matt,
For me, your area would be very workable. My area in my old shop was 4'x4'. The sheet goods area was fine, the lumber area was small and overflowed. It all depends how you work. I try not to store a lot of lumber. I like to buy for a project, and use the wood. However, you always have some left over. You could make the plywood area smaller, and still have a lot of ply on hand. With your vertical lumber being 10' wide, you could store a lot.
If you took the 15" away in the ply side, you still have 27" for plywood. That is a lot of ply. Above your plywood, you could make that for your partial sheets. You will get an additional two feet of vertical lumber storage. I think you have plenty of room for some great storage. I don't know what you intend to do with the metal rack, but I am thinking that would be a great place to store some of the lumber cut off's.
Sam
After some private messaging consulting with Sam on the design of his wood storage solution I tackled mine - essentially copying Sam's.
Here's the rack framed up and ready for the sheathing on the pitched wall.
My footprint t is 44" x 96". I decided to go with 44" to get the extra width on the passage between the wood rack and my metal shelves on the opposite wall. 10' ceilings so that's my max height.
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Matt,
Your lumber rack is looking good. I think you will be surprised how much lumber you will be able to get in it.
Great job, Sam
Here's a photo of the rack ready for wood.
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Matt, your lumber rack turned out great. I like the way you installed the pipe for separation. In addition, you had plenty of room for your steel rack on the other side. It looks like you already have some cut offs of ply in the upper section.
Sam
Yep, more cutoffs than I should have and I still tossed a lot out in the cleanup. Because of the number of cutoffs I think I'd change it a bit if doing again. I opted to have the top section for possible Baltic birch (60") storage. I do t use it often at all. In retrospect, the larger section should have gone on bottom (like yours) so I could subdivide the upper section and almost double the cutoff storage area. I may still do that bit it's pretty far down on the priority list.
You may be overthinking it just a bit. Standing a board on end means most of the weight is directed downward with only a slight force in the horizontal direction. In my vertical storage area, I placed horizontal 2x4's every 2 feet from floor to ceiling (8' ceilings, so 4 boards). The shorter boards go on the inside and rest on the lower 2x4's and the longer boards are on the outside and rest on the higher 2x4's.
I absolutely love vertical storage over horizontal storage. It's much easier to access and see the wood grain in lumber that way.
Patrick
If he's still overthinking it 5 years later, I think we have other problems we need to address.
- After I ask a stranger if I can pet their dog and they say yes, I like to respond, "I'll keep that in mind" and walk off
- It's above my pay grade. Mongo only pawn in game of life.