I needed to make a shelving unit to hold some signs and things at a craft show I was attending a few weeks ago. I'm just getting to posting what I came up with.
I wanted something that was easy to take in the vehicle and put together at the show and then take apart again to come home. I also wanted to use some old logs and make it in a rustic style.
Something like this but without all the X's:
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| from: online source that I can't find, but it cost $1518 |
So basically I would make two "ladders," one for each end and then one large cross across the back to hold it from twisting. Then I would just sit barn board planks on the ladder rungs.
I had 4 logs, or branches that were very straight and just over 5' long and with a diameter that ranged from 1 1/2" - 2" . This is what I would use for the ladder uprights, or legs. I don't even know what type of tree these came from.
The rungs are to be made of maple from trees cut down a few years ago on our property and the branches were stored in my barn for future use. They are about 3/4" - 1" in diameter.
I will use the Lee Valley tenon cutter to shape each end of the rung. This is the same tool I used when I made my log coffee table . It is like a pencil sharpener that attaches to the end of your electric drill. It turns very quickly and needs to be held strongly. I cut a U shape out of a 2x4 to hold the branch and clamp both securely to my workhorse.
Then the cutter is held as horizontally as possible and pushed onto the end of the branch to cut the tenon. I cut tenons about 1 1/4" long.
Since the old barn boards I have that I want to use for the shelves are about 5 3/4" wide, I needed rungs that would leave just over that much space between the ladder uprights. That worked out to a rung length of 8" (which includes the tenons on both ends).
Next post... drilling the holes in the uprights...
Everything I make is for sale, so if you see something you like, please contact me.
Labels: barn board, furniture, logs
