A friend of mine has been particularly supportive during everything that has happened recently, so what better way is there for a woodworker to say thank you than to make her something?
She had mentioned to me about a wine rack, so that is what I decide to build, and to match in with her style I used reclaimed pallet wood to make it.
I started with a 2 by 4 timber and gave it a very rough planing to keep the rustic look:
Next, I measured out the spaces between where the bottles would go, and chose a suitable angle to drill holes through for the bottle necks to rest in. Using a hole saw bit, I drilled holes at alternating angles and sanded the edges:
Next, I cut the top and bottom of the timber to 45 degrees so they would slope in towards the wall:
I had also integrated a wine glass holder into the design, so that was the next step. I used a thin strip of pallet wood for this, again sanded roughly to take the sharp edges and splinters off, but leave it slightly rough. I used the same hole saw bit to make holes for the stems to sit in, then cut slots to open them up:
I then cut a slot in the main piece to accept it:
After that I simply glued the two pieces together and drilled a hole top and bottom ready to be hung on the wall:
I posted it out without telling her and she was thrilled to receive it, in fact she had already put it up by the time she figured out who had sent it. Unfortunately, it happened to be upside down…
A quick hint had it sorted out, and this is what it looked like once it had been reinstalled and the wine glasses didn’t interfere with the bottles:
This was a fun project completed in an afternoon with minimal tools, and it worked out very well. Next time I send her something I’ll put clear instructions which way up my items should go, but until then I’ll just smile and shake my head…
