Mission Style Indoor Firewood Rack
Many of you may recall a DIY project of mine, which I dubbed the “Ultimate Indoor Firewood Rack“. Although I built this a few years ago for our log home, I still get comments and questions from people. A couple people asked to buy one and one fellow asked to buy my entire inventory. Obviously, I was flattered, but my firewood rack wasn’t for sale and I’m not in that business. However, they say that the sincerest form of flattery is imitation, but I think it is inspiration.
A very nice fellow emailed me a few days ago telling me that my firewood rack “inspired him” to create one that fit his decor. We swapped a couple of emails and he agreed to send some photos and tell us more about his firewood rack he crafted in his basement shop. Enjoy…
The wood rack was designed to fit next to my fireplace. The fireplace is large (50 inches wide) and double sided so it eats a LOT of wood in an evening. None of the commercial indoor racks I found (that fit in that spot) held nearly enough. I wanted to match my mission style furniture, but I also knew a rack made out of just wood would not be very durable. When I spotted your rack I knew that was the answer.
The first step was to design the metal parts to build in the welding course I signed up for. I designed the rack in Google Sketchup (which is free). It is a great free design tool. Attached is a PDF I made from my original design. I spent a total of about 12 hours welding the frame, but that time includes a lot of learning curve in it. All of the metal is 12 gauge square steel tubing. The end ornaments are cut out of 12 gauge sheet steel.
The wooden base of the rack is 6 inches tall. The top of the base is ¾ inch oak veneer plywood. Since I can only get plywood in red oak, the rest of the project is also in red oak. The base top is inside 6 inch boards and everything is attached with biscuits and glue. The drawers are free floating and ride on strips of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene tape (slick tape). All the wood is dimensioned to ¾ inches except the drawer sides, backs, and bottoms. The sides and backs are ½ inch and the bottoms is ¼ inch ply. All the solid wood is quarter sawn oak including the 3.4 solid top.
Since wood needs to move with the seasons and metal does not the bottom and top must be mounted in a way to allow for motion. In hind sight I should have welded tabs in to the corners of the frame with slots in them. Since I did not I drilled holes through the steel tubing. The hole on the side of the tube facing the wood is large (> ½ inch) and the hole on the opposite side of the tube is small enough to retain the screw head. This allows nearly an inch of seasonal expansion without splitting (I hope).
The metal was finished with hammered finish in a spray can. The wood is finished with my own recipe of stain and finished with Waterlox original finish. I can’t say enough good about Waterlox. It goes on easy and looks great. It’s amber color really gives the finish depth without obscuring the grain.
(Editor comments) – Well, it appears I have been one-upped. I flipped when I saw what my new friend Andy had created and thought I should share it with you. To be honest, it is flattering to have someone compliment you in such a nice way – by imitating your creation, but it is also humbling when you see that what you inspired is so much better than what you produced.