The Shoe Rack

   I bought a new pair of tennis shoes from Sears a while back.   My intent was that if I bring home a new pair, then one of the older pairs has to be tossed out.    If you don't do that then you continue to accumulate more and more shoes, but as I was walking the old beaters to the dumpster I just didn't have the heart to toss them.  They were dirty and some of the loops are broken and the shoe strings have a few knots in them but they are functional.  They are really comfortable!!  I am assuming that they still have at least a couple more years left in them.  (Pam thinks there is an odor, but I think its possible that she is wrong.)

    I received this e-mail that had a plan for building a shoe rack and I thought it was something that we could use around here.   Plus it would be a good opportunity for me to try out my new Kreg Jig that I purchased recently. (It's really Pam's mother's day gift from me.  She is so happy with it that I mounted it on a board to make it easier for her to clamp down to the bench top.)  I used some of the soft maple from the old wood scrap pile.  Once I had the boards cut to size, I did spend a little more time sanding each of the boards.  


  I have been trying to spend a little more time in the sanding department lately.   I think it does smooth out the wood a little more and makes the project finish out a little nicer.  (Have I ever said how I don't really like sanding?)     Something that I did different this time is that I stained and varnished each board before assembly.   That allowed me to hang up each board to allow it to dry evenly.   Normally I have to wait for the glue to dry before I stain, but this time there was no glue.   The boards are all bound together with screws.  

  The picture to the left shows the assembly of the racks.   I made two racks.   You could make as many as you like as they simply stack on top of each other.   The picture is taken showing the bottoms of the racks.   The pocket hole joints are where the wood is screwed together.   Once completed you just set it upright and no one can see the joinery.   Works quite well, although I like gluing my projects. I might just return back to the process the next time.

      Well, there the racks are setting in our bedroom closet.   They work well, but we could use a couple more sets.   Maybe some day.     I don't know if you can tell or not, but the shoes in the upper left hand side of the rack are mine.   One pair.    The others belong to Pam.   Plus several more.    (Hmmm.   Maybe I should tell her about my new rule.   The one that says when you buy a new pair of shoes an old pair should be tossed out. ---  Oh, I guess not.)