Line-Cook Knife Rack

Intro: Line-Cook Knife Rack

This knife rack will save you the $15.00 it costs to buy a more traditional magnetic strip style rack. It's super easy to make, looks cool, and will reward you everytime you head to the kitchen to make a nice dice of onion for your salsa verde. ps. I call it the "line-cook" because like me if you're a line cook in this city of abundant wealth (NYC) you're probably making about $10.00/hour and can't afford toilet paper after your rent.

STEP 1: Gather Your Supplies

This is so easy I only included these two steps. First get your supplies:

1) Two peices of birch verneer plywood or like matterial at a thickness of 3/4" ,length of about 18", and width of 3".
2) Two lag bolts that are at least 3 1/2" long and 1/4" diameter with 8 washers that fit onto them.
3) I used a a Japaneese pull saw and a combination suqare to make straight lines and cuts.
4) Before I intalled it I gave it a coat of Tung oil to keep it safe from splashing water, feel free to leave it untreated but some kind of finish will accent the cool endgrain of the plywood.

STEP 2: Drill 4 Holes

1) All you have to do now is drill two holes through both peices of wood, and two corresponding holes in your wall where you want to mount the rack.
2) For each lag bolt, sandwich three washers in between the wood slats (this is the space for the blades) and use one washer on the surface of the rack to stop the head of the bolt.
3) Thread the rack to the wall and enjoy a clutter free cuttin board.

Comments

[The Rambler]

To Leche de Pollo: This is a really cool idea. I appreciate the simplicity and the inexpensiveness.

To critical commentors: Instructables is all about sharing ideas that inspire, putting thoughts together to come up with brilliant solutions. There are many ways to improve things for your own personal use. If you're worried about your knives falling out of the sides than put the bolts at the ends of the wood and make one pocket in the middle. Though the design, as is, may be done so that you can easily remove and replace the knives. If you're worried about the washers dulling the blades replace them with plastic or wood spacers like some of the helpful suggestions below.

[natille]

What about your knife blades? I'd be concerned about them hitting the lag bolts from time to time.
And what about the sides? The knives could fall out if placed outside the lag bolts, falling behind whatever counter, stove, what-have-you you've mounted this above.
I like the simplicity, but it seems this could use a couple of revisions before prime time.

[psycosis86]

Use rubber washers. I agree the ends need to be closed off too. But hey its a cheap build, open to many mods.

[morfmir]

Hi I made something like this some years ago. I made it entirely of wood only and glued the pieces together. I added neodyn magnets to the back so it will hang on my refrigerator. /Thomas

[b1russell]

I like your knife rack!  And here I went to all the trouble of buying a knife block from the thrift store, and then using a hacksaw to make the holes long (wide?) enough for my really fine knives (it took me a whole weekend, since my hacksaw blade doesn't come with a handle).  Unfortunately, my fuzzballs - of the feline variety - would probably wind up in the ER if I stored my blades as yours are, regardless of how high off the floor I hang it!  But it's a truly elegant storage solution - and space-saving, too!

[boognishmofo]

This is a great instructable, I do like the idea of using wood instead for the spacers. I have more knives than one rack can handle and a lot of them are expensive Globals, Shun's, and Forschners. I have a magnet rack now and my Shun sushi knife if bumped can fall off. I have had knives on magnets for years and never had one become even the least bit magnetized though. Mad props.

[theRIAA]

knife racks are lame, just stab them in the drywall

[karen608]

i wanna see a photo of knives stuck in the drywall in your kitchen! :D and do you rent or own the place?

[spinach_dip]

The only problem here is that I hate the taste of gypsum.

[Doc Workingday]

Nice knife holder! But I'd worry about the blades hitting the washers and getting dull. Instead of using washers as spacers, make spacers from wood. Cut two pieces off the board, each roughly square, slightly larger than the washers. Drill a hole in each spacer slightly larger than the lag bolt. There's your spacers. (It's easier if you drill first, then cut, it can be hard to hold on to the little bits of wood when drilling.) For this to work, choose a board that's as thick as you want your spacers to be.

[Robyntheslug]

As a bonus, your knives won't become magnetized attracting little metal filings and each other and dulling them!