Recycled Rake Utensil Hanger

Everyone has an old rusty rake! Why not turn this seldom used garden tool into a useful and stylish hanger for your home or shop! We decided to make a kitchen utensil hanger, but this could just as easily be made to hang tools or gardening supplies.

Supplies

Materials:

• Old rake
• Scrap wood
• Bolt & nut
• Shellac (if using MDF)
• Paint
• Stencil (optional)

Tools:

• Saw
• Drill & bit (forstner bit optional for countersink)
• Evaporust / Scotchbrite / Blast Cabinet

Step 1: Preparing the Rake

• Begin by sawing off the rake handle (we used a bandsaw, but any hand saw works fine)
• Now you'll need to remove the rake from the handle and drill a mounting hole
  • We drilled a hole using a large 3/8" drill bit and hand drill (any size will do, just make sure it matches with your mounting bolt). We then tapped the handle with a hammer until it came loose
• Next, you'll need to remove the rust and dirt from the rake
  • We used a combination of Evaporust and a blast cabinet. Our Evaporust was getting pretty old and wasn't quite doing the trick, but some cleaner stuff should work great. If you don't have a blast cabinet, some scotchbrite or steel wool and elbow grease will also work
• If you're not using this with food utensils, feel free to leave the rake as rustic as you want!

Step 2: Preparing the Backing Board

• In the spirit of recycling, we used a scrap piece of MDF for the backing board (10x16" for our rake)
• We then drilled the same size hole as the one drilled in the rake and added a countersink to the back side with a 1/2" forstner bit so the nut would sit flush
  • Be sure to do a test fit with the hardware you want to use for attaching the rake!
• When using MDF, it's a good idea to coat it with 2+ coats of a sealer like shellac especially on the edges in order to help the paint adhere evenly

Step 3: Painting & Customzing

• We're now ready to paint the board. We opted for a glossy white spray paint, but any color and type of paint would work
  • Don't forget to also paint the bolt so it blends in!
• At this point, you could cal it done, but we opted to spice it up a bit with a stencil and some color
  • We cut a stencil on the laser cutter on some scrap(any stencil either hand made or store bought will do)
  • We then adhered the stencil to the board using painter's tape and some spare plastic and filled in with blue spray paint
• Finally, we mounted the hanger to a cabinet using some command strips

• After drying, you're all set to give some new life to a neglected old tool!