Making an Upcycled Clothes Drying Rack

I am making an upcycled clothed drying rack for my sustainable design class. We are allowed to use the school's wood shop, and they have scrap wood up for grabs, so, my design depended on what scrap wood I could find.

Step 1:

I decided to make a clothes drying rack using recycled wood from the scrap bin at the wood shop. Thankfully, there were wooden dowels for me to use for the ladder rungs.

Step 2:

I found 6 wooden dowels, of two different widths and a few different lengths. So, I used the handsaw to cut them to 21 inches so they are all even length.

Step 3:

They were still a little off, so I sanded the ends with a file, and sand paper so they were more even.

Step 4:

Next I found flat head drills that closely fit the dowels to make the holes in the supporting side boards.

Step 5:

Then, I used a scrap piece of wood to test if the dowels would fit into the holes.

Step 6:

The small ones fit great, but the larger dowels did not fit into the hole perfectly, and that was the only drill bit I had that was close enough to the size. So, I will have to sand down the ends of the larger dowels to fit into the hole, which is good, because it will help make the dowels sturdier with a more snug fit.

Step 7:

Now I marked a line down the supporting beams down the middle, and marked out where each hole would be, 5 inches apart from each other.

Step 8:

Time to drill all the holes in the beams using our drill bits and the hand drill for three larger holes at the top of the beams, followed by three smaller holes.

Step 9:

Don’t forget to clamp down your beam with a scrap piece of wood underneath incase you drill through, you don’t want to drill into the table.

Once all the holes were drilled I sanded the face of the supporting beams to clean up the holes a bit.

Step 10:

Then I had to sand the ends of the dowels to create a taper so they would fit snug into the holes on the supporting beams.

Step 11:

I then used the table saw to cut a 60 degree cut on the bottom and 30 degree cut on the top to make the ladder have a face when leaning against a wall at an angle, making it more stable.

Step 12:

I then used wood glue applied into the holes and used a rubber mallet to get the dowels into the holes. Then, I used clamps to hold the drying rack together while the glue dried. I left it clamped for a more than a day.

Step 13:

Next, I needed a wood finish sealant. Because, this is an upcycled project from recycled wood, I figured it would be appropriate to make my own from beeswax and oil. I got beeswax pellets and melted them in a cup sitting in boiling water so it melted evenly without burning.

Step 14:

Once the wax was melted, I took it out to see how much liquid was in the cup.

Step 15:

Then I added 3 parts oil to 1 part wax. You can use just about any oil such as olive oil, but I had some corn oil(for some reason) so I used that. It solidified since the oil was cool, so, I just put the cup back into the double boiler to mix the wax and oil.

Step 16:

Then I painted on the coating and left it to dry.